The attack of the unexpected : a guide to surprises and uncertainty

161 Pages·2011·2.257 MB·English

by  Magnus Lindkvist

The Attack of the Unexpected.indd 1 10/7/10 12:03:27 PM
The attack of the
unexpected
Magnus Lindkvist is a trendspotter based in Stockholm,
Sweden. He helps companies make sense (and money)
out of the future, and unexpectedly met his wife Vesna on
a blind date in 2004.
The attack of the
unexpected
A guide to surprises and
uncertainty
Magnus Lindkvist
Copyright © 2011 Magnus Lindkvist
First published in 2011 by Marshall Cavendish Business
An imprint of Marshall Cavendish International
PO Box 65829
London ec1p 1ny
United Kingdom
[email protected]
and
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www.marshallcavendish.com/genref
Marshall Cavendish is a trademark of Times Publishing Limited
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The right of Magnus Lindkvist to be identified as the editor of this work has been asserted by
him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
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addressed to the publisher.
The author and publisher have used their best efforts in preparing this book and disclaim
liability arising directly and indirectly from the use and application of this book.
All reasonable efforts have been made to obtain necessary copyright permissions. Any
omissions or errors are unintentional and will, if brought to the attention of the publisher, be
corrected in future printings.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-981-430-259-3
Cover art by Opal Works Co. Ltd
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI William Clowes
To anyone who will ever be attacked
by the unexpected

Contents
Prologue : The end is the beginning 9
Introduction : Blindsided 11
1 Expectations 0 – Reality 1 21
Defining the unexpected
2 The surprised mind 37
What the unexpected does to the brain and soul
3 Corporate turbulence 59
How companies thrive and fail unexpectedly
4 Hurricane winds of change 89
How societies collide with the unexpected
5 The bad side 117
The people who hijack and exploit the unexpected
6 Conclusion : A bright, uncertain future 141
Adapting to and enjoying life in an unpredictable
world
Epilogue : Rebirth 151
Thank you! 154
Notes 155

Prologue:
The end is the beginning
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. New Year’s Eve, 1999. The
ghostly blue swimming-pool lights cast weird, wobbly
shadows on the surrounding buildings. The night is dark
and the area around the pool is tranquil. The silence is
deceptive. This five-star hotel is the site of several New
Year’s parties this evening. The one I’m attending is hosted
by a friend who recently got married on Mount Bila in
southern Zimbabwe. All the wedding guests spent a few
weeks travelling around with the newlyweds. A kind of
collective honeymoon, if you will. It is now a few hours
before midnight and I have retreated to be with my own
thoughts for a while, a New Year’s ritual since I was very
young. I dangle my feet into the cool, crisp, chlorinated
water and reflect upon this mythical date. A year, a decade,
a century and a millennium are drawing to a close. In the
past few months, the world has been on edge – by 1990s
standards, anyway – because of rampant speculation
regarding the Y2K bug that would cause all computers to
crash on this fateful evening because of a programming
error. But since Sydney, Beijing and Mumbai have already
passed midnight without any computers going haywire,
Y2K is forever doomed to the “great mispredictions”
chapter.
What lies ahead, I ask myself as an unseasonably chil-
ling breeze blows in over the pool area. The torches lit