John L. Petersen is the president and founder of the
Arlington Institute, and is considered by many to be one of the
most informed futurists in the world. He is best-known for
writing and thinking about high impact surprises—wild
cards—and the process of surprise anticipation. His
current professional involvements include the development of
sophisticated tools for anticipatory analysis and surprise
anticipation, long-range strategic planning and helping
leadership design new approaches for dealing with the future.
In 1989 Petersen founded The Arlington Institute (TAI), a
non-profit, future-oriented research institute. TAI operates on
the premise that effective thinking about the future is
impossible without casting a very wide net. The “think
tank” serves as a global agent for change by developing
new concepts, processes and tools for anticipating the future
and translating that knowledge into better present-day
decisions. Using advanced information technology, a core group
of bright thinkers and an international network of exceptionally
curious people along with simulations, modeling, scenario
building, polling and analysis, Arlington helps equip leaders
and organizations from many disciplines with tools and
actionable perspectives for dealing with uncertain times.
An award-winning writer, Petersen's first book, The Road
to 2015: Profiles of the Future was awarded Outstanding
Academic Book of 1995 by CHOICE Academic Review, and remained on
The World Future Society's best-seller list for more than a
year. His latest book, Out of the Blue: How to Anticipate
Wild Cards and Big Future Surprises, was also a WFS
best-seller.
Petersen is a past board member of the World Future Society,
writes on the future of aviation for Professional Pilot magazine
and is a member of the board of directors of the Charles A. and
Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation. He is a network member of the
Global Business Network and a fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. A provocative public speaker, he addresses a wide array of audiences around the world on a variety of future subjects.
other related websites
Arlington Institute
http://www.arlingtoninstitute.org
