Forget About Predicting the Future

The only thing we really know about the future is that it is uncertain, but most brands still rely on a three-year strategic plans that plots the future and its outcome down to the last detail. John Browne knew a long time ago that this type of forecasting was futile. In a speech in 2001 he said “Giving up the illusion that you can predict the future is a very liberating moment. All you can do is to give yourself the capacity to respond to the only certainty in life - which is uncertainty. The creation of that capability is the purpose of strategy”.