Joel A. Barker Quotes

You can never plan the future by the past.

Adaptability is a great asset to have because life is so unpredictable, and things can change overnight for any of us.

You don't know what's going to happen in our business a year from now... so you have to be flexible and adaptable, and that's what we try to do.

We cannot assume that past successes will insure future successes.

Historians emphasize contingency, complexity, and the unanticipated ... Few principles apply all the time.

The future is inherently full of discontinuities, and lessons of the past must be applied with enormous caution.

The things that worked for us in the past wasn't going to work the same way going forward.

Things change very quickly. You have to be prepared and ready and on your toes at all times.

Just because you have a good hand today doesn't mean it's good tomorrow. And some of the things we're doing may become very disadvantageous at some point.

The important thing to remember, if you are trying something that is an innovation, is not to think too much about it. Because if you take too long, by the time you get there, the world will have changed. You take a risk, and if it doesn't work, you make a change. We are not betting our lives on it.

In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.

The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody's guess.

The world is changing so quickly, it's hard to get anything right for long.

You must always be able to predict what's next and then have the flexibility to evolve.

Our only security is our ability to change.

It's really impossible to project ahead even six months in this business.

Plans are nothing; planning is everything.

Security... it's simply the recognition that changes will take place and the knowledge that you're willing to deal with whatever happens.

Nothing is ever guaranteed, and all that came before doesn't predicate what you might do next.

The world is changing quickly and we must be ready to change with it or risk being left behind.

Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.

You can't learn in school what the world is going to do next year.

I find myself thinking: Oh God, now what? I always have to have a new plan, otherwise I get very, very bored.

History is merely a list of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again.

History is only a feeble light, for the rubrics were meant to answer future problems unimagined and unimaginable