We human beings would like nothing more than to predict our futures.  All business planning functions require a determination of demand, be this budgeting, materials requirements planning, logistics planning, HR planning, etc.  As geopolitics and other exogenous events kick in, uncertainty increases, and risk escalates. And so does our anxiety level.

Take some time to consider the wealth of information out there and the ‘proxy’ information that tells us something about trends that will affect our business.  Call it predictive analytics if you wish, except it’s not (just) about the technology, but about management experience and intelligence to read the writing on the wall.

Here are two freely available sources.  McKinsey Charts, and perhaps even more relevant, Google Trends to understand consumer interest.