CEO Corner - The Importance of Thinking Ahead
 
It is said that there are those who make things happen, those who watch what is happening and, finally, those who wonder what happened.
 
Foresight, defined as the ability to discern what is likely to happen in the future, is an extension of both insight, or understanding, and hindsight, knowledge of the past. It is taking what we know of current and past conditions as the groundwork for producing probable, preferable and possible scenarios of future conditions.
 
One advantage of foresight is that it helps us anticipate, and prepare for, change. Another advantage is that enables us to be proactive. People have built-in abilities to think ahead because our brains instinctively engage in preparatory exercises as part of our survival kit, for example, by anticipating dangers. A very simple example of foresight is a weather forecast. This helps us to decide in advance what to wear and what to do.
 
I believe foresight builds personal confidence through preparation and through the feeling of being master of our own destiny instead of victims of circumstances.
 
The financial and economic crisis has shrunk the mental horizons of many leaders. People have become afraid of the future. They stop planning. They have few or no strategies for the future. They lapse into survival, reactive mode. It's become a kind of mental and strategic hibernation.
 
ATMIA had to go through a painful restructuring exercise to deal with the financial challenges of recent times. It is better to be decisive when responding to tough economic conditions. But now that restructuring has been completed, the association is looking ahead to our next five year plan for the years 2010-2014. Our theme for this five year period will be “Mission Possible 2014: Empowering Innovation and Overcoming Obstacles to Growth”. We are expanding our thinking to construct an imaginative plan for our whole global organization and our membership body. As a member-centric association, we would like our members to tell us about their greatest challenges to growth as well as their dreams for a better future. Are your biggest obstacles competitor products, new technologies, regulations, increased costs of compliance, ATM crime, shrinking revenue? Please share these with us, as we want to deepen our involvement with member and industry issues. Submit your company’s greatest challenge and success story to Mike Lee at mike@atmia.com.
 
Opportunities and dangers lie ahead. Let's face both with foresight. We cannot let the shrinking economy shrink our minds any longer. It is time to think ahead. 2010 looks like a good time to plan something new and bold for the industry.

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