We created the hierarchical, pyramidal, managerial system because we needed it to keep track of people and things people did; with the computer to keep track, we can restructure our institutions horizontally.
— John Naisbitt
The more technology we introduce into society, the more people will aggregate, will want to be with other people: movies, rock concerts, shopping.
I was totally surprised by the spread of the legalization of same-sex marriage. In just my lifetime we have gone from a taboo to even talk about homosexuality, to the sanction by governments of homosexual marriage. Few such large social considerations have ever before been turned over in such a short time.
In their search for quality, people seem to be looking for permanency in a time of change.
Trends, like horses, are easier to ride in the direction they are going.
The new leader is a facilitator, not an order giver.
In a world that is constantly changing, there is no one subject or set of subjects that will serve you for the foreseeable future, let alone for the rest of your life. The most important skill to acquire now is learning how to learn.
One of the best kept secrets in America is that people are aching to make a commitment, if they only had the freedom and environment in which to do so.
In the network model, rewards come by empowering others, not by climbing over them. If you work in a hierarchy, you may not want to climb to its top.
Learning how to learn is the most precious thing we have in life.
I was sure we would never see the adoption of the Euro. Countries giving up their currencies for a common tender was, it seemed to me, completely out of tune with currency being a carrier of people's cultural identity, celebrating national heroes and events, as it had been for hundreds of years.
The most reliable way to forecast the future is to try to understand the present.
Lawyers are like beavers: They get in the mainstream and dam it up.
Value is what people are willing to pay for it.
Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.
We are shifting from a managerial society to an entrepreneurial society.
Whenever a new technology is introduced into society, there must be a counterbalancing human response - that is, high touch - or the technology is rejected... We must learn to balance the material wonders of technology with the spiritual demands of our human nature.
In the Marines, I was stunned, absolutely stunned, at everything around me, at what the world looked like.
In an information society, education is no mere amenity; it is the prime tool for growing people and profits.
Strategic planning is worthless - unless there is first a strategic vision.
We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge.
We must learn to balance the material wonders of technology with the spiritual demands of our human race.
Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data.
