Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career
Tags: #self-help #career #change management #adaptability #future of work #technology #innovation
Authors: Jason Feifer
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Overview
The future is uncertain, and we often face it with fear and trepidation. But change is also the source of opportunity and growth. In Build for Tomorrow, I introduce a framework for navigating change by understanding and embracing its four distinct phases: Panic, Adaptation, New Normal, and Wouldn’t Go Back. Drawing from history, psychology, and interviews with successful entrepreneurs, I show how to recognize the patterns of change, overcome our resistance to it, and ultimately seize the opportunities it presents. You’ll learn how to: 1) overcome the initial panic that accompanies change by understanding its cyclical nature and recognizing that you’ve already adapted to countless changes in your life, 2) develop a more adaptable mindset by identifying your core purpose (‘why’), which remains constant even as the specifics of your life (‘what’) change, 3) make better decisions during uncertainty by widening your perspective, challenging your assumptions, and seeking input from others, 4) proactively embrace change by working towards your ‘next job’ - acquiring new skills and exploring new interests - even while fulfilling the demands of your current one, 5) create a ‘new normal’ by building a ‘Bridge of Familiarity’, connecting new experiences to familiar ones to reduce resistance, and 6) reach a ‘Wouldn’t Go Back’ moment, recognizing the value of the change you’ve experienced and the opportunities it has unlocked. This book is for anyone facing uncertainty, whether it’s a career shift, a personal upheaval, or a changing world. By understanding the four phases of change, you can become more resilient, more adaptable, and ultimately more successful in navigating the future.
Book Outline
1. You Come from the Future
People are often resistant to change because it disrupts the familiar and comfortable, making them feel powerless. This panic can lead to irrational decisions, like the butter industry’s attempts to suppress margarine. To adapt to change, we must understand that it’s an inevitable and potentially beneficial force. We’ve already adapted to countless changes in our lives, and we can learn from how past generations reacted to seemingly ‘transformative’ moments.
Key concept: “An entrepreneur is someone who makes things happen for themselves.”
2. Why We Keep Panicking
People tend to panic in the face of change because they focus on potential losses rather than potential gains. The ‘Facebook Depression’ phenomenon exemplifies how this panic can lead to misinformation and counterproductive actions. To better understand change, we need to examine the data, not just react to fear. Often, the things we initially perceive as threats can bring unexpected benefits.
Key concept: “A crisis like this can shift the window on the options that we are willing to collectively take seriously.”
3. Extrapolate the Gain
The ‘Sisyphean Cycle of Technology Panics’ demonstrates how fear of new technologies drives a cycle of overreaction and unproductive responses. By understanding this cycle, we can learn to be more proactive and focus on the potential gains of change, rather than simply trying to re-create the past.
Key concept: The ‘Sisyphean Cycle of Technology Panics’: 1. Something seems different, 2. Politicians get involved, 3. Scientists hit the gas, 4. The low-information free-for-all.
4. Use Yesterday for What It Was, Not for What It Wasn’t
To adapt to change, we must own our past successes and learn from them, recognizing the skills and knowledge we’ve gained. Instead of focusing on the fear of not being able to repeat past success, we should analyze what made us successful and how those skills can be applied to new opportunities.
Key concept: “Use Yesterday for What It Was, Not for What It Wasn’t”
5. What You Do, and Why You Do It
Change is not all-encompassing; we are not defined solely by our job or circumstances. Instead, we must identify our core purpose, our ‘why’, which remains constant even as the specifics of our lives change. When we understand our ‘why’, we can adapt to changes in our ‘what’ with greater resilience.
Key concept: The difference between your ‘what’ and your ‘why’.
6. Widen Your Bands
To make better decisions during change, we need to be aware of our own overconfidence and widen our perspectives. Instead of clinging to what we think we know, we must be willing to consider a wider range of possibilities and seek input from others. By acknowledging our limitations, we can make more informed and adaptable choices.
Key concept: “You have your bands too narrow.”
7. Change Before You Must
Adapting to change often requires making proactive and sometimes painful decisions before we are forced to. By playing the long game, we can anticipate future challenges and position ourselves for success, even if it means disrupting the status quo.
Key concept: “Get out of the memory business.”
