The Mind of a Fox
Posted By Rob Millard - 0 Comments -
In 2001, just three months before 9/11, two South African scenario planners, Chantell Illbury and Clem Sunter, published a book titled 'Mind of a Fox.' It included an open letter to President George W. Bush. The letter listed the key uncertainties that the authors thought the then newly elected president would face during his tenure. They included, at the top of the list, a terrorist attack on an American city (Illbury and Sunter postulated a nuclear attack, as in Sum of All Fears;) nuclear weapons getting into 'worng hands' and "a general disintegration of world order caused by age-old motivations of greed, power and ethnic and religious hatred." It is fascinating reading the letter (which you can do by clicking here) nearly seven years later.
Scenario planning is such a valuable tool in the strategist's toolbox. In these uncertain times, I find myself using it more and more with my client work. Take a look at Illbury and Sunter's web page, Mind of a Fox, to learn more about their approach. There's also a fair amount about it on this blog. Clem Sunter was responsible, back in the late 1980s, for a series of scenarios (the "High Road / Low Road" scenarios) that were very widely publicized and that played a quite significant role in getting Nelson Mandela released from prison and the demise of apartheid.
Amazon doesn't seem to do too well at stocking books from non-mainstream countries, so if you'd like to order the book you may have more luck through kalahari.net, which specializes in southern African books.
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