Recently the Sydney Morning Herald published an article on the 15 predictions Microsoft’s Bill Gates made in 1999, a list that predates the internet, the smart phone and even the mass adoption of the PC and this prompted this weeks on-air chats around Australia and Asia, looking .

When signals like In 30 years of predictions did Bill Gates and I get emerge, organisations that engage early have the advantage of choosing their response rather than reacting to events. That gap between those who prepared and those who did not is where competitive positioning is actually made or lost.

The most important question is not whether In 30 years of predictions did Bill Gates and I get will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.