Prophecy before Vision: Learning to See and Altering the Future

Nothing Happens Spontaneously

All events to happen in the future of any kind will come as the result of a series of connected past chain of events.

I have come to believe the reason people struggle so much with vision is they have no innate feel or understanding for what I call “Prophecy.” Prophecy must come before vision. If you have no insight into what future external forces hold for your organization, how can you lead that organization? If you have no feel for what events are hurtling toward you and your company (e.g., global wealth inequality), how can you plan or prepare?

Learning To See and Altering The Future

You can always be the smartest person in the room because you can learn to see Events To Happen and sometimes alter the future for Things To Come. Your path to always being the smartest person in YOUR room can be paved by following the process set forth in the following.

Events To Happen

Some Events To Happen in the future will come as a result of a series of events which connected then only recently. Many Events To Happen in the future will come as the result of a series of linked events that will then extend back decades and even centuries.

Events To Happen – These are future events that WILL HAPPEN no matter what anyone does. Their past chain of events has already dictated these events will happen. They cannot be changed or prevented from happening.

Things To Come

Things To Come are future events that will happen but we still have the opportunity to alter their outcomes through actions we take now and in the future.

Monitor and Analyze The 3 Headwaters of Your Prophecies 

The 3 Headwaters of Prophecy are:

  • Global Demographics;
  • The Technologies of the Times; and,
  • The 3 Pendulums of a Society

The first step in Learning To See and Altering The Future is to continually monitor and analyze “The 3 Headwaters of Prophecy”. It is important to monitor and analyze the data and events that will most impact you and your Organization. It is not so necessary or even possible to analyze ALL global data and events. For example, I do not study data or events in Cuba, or Thailand or Turkey. After your analysis of what is most important to you and your Organization is complete, then perform the following steps discussed below.

The 3 Pendulums of a Society

  1. Political Pendulum – Democratic or Not
  2. Economic Pendulum – Capitalistic or Not
  3. Civil Society Pendulum – Everything Else

Publish Your Prophecies

After you have made your conclusions, you must publish your Prophecies for at least your Organization to see and read. Publish your prophecies in two Types as follows:

Type I Prophecies – Global Events To Happen

These are your predictions of major events that will shape the future of the World from the date of your predictions through future generations. Remember, these events WILL happen and nothing can be done to prevent them from happening.

Type II Prophecies – Regional, Local and Industry Specific Events To Happen That Will Most Impact You and Your Organization

These are your predictions of the major events that will shape the future of your life and the Organization you lead. Again, remember, these events WILL happen and nothing can be done to prevent them from happening.

Establish and Publish Your Vision

After you have concluded upon and published both your Type I and Type II Prophecies, then establish your Vision for the Organization you lead and for your own personal life and your Family. Openly publish that Vision as the beginning and basis of your Organization’s future quests, strategies and customary business planning.

Publish your Story and Be the Chief Storyteller

In order to best articulate your Prophecies to others you must develop your story and be your own best storyteller. As you tell your story to others be sure to encourage them to develop their own Type I and Type II Prophecies both for their personal lives and to test if they agree with yours. Obviously, not everyone will agree on the same Prophecies. Just because these Events To Happen are going to happen and cannot be stopped or altered, does not mean we will all predict them the same with 100% certainty or accuracy.

My favorite movies and books tell the story of “The Battle of Midway”. If you have not studied this famous battle that changed the course of World War II in the Pacific, you should. This battle is a classic example of (1) believing in false prophecies – Japanese Admiral Nagumo; (2) establishing serendipity pools – American Admiral Nimitz; and (3) decision making under uncertainty – American Navy personnel at all levels. The Chinese military studies The Battle of Midway with delusions of how they could win that battle. Their wishful thinking carries the same fatal flaw that Japanese Admirals Yamamoto and Nagumo had – in war – once the first shot is fired, all carefully conceived and thought through plans are worthless. The United States will never be defeated militarily because The 3 Pendulums of American Society also swing freely with the U.S. military.

Publish Your Vision, Strategies and Business Plan

After you have your Type I and Type II Prophecies firmly in your mind; vision, strategies and business plans will come easy to you and to others with more confidence and conviction than you will ever have experienced before. In The Battle of Midway, once the Americans knew that the Japanese code name “AF” was their code for Midway, all following plans and activities came with great confidence for the American Navy. But the plan to confirm the meaning of AF was due to the Prophecy of American Intelligence Officers and personnel that AF was indeed Midway. Having that belief and Prophecy with scant information led to eventual victory in the Pacific.

Serendipity Pools

Establish Your “Serendipity Pools”

As much as we would all love to solve all the problems of the World, obviously we cannot. But what we can do is establish what I call “Serendipity Pools” to establish those areas of critical interest to us and the Organizations we lead. We then can use those Serendipity Pools to focus our time, money and mind share on opportunities arising from events coming through our Serendipity Pools. Serendipity Pools can be closely related to what we currently do, or to monitor chains of historical events for areas we are not currently involved in. For example, working with Aging Out Foster Care organizations is an area of immediate serendipity management for us. Conversely, although I am a novice of the energy industry, I am interested in monitoring that industry for future opportunities and weaknesses in the Country’s eventual energy policy, to exploit those opportunities and weaknesses by positioning On the Inside of the green energy Pendulum at its highest peak.

Corporate Partnerships are a great example of establishing Serendipity Pools. Selecting Partners wisely is critical for any organization, and especially critical for young companies. At JM Prophecies we plan to engage in Corporate Partnerships in: (1) Financial Services; (2) Information Technology; and, (3) Medical Centers and other partners for JM Prophecies Brain Care. As contrarian investors, we currently have no plans to ever engage with a Media Industry Partner, deciding instead to go it alone in Media.

Confronting Type II Events To Happen and Channeling Things To Come Decisions Through Your Serendipity Pool Pathways

If possible, it is best to confront future Type II Events To Happen within your Serendipity Pools and to also make your Things To Come decisions within your Serendipity Pools.

Power of Positioning

Positioning is so important. For the Greeks it was the Thermopylae Pass in 480 BC, for the Union Army in the American Civil War it was the high ground at Gettysburg, and for the invasion of Europe it was the beaches of Normandy for the Allies.

Serendipity Pools can be geographic or not. At JM Prophecies we have selected Florida and Hawaii as our Thermopylae Pass twin pillars. But our Corporate Partners will not all be in Florida or Hawaii, many will but some will not. Obviously, Serendipity Pools can be managed virtually.

Events to Happen

You can learn to predict Events To Happen that can become your Prophecies for you and your Organization.  Establishing your Vision will then become clear and come easily to you after you have an understanding what is coming at you.  You will also sometimes be able to alter the future for Things To Come by establishing and monitoring your Serendipity Pools.