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Alumni Profile: Watts Wacker

Editor's note: please contact us to nominate other alumni for working world columns.

Current Position:
Chairman of Firstmatter LLC and co-author of The 500-Year Delta: What Happens After What Comes Next.

Prior Experience:
resident futurist at SRI (formerly Stanford Research Institute); futurist at Yankelovich Partners; vice president of marketing at Kenner Toy; pollster and commentator for Fox Broadcasting; regular contributor to the nightly business report on Public Broadcasting.

Your biggest challenge as a futurist:
The challenges of being a futurist are quite interesting, especially since I have no clue what is going to happen tomorrow. I guess I would say the biggest challenge is that people expect me to predict what will happen when futuring is really more about building probably scenarios that could happen versus the identification of what will happen.

What you learned from writing The 500-Year Delta:
That collaboration is potentially the most powerful force in the universe. I love to ask people the question, "What is the most powerful force in the universe?" Most people say either love or gravity. When Einstein was asked the question, he said "compound interest." I used to think the most powerful force in the universe was denial. Now, I am not so sure that it is not collaboration.

What you like about your work:
Absolutely everything. As Joseph Campbell would have said ... follow your bliss. If you don't like what you are doing, find something else to do.

How UT helped you:
The best part of the business education I had at the University of Texas was the flexibility I was given in the creation of my own curriculum. Sociology, economics and psychology all became part of my studies, even though I was a business student.

Advice for students:
I think the components of leadership today must include vision, context, belief in an absolute outcome, absolute honesty, tolerance for diversity and an attitude of insurgency.

Any predictions for Texas?
I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you!! (Editor's note -- Watts is after all in the profession of marketing his predictions.)

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