Sergio Brodsky presents the 70-20-10 rule: keep 70% of operations stable, improve 20% incrementally, and dedicate 10% to breakthrough ideas. He argues this small allocation to strategic foresight gives outsized competitive advantage in today's interconnected crises.
In innovation, there is that, you know, 70-20-10 rule where 70% of the things that are working, you keep them working, you don't touch, you know, let them stay as they are because it's good. 20% that can be improved, you just apply some incremental innovation, you solve small problems and you're going to improve that 20%. And then 10% is dedicated to new things, to breakthroughs, to, you know, coming up with new ideas. This is the same guidance that we give when working with clients in those types of projects. I only want 10% of your budget. I only want 10% of your resources. I only want 10% of your people dedicated to this future idea. Everything else we can work in a more linear way. But for 10% of that, let's make an effort. Otherwise you'll be missing on a huge opportunity here. And we have articles, you know, we have proof points, publications from the World Economic Forum, from other reputable business publications saying how advantageous it is to have Foresight built in as a capability in an organization can give you massive advantage over, over your competition and stakeholders. And especially now when we're living in this age of the polycrisis, with so many crises influencing one another and so much change happening right in front of us, it can be very disorienting. But strategic foresight, with all of those inconsistencies and variables, is what will give us the alertness to at least be able to appreciate and critique those changes without feeling too anxious, without losing control.
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