May I borrow your timeline?
Ignoring his attention filter, she slips unannounced into his work pod. The translucent red barrier flickers as she passes through, smearing the distorted visuals around them like ink dissolving in water.
- Hi, sorry to bother, but I'm in sort of a pickle, and running out of options...
He sighs, collapsing visualisations with a flick of his wrist. The projections fold neatly into his workspace.
- Another week, another mind melter?
She leans against his desk, trying to act casually.
- May I borrow your timeline? We’re running out of time and need more resolution for our project's decision matrix.
- What are you trying to achieve this time?
- Mining discarded options. The expansion I’m working on has seventeen viable paths, but our confidence metrics are too similar. We need more variability.
His work is due tomorrow, but curiosity pushes his irritation aside.
- You want to learn from things that never happened?
She smiles, recognising his shift from irritation to interest.
- Precisely. I already identified striking structural similarities between our current model and your work from last quarter, but I need more. The counterfactuals from your decision points could give us the comparative data we need.
He leans back in his chair, joining his palms, considering.
- You know, all this is tracked? If this gets flagged, the auto audit will cost you time you already don’t have.
- Already cleared. Official cross-team transfer, fully anonymised. Audit won’t even blink.
She takes out a slim, translucent data key that pulses softly between her fingers.
- Two hours of your matrix, focusing only on the branching scenarios from the resource allocation phase.
- Are you sure this overlay won't interfere with my current workflow? I also have deadlines.
- The slowdown is minimal. You might feel a slight déjà vu echo when accessing those memory clusters, but the system neatly isolates discarded scenarios.
She smiles, rolling the data key between her fingers.
- Besides, your counterfactuals are some of the most developed in the firm. Most people don't map out their abandoned options in such detail.
He fidgets in the chair, clearing his throat.
- Force of habit. I can't help gaming out the scenarios I don't pursue.
- That's why I need yours specifically. Your could-have-beens are more valuable than most people's actualities.
Surrendering, he waves consent at his console.
- Fine. But I want shared access to your customer sentiment predictive models when this is done.
- Deal.
She leans forward and slots the data key into his workstation with a soft click.
- This will map only decision points related to resource allocation strategies, market timing, and stakeholder communications.
The transfer starts. Suddenly, a flicker of memories flashes through his mind like frames of a sped-up movie, as her indexer rapidly reassesses thousands of his past decisions. They stare at the progress indicators as the previewer flickers through all the archived work.
- It's fascinating, isn't it? We build these elaborate models to predict what might happen, then make decisions that collapse all possibilities into one reality. But somewhere, in our minds, all those untaken paths still exist.
- Like quantum ghosts lurking in the dark corners of our strategic plans, always there but never used.
She counters, smiling.
- More like an untapped resource. Think about it, every decision you didn't make is still there, fully mapped with all your expertise and instincts, just never executed. That's valuable intel.
- All the roads not taken.
- Exactly. And each one can teach us something that the chosen path couldn't.
The progress bar completes with a soft chime.
- Perfect. Thanks for this. You've just saved us about a week of modelling.
He asks, genuinely curious.
- What will you do with it?
She pockets the data key.
- We'll overlay your scenarios on our current matrix to see where they converge. If totally different strategies lead to similar results, those are safe bets and will work as great stability indicators. Then we spot the tripwires, the outliers, the black swans that trigger unexpected chain reactions across our models. This is how we’ll get more variability in no time.
He can’t help but nod, impressed by the idea.
- Using counterfactual timelines to stress-test decisions before committing. Smart.
She grins proudly. Her team did a great job coming up with this one.
- Creating the future by learning from all the pasts that never happened.
As she turns to leave, she pauses at the threshold of his attention filter.
- Oh, and tomorrow? Definitely stakeholder-first. Works best for most timelines I've checked. Trust me. Catch you around!