8. Work Your Next Job
To embrace change, we must continually work towards our next opportunity, even while fulfilling the demands of our current one. By focusing on acquiring new skills and exploring new interests, we build a foundation for future success and make ourselves more adaptable to whatever comes our way.
Key concept: “Work your next job.”
9. Treat Failure as Data
When faced with a seemingly new and disruptive event, we often jump to conclusions and oversimplify the situation. However, very few things are truly unprecedented. By digging deeper into the history and context of a change, we can avoid oversimplification and find more effective solutions.
Key concept: “If something is totally new and unprecedented, then we can reasonably assume it has a new and simple cause.”
10. Build a Bridge of Familiarity
To make change less scary and more palatable, we need to build a ‘Bridge of Familiarity’ by connecting new experiences to familiar ones. By highlighting the continuity between old and new, we can reduce resistance to change and create a smoother transition.
Key concept: The Bridge of Familiarity
11. The Theory of Theories
Our dominant question, the question we repeatedly ask ourselves, shapes our perception and influences our actions. By identifying and, if necessary, reframing our dominant question, we can shift our focus and open ourselves up to new possibilities. A positive and empowering dominant question can drive us towards growth and success.
Key concept: “What’s your dominant question?”
12. What Is This For?
The simple question “What is this for?” can be a powerful tool for understanding the purpose and value of our actions, products, or even relationships. By continually re-evaluating the ‘for’ of things, we can adapt to changing circumstances and find new and innovative uses for old ideas.
Key concept: “What is this for?”
13. Reconsider the Impossible
To fully embrace change, we must be willing to reconsider the impossible – the ideas we previously dismissed as illogical, too difficult, or too radical. Often, the greatest opportunities lie in the unknown, and by challenging our assumptions and exploring the seemingly impossible, we can discover entirely new paths to success.
Key concept: Reconsider the Impossible
14. Get to the Second Time
Success often lies in understanding the nuances and hidden complexities of seemingly simple things. We can gain a competitive advantage by looking beyond the surface and identifying the ‘but reallys’ - the underlying factors that drive success but that most people overlook.
Key concept: “Look for the but reallys.”
15. The “99% There” Problem
Even when we’ve adapted to most of a change, we can still feel stuck and dissatisfied due to the “99% There” problem. This means that even a small, seemingly insignificant detail can hold us back. To overcome this, we must identify and address the specific issues that are preventing us from fully embracing the change.
Key concept: The “99% There” problem
16. Permission to Forget
Our brains are not designed to remember the past perfectly. Fading affect bias causes the negative emotions of bad memories to fade faster than those of good memories. This allows us to learn from the past without being burdened by it, and also allows us to use past experiences to build a more optimistic and adaptable narrative for our future.
Key concept: Fading affect bias
Essential Questions
1. How can we overcome the fear of loss that often accompanies change and learn to see the potential gains instead?
Change often feels scary and overwhelming because we tend to focus on potential losses and extrapolate them, fearing a domino effect that will disrupt our entire lives. However, change also presents opportunities for growth and new experiences. By shifting our perspective to extrapolate the potential gains instead, we can approach change with more optimism and be better prepared to seize the opportunities it brings. Recognizing that we’ve already adapted to countless changes in our lives can empower us to face future changes with more confidence and resilience.
2. What is the role of ‘why’ in navigating change, and how can we identify and leverage it?
While adapting to change, it’s crucial to identify our core purpose, our ‘why’, which remains constant even as the specifics of our lives change. This ‘why’ is our driving force, our passion, and our source of resilience. By understanding our ‘why’, we can navigate changes in our ‘what’ (job, relationships, circumstances) with greater flexibility and purpose. Identifying our ‘why’ provides an anchor in times of uncertainty, allowing us to adapt to new situations without losing sight of what truly matters to us.
3. What is the ‘Sisyphean Cycle of Technology Panics’, and how can we break free from this cycle to embrace technological change effectively?
The ‘Sisyphean Cycle of Technology Panics’ highlights our tendency to overreact to new technologies, focusing on perceived threats and often missing the potential benefits. We get caught in a cycle of fear-mongering, unproductive policies, and missed opportunities. To break this cycle, we need to learn from history, approach new technologies with a more nuanced perspective, and focus on harnessing their potential for positive change. This involves engaging in data-driven analysis, considering multiple perspectives, and engaging in responsible experimentation rather than simply succumbing to fear.
