Documental

MICHEL GODET

Appropriation

Preface by Joseph F. COATES

E3 E C O N O M I C A

Second Edition

PREFACE

A second edition is always a cause for celebration. For the publisher, it confirms his hope t h a t the product he sponsored would continue to be successful economically. For the author, the implications are even more delicious. His message has been understood, studied, and used.One could rarely ask for more from a professional thinker and a proponent ofbetter ways to think. To me the most striking m a r k of success is t h a t the software indispensable to the tools and techniques which Godet describes, explains, and advocates has been downloaded from the Internet over 7000 times, at no cost. While a number of futures works in the English speaking world are accompaniedby software packages in the form of CDs, the Godet approach - make it free with the help of the Entrepreneurs of the Future Circle — is far more socially valuable. The second advantage I see in this new edition is pulling some of the good ideas out of chapter three to integrate into other chapters, and then creating an entirely new chapter three. He h u n t s down a particularly subversive form ofthinking, or more properly, failure to think, in the form of six clusters of cliches. Other minor changes throughout sharpen, clarify, or expand on details. If clarity is a virtue, Michel Godet is a saint. Two features of Professor Godet's career show through clearly in his new tour de force. First, as a university professor, he admires and practices clarity, consistency, and intellectualintegrity. As a consultant practitioner - one of the most eminent in France - he brings to his treatment ofscenario planning as a strategic management tool, a degree ofpracticality and flexibility which is admirable. His attitude and precepts if adopted would greatly benefit all ofthose who could be successful in the use of scenarios as a planning tool and in strategic management.

Creating FuturesScenario Planning as a Strategic Management Tool

© Economica Ltd, 2006 AU rights reserved Firstpublished 2006 Printed in France Michel Godet Creating Futures Scenario Planning as a Strategic Management Tool ISBN2-7178-5244-l

MICHEL GODET

Creating Futures
Scenario Planning as a Strategic Management Tool
Preface by Joseph F. COATES

Translated by Adam Gerber and Kathryn RadfordSecond Edition

6 3 ECONOMICA London • Paris • Genève

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This is the second edition of Creating Futures and most of the content has been updated; particularly chapters one, two, and three. Chapter 3, Clichés and AntiClichés About the Future, is completely new. The first edition's success can certainly be attributed to the thousands ofvisitors to the Lipsor web site(http://www.lipsor.fryO who have downloaded the toolbox for futures studies, which is available free of charge since 2005. None ofthis would have been possible without the generous support of the Entrepreneurs of the Future Circle, which now comprises more t h a n 40 organisations. This book was translated with assistance from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, specifically the Scientific and TechnicalCooperation Department, in order to help the French school of la prospective become better known in the English-speaking world. The translation/ adaptation ofmy work 1 for the first edition owes much to the literary talent of Kathryn Radford (lecturer, Université de Montréal and McGiIl University), who gladly attended corporate workshops in Paris to see our futures-thinking techniques in practice.My friend and close associate Adam Gerber (American futurist and researcher at Lipsor) has contributed enormously to this volume by translating and adapting much of the new content. Lastly, I am both grateful and honoured to have one of the greatest American futurists, Joseph F. Coates, write the preface to Creating Futures.

1. French handbook Manuel de prospective stratégique, Dunod, 1997,...