This perspective reminds us that we are all "ancestors." In other words we are all responsible for actions that will have consequences, for good or bad, in the future. Possibly even in the distant future. Aware of that fact - perhaps the only fact about the future - we need to explore the long-term forces shaping the outlook for our organizations; forces that have also shaped the past and our journey to the present day.

In a survey that European Futures Institute did last year, over three quarters of responding companies expected that - in ten years time - that their main markets will be character- ized by even greater volatility and more rapidly changing market shares than they are at present. The other sources of external change expected in the future include further shifts in product and service markets and in the profile of main customers. The picture that emerges from our work in Europe is one of "change that is changing."

Do Companies Have Souls?

Let's get metaphysical. How would you want to be remembered by your successors? Is your company or organization prepared for the 21st century? Are you ready for the future? No company has a right to exist. Nor has any company a right to the future. We must continually justify our existence in the marketplace: for the present and for posterity. Thus it is in the cold light of these realities that we need to answer an unusual question: *Do companies have souls?*

Bear with me. The soul is described as that which survives into the afterlife. I want to use "soul" as a metaphor for your organization after it is no longer part of your life. Again this might seem an unfamiliar and even an uncom- fortable concept. Outside of the largest organizations it is rare nowadays to even assume that you will spend your entire management career with the same company. Indeed, such an assumption might even be thought odd. Thus a growing proportion of managers may no longer even expect to be part of the long-term development of their company. And in such circumstances, it is inevitable that the quality of thinking about the long-term will surely suffer.

So how should organizations factor in the long-term? The answer, in a word, is relationships. Business is about relationships. It is not about profit, or market share or share prices. These are simply measures of progress. Just as we weigh ourselves occasionally to check that we are the "right" weight, i.e.: that which is conducive to health and well-being, so we measure our business performance to see that we are "in shape." But too many managers confuse the milestones for the road. It is what you are getting in shape for that counts.

This is why business is about relationships. Three sets of relation- ships to be precise, namely: internal relations; external relations; and temporal relations. The first two sets of relationships are the most familiar. Internal relations refer to those between management and staff, and between shareholders and stake- holders. External relations refer to those between a company and its customers, its suppliers and its competitors. Temporal relations describes what we have been talking about all along. The "extended present": our roles as inheritors of the past and ancestors to the future.

Those companies that understand the core importance of relationships and their supervision will inherit the future. All change is driven by changing relationships. Re-inventing the future requires that managers lift their gaze from the milestones and re-focus on the destination. It is, if you like, about your company's soul. You need to believe in a corporate afterlife: one that empowers the future progress of your company or organization beyond the temporal boundaries of the annual budget and the three year plan. One that will even empower the future progress of your company after you have gone.

We are on the cusp of a new century and a new millennium. But dates are not important in themselves. Their value lies in their potential to inspire - if the birth of the twenty-first century can bring out the paternal (or maternal) instinct in your manage- ment team, then use it. You already are an ancestor to the future: whether you are remembered as a good ancestor or not is entirely up to you.