4. What does it mean to ‘work your next job,’ and how can this approach help us become more adaptable and successful in a changing world?
The most effective way to adapt to change is to be proactive rather than reactive. Instead of waiting for change to disrupt our lives, we should anticipate it and take action on our own terms. This means embracing a growth mindset, continually acquiring new skills, and exploring new opportunities. By working our ‘next job’ - even while fulfilling the demands of our current one - we make ourselves more adaptable, build a foundation for future success, and increase our chances of staying ahead of the curve.
5. What is the ‘99% There’ problem, and how can we overcome it to truly embrace change and experience its benefits?
The ‘99% There’ problem refers to the phenomenon where even after adapting to most of a change, we can still feel stuck and dissatisfied due to a small, seemingly insignificant detail that remains unresolved. This unresolved detail, like a pebble in our shoe, can hold us back from fully embracing the change and experiencing its benefits. To overcome this, we must identify the ‘but reallys’ - the hidden complexities and underlying factors that drive success - and focus on innovating in the margins, addressing the small problems to unlock the potential of the change as a whole.
Key Takeaways
1. Build a ‘Bridge of Familiarity’ to Embrace Change.
People are inherently resistant to radical change. To increase the likelihood of adoption, connect your new idea or product to something familiar. By highlighting the continuity between the old and the new, you create a ‘Bridge of Familiarity’ that makes people feel more comfortable and confident in embracing the change. This approach reduces fear and increases the chances of success.
Practical Application:
Imagine you’re leading a product development team tasked with creating a new AI-powered tool. Instead of solely focusing on the technology, analyze how users currently solve the problem your tool addresses. Identify the familiar aspects of their existing workflows and design your AI tool to seamlessly integrate with them. This will make your product feel more intuitive and user-friendly, reducing resistance to adoption.
2. Continually ‘Work Your Next Job’ to Stay Ahead of the Curve.
Working your next job means continually learning and growing, even while fulfilling the demands of your current role. By proactively acquiring new skills and exploring new interests, you make yourself more adaptable and build a foundation for future opportunities, even if you don’t yet know what those opportunities will be. It’s about expanding your potential, not just executing on your current tasks.
Practical Application:
If you’re feeling stuck in your career, identify a skill you’d like to develop or a field you’re curious about. Take a course, attend a workshop, volunteer for a project, or simply start experimenting in your spare time. You don’t need a concrete plan for how this new skill will pay off. The act of learning itself will make you more adaptable and open up new opportunities you may have never anticipated.
3. Widen Your Perspective and Challenge Your Assumptions.
Humans are prone to overconfidence and limited perspectives. To make better decisions during change, we need to actively challenge our assumptions and seek out diverse viewpoints. The ‘Johari Window’ model highlights the importance of recognizing our blind spots – what we don’t know that others do – and actively seeking information to fill those gaps. This leads to more informed and adaptable decision-making.
Practical Application:
Before launching a new product or feature, assemble a diverse team with different perspectives and backgrounds. Conduct ‘pre-mortems’ by asking, ‘What if this fails, and why might it be?’ This will help identify potential risks and blind spots, leading to a more robust and adaptable product strategy. By challenging your assumptions and considering what you might be missing, you increase your chances of success.
4. Treat Failure as Data and Learn from It.
Approaching change with a data-driven mindset involves treating failure as valuable information. Instead of fearing failure, analyze what went wrong, extract the lessons learned, and iterate on your approach. This process helps identify blind spots, refine strategies, and ultimately lead to more successful outcomes. In the context of AI, this means constantly evaluating data for bias, performance issues, and user feedback to improve the system’s effectiveness and ethical implications.
Practical Application:
If you’re developing a new AI product, consider the ethical implications and potential biases inherent in the data you’re using. Don’t just focus on the technical aspects; engage in thoughtful discussions with ethicists, social scientists, and diverse user groups to understand the broader implications of your product. By acknowledging potential downsides and addressing them proactively, you can create a more responsible and impactful AI solution.
