Thinking the Unthinkable

Nik Gowing was a main news presenter for the BBC's international 24-hour news channel BBC World News 1996-2014. He presented The Hub with Nik Gowing, BBC World Debates, Dateline London, plus location coverage of major global stories. Nik is a Visiting Professor at Kings College, London in the School of Social Science and Public Policy.Chris Langdon is the founder-Director of Reconciliation through Film, being established as a charity to develop new ways of using communications for conflict resolution. He was Managing Director of Oxford Research Group 2010-2014.

This is an amazing piece of work! It deals with the little known irony: that those with the most decision-making power often feel under the most pressure to conform to the systems and norms around them. This explains why our institutions - whether national, regional or international - have been caught off guard. And why we are stuck in reactive rather than proactive - mode. The need for a strategic overhaul in our thinking is widely acknowledged, though few know how to go about it. I think giving a copy of this book to every world leader would be a good place to start. --Miroslav Lajcak, President of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister of Slovakia I can say, very genuinely, that this book is hugely important. But it is also difficult because it is human nature to react to crises but not to prepare for and pre-empt them. It is also very different today from what it used to be because of the multiplicity of possible crisis events that can overlay each other. We simply do not have the capacity to deal with more than one crisis at a time. I was very impressed by the work Nik presented when he came to the Bank." --Kristalina Georgieva, CEO, The World Bank This book it timely, scary and important. One hopes it will be widely read - and that it will resonate with those in demanding senior roles in both public and private sectors who are overwhelmed by the fast-changing and complex challenges they confront. Still more importantly, one hopes that it will trigger wide debate and thereby help to reduce the probability of the 'unthinkable' setbacks that threaten our current civilization - threats about which too many people are still in denial. --Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, Founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, Cambridge University 'With so much change in business and in the political arena, you can either play safe in responding, or - as this wonderful book encourages the reader - you can "thrive on change." Thinking the Unthinkable urges leaders to engage with ideas that may appear - or may be in the short run - disruptive but will lead to innovative outcomes, products and services. This is a must read for all leaders in all sectors!' -- Professor Sir Cary Cooper CBE, Alliance Manchester Business School, Co-author, The Myths of Management (2017)