Think of the housing crisis like the tornado grabbing Dorothy and her house and whisking her to a strange new land. What should Dorothy do?

Ravi began with a recap of failed predictions he had witnessed in his career: the prediction in the 1970s the world would be out of oil by 2010, that microwaves would radically change the kitchen, that the Internet would be the death of brick and motor, and that concerns about health and weight would lead to the death of fast food.

Linear extrapolation is dangerous. The outcome is highly non-linear with significant interaction effects. Organizations need to plan for several outcomes. A ball, released on the same terrain with the same initial conditions, will roll down to a very different place, driven by many variables as the ball rolls down. The first blade of grass it hits can change the entire sequence of events.

As a result, organizations need to forget the old planning rules and prescribed steps but look instead at multiple scenarios and multiple futures. Anticipate what will happen tomorrow, plan to Act on it then Adjust.

1. Anticipate: Develop your organization's peripheral vision and sensing. "Most organizations have maverick employees with insights about the periphery, but these individuals are rarely tapped." - George Day & Paul Schoemaker, "Scanning the Periphery". To anticipate our new normal at Citi, we find social networks incredibly helpful.
2. Act now: Long-term planning is dead. "Strategy - as we knew it - is dead: welcome to the fast strategy game." - Yves Doz & Mikko Kosonen, Fast Strategy: How Strategic Agility Will Help You Stay Ahead of the Game.
3. Adjust continuously: Tweak the plan or completely revamp the plan? Implement more measuring, with multi-dimensional measures; too often dashboards don't change unless management changes. Agility is paramount. The old way was to have a 5-year plan. The new way is to change course. 

The future belongs to those companies with a bias towards action and re-evaluation. Ignore the wicked witches that would distract us. Be our own wizard and create our own future.