Navigating the Badlands

Business forecaster and author Mary O’Hara-Devereaux borrows a metaphor from the old American West, “navigating the badlands,” to describe the journey that business and industry finds itself on in the current transitional period between the end of the Industrial Age and the complete realization of the Information Age – a journey that, the author believes, is expected to last well into the second decade of the 21st century.

Yet, this transition has already shown its effect in the structural economic shifts the world currently faces, ushering in a networked knowledge economy that is becoming the dominant economic model, replacing the former industrial model.

Navigating the Badlands maps the opportunity for potential leaders—worldwide—to begin what will amount to a hero’s journey, leaving behind old ways of doing things and learning, through thoughtful action, how to interconnect and perform seamlessly across boundaries—whether organizational, cultural, or generational.