Flash Foresight – Your stepping stone to a better future

Dan started his tour over at Principled Innovation with Jeff De Cagna (@pinnovation) on Monday, then moved on to The Fresh Peel with Chris Wilson (@FreshPeel) on Tuesday, then to BrandMix with Martin Bishop (@martinjbishop) on Wednesday, then on to Make it Great from Phil Gerbyshak and finally he is here.

It was a normal day in February, well until 3.30pm which is when I had the most amazing phone call with Daniel Burrus, author of Flash Foresight, a brilliant book that should be on your reading list without a doubt.

I didn’t know what to expect on my phone call with Dan. Like every call, I went with an open mind allowing the discussion to go wherever it went. That was a good thing. By the end of the call, it was clear that I have to meet Dan sooner than later. I hope to arrange for that soon.

In short, Dan’s book is brilliant and Dan is a genius++

First, quick highlights (whatever I am allowed to share) from the conversation:

1. Dan plays lead guitar and a dozen instruments including Sitar. He has a knack for picking up string instruments and he pretty much can play any string instrument in the first couple of hours he comes in contact with the instrument.

2. Dan has started six companies so far and three of them became national leaders in their field in the first year of operations. Think about that!!!

3. Dan never raised venture capital or business loans for his businesses.

4. Dan’s passion is to help his clients see invisible opportunities and help them do the impossibl

5. Most recently Dan created a set of iPhone apps under the company VisionaryApps and one of the apps became the 17th most downloaded App in the App Store.

Why am I sharing the highlights? Simply to show that Dan is a practitioner and what he has shared in his brilliant book is what he used in all of his businesses.

A 30,000 the seven steps to see the invisible and do the impossible (the premise of Flash Foresight) is below:

1. Start with Certainty (create the habit of starting with a list of things you can know and do)

2. Anticipate (base your strategies on what will happen in the future.

3. Transform (how you sell, market, collaborate, communicate, educate and innovate);

4. Take your biggest problem — and skip it (it’s not your real problem anyway);

5. Go opposite (look where no one else is looking to see what no one else is seeing);

6. Redefine and reinvent (use tech-driven change to create new products and services);

7. Strategically direct your future (or someone else will direct it for you)

Special thanks to Paul Williams of Idea Sandbox for making the connection.

You can read more about the book at
www.flashforesight.com