AFTERMOST: CONSULTING THE ORACLE OF DELPHI

Tyler Mongan CONSULTING THE ORACLE OF DELPHI

Before his conquest of Asia, Alexander the Great consulted the oracle at Delphi, demanding to know the future of his actions. The Delphi’s prophecy was that “Alexander was invincible.” Alexander’s trust in these words drove him and his army forward, conquering the lands from Northeast Africa to Central Asia.

Casandra was another gifted foresight practitioner of ancient Greece, but cursed with the fl aw that nobody would trust what she foretold. Imagine if Alexander had consulted Cassandra instead of the Oracle of Delphi. The same words, “Alexander was invincible” would have been spoken, but he would have distrusted the prophecy and turned his army back to Greece. “The Great” would have been left out of his name.

Cassandra’s Curse is a reminder that foresight requires trust.

Research shows that 71% of fi rms exhibited a low level of future readiness and most fi rms admitted their leadership is not prepared for the future [1]. The pandemic has been a global stress test for leadership future readiness. For several years epidemiology scenarios and global strategists articulated a growing concern that a pandemic was on the horizon. Did leadership trust the foresight and action to prepare?

The 2019 Edelman Global Trust Barometers revealed a low level of trust in organizations, media, and political systems throughout the global. Further, trust in the capability of organizations and political systems to “think” about the future is higher than trust in an organization’s capability to take “action" on the foresight [2].

There seems to be a correlation in leadership failure to take action on foresight and decrease in leadership trust. In a post-pandemic world leaders will need to focus on building their foresight capabilities, while also cultivating an environment of trust. A demonstration of trust starts with leadership taking action on the foresight. This trust will inspire others to action. In a post-pandemic world it seems that “actions” will speak louder than words.

REFERNCES:

[1] Rohrbeck, R. and Kum, M. E. (2018) ‘Corporate foresight and its impact on fi rm performance: A longitudinal analysis’, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 129(4), pp. 105–116. https://doi.org10.1016/j.techfore.2017.12.013 [2] Edelman Intelligence (2020). Edelman Trust Barometer 2020 (PDF): https://www.edelman.com/trustbarometer

PHOTO CREDITS

Main Cover Image - Pawel Czerwinski - Unsplash Inside Cover Image - Matthew T. Rader - Unsplash

Pages 4-5 - Alexander Schimmeck - Unsplash Pages 8-9 - Steve Johnson - Unsplash, - Ashkan Forouzani - Unsplash Pages 10-11 - Gianpaolo la Paglia - Unsplash Pages 12-13 - Jr. Korpa - Unsplash Pages 14-15 - Rishi - Unsplash Pages 16-17 - Dan-Cristian Pădure - Unsplash Pages 18-19 - Adrien Olichon - Unsplash Pages 20-21 - Antoine Rault - Unsplash Pages 22-23 - Oriento - Unsplash Pages 24-25 - Bilal O. - Unsplash Pages 26-27 - Nikoline Arns - Unsplash Pages 28-29 - Andrey Krasilnikov - Unsplash Pages 30-31 - United Nations Covid 19 response Unsplash Pages 32-33 - Oriento - Unsplash Pages 32-33 - Jr. Korpa - Unsplash Pages 34-35 - Anomaly - Unsplash Pages 38-39 - Annie Spratt - Unsplash Pages 40-41 - Dan-Cristian Pădure - Unsplash Pages 42-43 - Usgs - Unsplash Pages 44-45 - Jr. Korpa - Unsplash Pages 48-49 - Praewthida K. - Unsplash Pages 50-51 - Mitchell - Unsplash Pages 56-57 - Jr. Korpa - Unsplash Pages 58-59 - Karim Ghantou - Unsplash Pages 60-61 - Jr. Korpa - Unsplash Pages 62-63 - Jr. Korpa - Unsplash Pages 64-65 - Matthew Henry - Unsplash Pages 68-69 - Carlos de toro Carlosdetoro Pages 72-73 - Steve Johnson - Unsplash Pages 74-75 - Matthew T. Rader - Unsplash

Back Cover - Sharosh Rajasekher - Unsplash

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