5. Humanize Innovation to Overcome Resistance.
To make new technologies more accessible and user-friendly, it’s essential to find ways to humanize them. This can involve incorporating familiar elements, simplifying complex processes, and emphasizing the human benefits of the technology. By making new technology feel less intimidating and more relatable, you can overcome user resistance and increase adoption.
Practical Application:
When designing a user interface for a complex AI system, don’t assume users will intuitively understand its functionality. Instead, find ways to connect the new interface to familiar elements from their existing workflows. Use visual metaphors, simple language, and clear onboarding processes to bridge the gap between the familiar and the new. This will make the system feel more intuitive and less intimidating to users, increasing adoption rates.
Memorable Quotes
Introduction. 6
Your life, exactly as you know it now, will not exist in a few years. It’s a guarantee.
The Good That Comes from Bad. 12
“A crisis like this can shift the window on the options that we are willing to collectively take seriously.”
Learning to Live with Loss. 48
They propose that people weigh losses more heavily than gains.
The Difference Between What and Why. 80
We are not what we do. We are why we do it.
Widen Your Bands. 91
“You have your bands too narrow.”
The Paradox of Goals. 115
“Work your next job.”
We Can See Opportunity Everywhere, but Cannot Actually Be Everywhere. 156
“Why am I doing it this way?”
A New Purpose. 171
“What is this for?”
But Really. 215
“Look for the but reallys,”
You Are Now in the Conscious Cycle. 234
Everything is the next thing.
Comparative Analysis
“Build for Tomorrow” distinguishes itself by offering a practical, action-oriented framework for navigating change, whereas many books on similar topics like “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson or “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen focus more on theoretical analysis or specific case studies. Feifer’s book draws inspiration from diverse fields, including history, psychology, and business, to create a holistic perspective on change. Unlike “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman, which delves into the cognitive biases influencing decision-making, “Build for Tomorrow” specifically addresses the emotional and psychological challenges of adapting to change. While books like “Adapt” by Tim Harford emphasize the importance of experimentation, Feifer’s work underscores the role of personal reflection, understanding one’s ‘why’, and building a ‘Bridge of Familiarity’ to embrace change effectively. “Build for Tomorrow”’s unique contribution lies in its actionable strategies for turning uncertainty into opportunity and building a future-proof career.
Reflection
While “Build for Tomorrow” offers valuable insights and practical strategies for navigating change, it’s important to approach its central premise – that change is always inevitable and potentially beneficial – with a degree of skepticism. While change is a constant, not all change is inherently good or leads to positive outcomes. The book’s strength lies in its focus on actionable steps, drawing from diverse historical and contemporary examples to illustrate its points. However, it could benefit from a more nuanced discussion of the potential downsides of change and the ethical considerations that arise in a rapidly evolving world, particularly in the context of AI and technology. For example, the relentless pursuit of innovation can lead to unintended consequences, such as job displacement or the amplification of societal biases. Overall, “Build for Tomorrow” is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to thrive in a world of constant change. Its actionable strategies, combined with a healthy dose of skepticism and a commitment to responsible innovation, can help individuals and organizations navigate uncertainty and build a more fulfilling and impactful future.
Flashcards
What is a ‘Dominant Question’?
It is the question we keep asking ourselves repeatedly throughout our day, shaping our perceptions and driving our decisions.
What is the ‘Johari Window’?
A mental model used by analysts to assess situations based on what is known and unknown, both to themselves and to others.
What is the difference between your ‘what’ and your ‘why’?
Understanding and leveraging your core purpose (‘why’) allows you to navigate changes in your actions and circumstances (‘what’) with greater resilience.
What is the ‘Bridge of Familiarity’?
By connecting new experiences to familiar elements, we can make change less scary and more palatable, increasing its chances of being embraced.
What is the ‘99% There’ Problem’?
Even after adapting to most of a change, a small unresolved detail can hold us back from fully embracing it. Identifying and addressing this detail is crucial for achieving true satisfaction.
Why is our memory imperfect?
Our brain is not designed to perfectly recall the past. It is designed to be malleable, allowing us to learn from experiences and adapt to future possibilities.
What is ‘Fading Affect Bias’?
The negative emotions associated with bad memories fade faster than those associated with good memories, influencing our perception of the past and our willingness to embrace change.