Futures Thinking, Learning, and Leading: Applying Multiple Intelligences to Success and Innovation

By Irving H. Buchen

Book Overview

Futures Thinking, Learning, and Leading: Applying Multiple Intelligences to Success and Innovation explores the extent to which our thinking, learning, and leading are influenced and shaped by the future. In the process, professionals and organizations are classified into three basic types: future-oriented, future-poised, and future-driven. The last group typically includes divergent and convergent thinking and planning and routinely integrates, rather than separates, thinking, learning, and leading. The net results are the new norms of anticipatory management, holistic 360-degree forecasting and planning, and the productivity of innovation. Finally, leading has to epitomize the whole-it must be alive to the future and understand and incorporate into decision making how the future itself thinks, behaves, and learns.

Buchen provides:
- a comprehensive survey of contemporary work environments
- an evaluation of their future learning and unlearning training systems
- a series of recommendations for developing a future-driven organization and workforce

Also, Futures Thinking, Learning, and Leading identifies innovation strategies and the major new thinking systems, describes the steep learning and leading curves of the 21st century, and explores transition training. This book is suitable for business leaders and managers, human resource professionals, personnel recruiters, professional trainers and coaches, and colleges and professors of business.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578863554
• ISBN13: 9781578863556
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: R & L Education
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Book Review

Futures thinking, Learning and Leading is the book that focuses on how futures influences shape our thinking, learning and leading in businesses. The book is divided into three section: (1) Defining a new future; (2) FTLL, multiple intelligences, and learning diversity; (3) Innovation. The book begins by the definition of some essential characteristics and laws of the future, how to shape future agendas, how to put forecasts on trial, etc.... The author gives an overview of future- driven applications which use divergent and convergent thinking and planning. He emphasizes that the net result, "Futures Thinking, Learning and Leading", is proactive and interoperable. Moreover, he introduces an overview of future-driven applications including new training metrics, new strategic planning modes, corporate universities and their knowledge cultures, employee empowerment and productivity, and the future learning leaders. The author indicates the way to proactively manage human capital. He mentions horizontal structures, mosaic multiplicity, customer as data, training absolute, employees as managers, employee evaluation, etc.... Finally, he emphasizes that because the future directions of all current reorganizations lies in human resource and the correlations between management style and learning style, chief learning officers have to advocate the new governance structures. Section 2 begins with the introduction of problem solving process followed by the identification of MI and related issues such as MI and human capital, MI applications, the taxonomy of human learning capacity, etc... The author argues that multiple intelligence (MI) has become a self-conscious leaning system including self organizing, self -monitoring, self- managing and self - amplifying and it may be the "quantum jump" to meet the challenges of the process of globalization. Finally, the author invites us to join the multimodal journey of managers, to view how businesses apply MI. Section 3 presents innovation issues and strategies and new thinking systems beginning with innovation rites followed by introducing necessary steps to prepare for creating new things including anticipatory reflection and creative thresholds. He stresses that what and how we think, learn and lead will help us understand and manage changing change. Finally, the author recommends some steps to develop future - driven organizations and work force. The author also emphasizes the importance of innovation training focused on ideas, questions and MI. To sum up, the agenda of the 21st century including the future, multiple intelligences / learning diversity, and innovation will define options for professionals and organizations. The book provides thinking, learning and leading tools and methodologies useful for professionals including leaders, managers, trainers, professors and students in business and human resources.