What does ‘future’ mean to you?
The Economist recently ran a piece (‘The Economist’ 27th May, Can he Hackett) on the relatively sudden departure of Ford’s ex-boss Mark Fields and commented that investors “…disliked the fact that Mr. Fields had to invest heavily in new technologies.” Ironically, Tesla has passed Ford’s market capitalisation and Mr. Fields was “Slammed for running a declining firm” and “hurting profits by investing in the future was a no-win situation”.
So, what did Ford do? Appointed Jim Hackett who was previously responsible for Ford’s programme for driverless cars called Smart Mobility.
Clearly, Ford considers the future to be a time beyond driverless cars.
What is your time horizon? When does your future start?