Curve Benders

Chapter 7Your Curve Benders Roadmap

Invest in the future, because that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life.

– Habeeb Akande, A Taste of Honey and Illuminating the Darkness

Several of my global clients are proactively planning their strategies for the post-pandemic world. One in the manufacturing sector is surrounded by the uncertainties of IoT, 5G, intelligent automation, availability of raw materials such as crude oil market fluctuations, and autonomous vehicles, to name a few. Another in the cybersecurity space is particularly challenged by the availability of talent, the evolutionary nature of bad actors and cyberthreats, and the expansive never-ending vulnerabilities in the work-from-anywhere world. Interestingly, they all create an arbitrary title for their future paths: Our Company 2030, Strategy 2040, or Vision 2050.

Round numbers (2030, 2040, 2050) are deceiving because they convey a sense of control over the uncertain future in our personal and professional growth journey. They also make good PowerPoint slides for the communication teams – after all, it's easily understood by broad stakeholders, from employees and customers, investors, and the media – about your vision and hopes for the future.

This is the perfect example of linear thinking: trying to control chaos in an uncertain future.

What we need is a non-linear approach, embodied in the Curve Benders Roadmap: a framework breaking down the four timelines in your next decade, providing a specific ...