Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar offers a valuable lesson about the importance of predicting the future. Throughout classical works, there is often a soothsayer who provides insight into the future, and there are various signs that suggest the prophecy may come true. In Julius Caesar, for instance, a soothsayer warns Caesar of “the Ides of March” in the first act, and later Caesar’s wife Calpurnia shares her concerns about his potential assassination due to a nightmare she had. Despite these warnings, Caesar does not take them seriously, and he meets a tragic end. Likewise, other characters in the play, including Brutus and Cassius, fail to predict the consequences of their actions.In history, there are archetypes that suggest a leader who becomes too powerful in their context may suffer from arrogance and fail to recognize the warning signs. By ignoring such signals, Caesar put himself in harm’s way. Similarly, conspirators should have anticipated that the victim’s friends would seek revenge. Shakespeare’s Macbeth points out that reading the future involves looking at the seeds of time.

In the business world, companies such as Microsoft, Nokia, Kodak, and Polaroid encountered the same problems when predicting the future and making the right decisions. Polaroid and Kodak, for example, failed to embrace LCD screens and ultimately were sold. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Nokia were slow to adapt to the concept of an independent developer market for apps, which Apple had introduced with the app store. As a result, they lost the mobile market to Apple and Samsung.

Leaders and companies that fail to recognize the signals of change are destined for a tragic end, much like Caesar. To avoid such a fate, leaders must use their radars to identify clues to the future and act accordingly.

[1] William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Coradella Bookshelf Edition, 2004, Pg.8.

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