The answer is the Internet of Things (IoE) which, if predictions are right, at the end of 2015 will have 4.9 billion things connected to other things, connected to other things around the world. The thought of this huge number of connected devices going up to 25 billion by 2020 w.

When signals like What do you get when you cross your toaster with the 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 What do you get when you cross your toaster with the 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.