"The most reliable way to forecast the future is to try to understand the present." -- John Naisbitt
John Naisbitt (born January 15, 1929 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is an American author and public speaker in the area of futures studies. His first book Megatrends was published in 1982. It was the result of almost ten years of research. It was on the New York Times bestseller list for two years, mostly as #1. Megatrends was published in 57 countries and sold more than 14 million copies.
"In a world that is constantly changing, there is no one subject or set of subjects that will serve you for the foreseeable future, let alone for the rest of your life. The most important skill to acquire now is learning how to learn.""In an information society, education is no mere amenity; it is the prime tool for growing people and profits.""In their search for quality, people seem to be looking for permanency in a time of change.""Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data.""Lawyers are like beavers: They get in the mainstream and dam it up.""Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it.""One of the best kept secrets in America is that people are aching to make a commitment, if they only had the freedom and environment in which to do so.""Strategic planning is worthless - unless there is first a strategic vision.""The new leader is a facilitator, not an order giver.""Trends, like horses, are easier to ride in the direction they are going.""Value is what people are willing to pay for it.""We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge.""We are shifting from a managerial society to an entrepreneurial society.""We must learn to balance the material wonders of technology with the spiritual demands of our human race."
John Naisbitt studied at Harvard, Cornell and Utah Universities. He gained business experience working for IBM and Eastman Kodak. In the world of politics he was assistant to the Commissioner of Education under President John F. Kennedy and served as special assistant to HEW Secretary John Gardner during the Johnson administration. He left Washington in 1966 and joined Science Research Associates. In 1968 he founded his own company, the Urban Research Corporation. Naisbitt founded the Naisbitt China Institute, a non-profit, independent research institution studying the social, cultural and economic transformation of China located at Tianjin University. In 2009, Naisbitt published China's Megatrends, a book analyzing China's rise. Adviser on Agricultural development to the royal government of Thailand, former visiting fellow at Harvard University, visiting professor at Moscow State University, faculty member at the Nanjing University in China, distinguished International Fellow, Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), Malaysia -- the first non-Asian to hold this appointment, professor at Nankai University, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, member of the advisory Board of the Asia Business School, Tianjin, recipient of 15 honorary doctorates in the humanities, technology and science.John Naisbitt and his wife Doris are based in Vienna and Tianjin/China.
John Naisbitt also has a son of the same name: John Naisbitt. He teaches Advanced Placement European History and United States History at Hinsdale Central High School.
