I’m going to call this out, just like I did back in 2009 when I curated the Retail Store of the Future exhibition , the future of the routine stuff we buy in stores is going to be automated, mechanised and stuffed full of new tech, because it can and because we want it to [].

When signals like Amazon Go but what about the people 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 Amazon Go but what about the people 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.