Patrick Dixon

Patrick Dixon is a British futurist, business thinker, and author of 12 books on trends and management (485,000 in print in 23 languages). Patrick Dixon has been ranked as one of the 20 most influential business thinkers alive today (Thinkers 50 2005) and has lectured in 50 countries, to many of the world's largest multinationals as well as to government and community leaders.

Futurewise (1998/2003/2007)

• Take hold of your future or the future will take hold of you - be futurewise.
• The Six Faces of the FUTURE are: Fast, Urban, Tribal, Universal, Radical and Ethical
• Never has the future become so rapidly the past.
• Your company may have a reputation for brilliant leadership, outstanding innovation, clever branding and effective change management, but the business could fail if the world changes and you are unprepared.
• The larger the corporation, the greater the risk that you are flying blind.
• Institutional blindness is a major threat to the future of all corporations.
• Listen to your customers but don't (always) believe what they say - they know even less about the future than you.
• In banking or insurance trust is the only thing you have to sell.
• Two thirds of all those who have ever lived to sixty five are alive today and most of them are women.
• The first one hundred and fifty year old human being could be alive as a baby today.
• To every trend there is a counter-trend. There are a number of pendulums operating and each creates new business opportunities.
• The risk of a business being hit by a low probability, high impact event is far higher than most boards realise because the number of potential wild cards is so great.
• The key to understanding the future is one word: sustainability.
• Tribalism is the most powerful force in the world.
• The future is about emotion: reactions to events are usually far more important than the events themselves.

Building a Better Business (2005)

• People will only follow you if they see you're ahead, are convinced you know the route, trust you, and want to get there too.

• Life's too short to sell things you don't believe in.

• The future of marketing belongs to honest information, accurate data and clear claims based on truth.

• Every product and service is sold on the promise of a better future. The purpose of business is to deliver on the promise, and profit is the reward for doing so.

• Business strategy is the battleplan for a better future.

• You can have the greatest strategy in the world, but what is the point if no one cares?

• Connect with all the passions people have -for themselves, their families, their communities and wider world - and they will follow you to the ends of the earth, buy your products and services with pride, and may even be willing to work for you for next to nothing.

• When you have been close to death it makes you think about life.

• Give people a convincing reason and they will lay down their very lives.

• All the most powerful speeches ever made point to a better future.

• You cannot have strong leadership without passion.

• Mission is at the heart of what you do as a team. Goals are merely steps to its achievement.