Predicting the internet

Here is a fun piece by The Next Web highlighting a variety of predictions that were made regarding the internet, some dating as far back as 1969.

I love retrospectives like this because they are a good way to learn how to make better predictions and, as a result, better decisions. Don’t be one of those 20/20 people, the kind that always looks back and goes “oh yeah, that was so obvious, I could’ve predicted that.” Could you have, really? Don’t fool yourself. It’s ok to get a prediction wrong. What’s not ok is to not admit that you were wrong, and to not learn from your mistake and work to get better the next time.

Get into the habit of analyzing other people’s predictions and seeing who get it right and wrong, and why. And at the same time, get in the habit of commiting yourself to a prediction, on the record somewhere if possible, and the evaluating yourself later to see how good of a job you did. You’ll have to eat some humble pie from time to time, but it’ll help you become a better decision maker, and a better manager.

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