To “prove” the future

All major strategic decisions are risky by nature

All major strategic decisions are risky by nature

In 2011 I was a CEO of a large company. The company was a part of a holding group managed by a bunch of people who believed that their mission is to control us, CEOs, because, as they thought, we needed control and their guidance. Their job was to doubt any our decision and to ask dozens of questions we had to answer — that’s why I didn’t like days when I had to visit the headquarters. And the most frequently asked question was “can you prove this?”. I always heard it when we discussed issues in which the future was involved — new products, new projects, investments, and so on.

Future doesn’t exist, it is being created every second by effort of millions of people acting, mostly, independently. There are no “facts” about the future. We may guess, foresee, make forecasts, but we always must keep in mind that all the forecasts are always wrong, at least to an extent.

But many CEOs, financial controllers, and even entrepreneurs refuse to make…