Before he can ask how she knew about his dilemma, she's gone, and the red filter ripples back into place. After restoring his workspace, he notices one of the decision branches looking slightly brighter than before. The stakeholder-first strategy he'd been hesitant to commit to. Glancing quickly towards the barrier where she’d vanished, suspicion blooms.
What if she hadn’t come to borrow his timeline, but rather to plant one?
With a gentle blink, a notification appears in the corner of his console. “Sync Invitation: Accepted”. He frowns, opening it cautiously. A message unfolds:
"Thanks for helping me. I’ve pre-shared our team's full scenario archive. Thought you'd appreciate this.”
He smiles in surprise, feeling relief and a rush of excitement as he starts analysing the unexpected opportunity.
Let’s see if your trash can be my treasure.
Hello Practical Futurists,
Welcome back from the future, where mining untaken paths for insights is the most valuable currency in strategic planning.
Hit the "Like" button at the top or bottom of this page to help other strategic thinkers build a future-ready mindset.Great leaders don't just think about the future. They experience it.
Like elite athletes who vividly visualise their performance, exceptional leaders build detailed mental pictures of possible futures to inform better decisions today.
Each week, our imagination workouts combine futures thinking and practical sci-fi, helping you build a personal library of future memories. These vivid mental scenarios transform abstract possibilities into clear reference points, sharpening your strategic instincts and enhancing your readiness for the age of AI.
Ready to expand your imagination? Start here:
Now, let's make this future personal.
We'll connect the ideas from this story directly to your life, turning abstract possibilities into practical memories you can use to confidently navigate tomorrow's challenges.
Personal life reflection prompts
1. How often do you revisit past decisions and consider what if scenarios? Does this practice bring you clarity or create anxiety? 2. Try to recall using the Timeline Explorer that allowed you to visualise the outcomes of different life choices: - What personal decision did you first investigate with this tool? - How did seeing multiple potential outcomes change your perspective on past regrets? - What unexpected connection did you discover between seemingly unrelated choices? - What emotional response surprised you most when witnessing an alternate version of your life?
3. In what 2 ways might deliberately preserving your discarded options help you with making personal decisions in the future?4. Think back to the first month of subscribing to MultiverseMatch, a service that connects you with people who made different choices at similar decision points: - Which alternate version of yourself was most enlightening to speak with? - What did you learn about your core values that remained consistent across different life paths? - How did seeing the consequences of a road not taken confirm or challenge your original decision? - What new daily practice did you adopt after these conversations?
5. How might deliberately studying the abandoned options of someone you admire provide valuable insights for your own life choices?Fantastic work!
You're building an impressive collection of future-focused insights. Now, let's supercharge your thinking by adding powerful professional leadership moments.
How will you guide your team or organisation through the future you've just envisioned? Let's create memorable leadership experiences together.
Professional life reflection prompts
1. How could your organisation benefit from systematically capturing and analysing the alternative strategies or solutions that weren't implemented? 2. Try to recall when your team won an innovation award for Decision Archaeology: - Which long-buried strategic option did you resurrect that created breakthrough value? - How did you overcome initial resistance to investing resources in exploring abandoned ideas? - What unexpected pattern emerged when mapping ten years of your organisation's discarded strategies? - How did you structure the knowledge-sharing system that captured value from past decisions?
3. How would you design a decision matrix that incorporates lessons from abandoned strategies when planning future initiatives?4. Think back to the first planning session after counterfactual dashboards became standard tools in executive decision-making: - Which key performance indicators shifted after implementing alternative timeline analysis? - How did the visualisation of decision ripple effects change your approach to risk management? - What unanticipated cross-departmental synergies emerged from sharing alternative strategies? - How did the time horizon for strategic planning extend once multiple timelines became visible?
5. What organisational or cultural barriers prevent learning from roads not taken in your workplace, and how might these be addressed?You did amazing! Excellent work!
Today's insights are valuable additions to your growing library of future experiences.
Thank you for expanding your imagination with us. Leaders with bold ideas move our world forward.
Think bright, and see you soon.
Pawel Halicki
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