Jasna Dominko Baloh: We Learn from the Future

Managers are faced with the dilemma of how to prepare for an uncertain future while managing the challenges of the present, of how to direct employees’ thinking towards the future, also through their imagination. We know that we learn not only from past experience but also from how we imagine the future.

Tackling a crisis, we need to be able to connect current moves with the challenges ahead, so that we can adapt to changes as they happen. The objective is not to forecast the future, but to make thinking about different futures possible, improving our abilities to discern, shape and adapt to what will happen in the coming years. If companies are to develop an effective strategy for the future, a process of continuous research and learning must be put in place.

At a time of major global challenges, learning and teaching must be based on innovation and on competencies of the future and they must develop individuals who will manage the challenges of the future already in the educational process, develop curiosity, imagination, a critical mind and vision.

Educational institutions bear the brunt of responsibility for preparing students for the future and for ensuring that future generations will lead a high-quality life on our beautiful planet.

Surrounded by colleagues who had received such an education, managers will be able to successfully adapt, think and invest in imagination. Ultimately, we will be judged not only by what we have done today, but also by how well we paved the way to tomorrow.