Powerful times : rising to the challenge of our uncertain world /

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. History unleashed -- Five centuries of history coming undone -- Gobbledygook and the gorilla -- Mental maps and paradoxical certainties -- Making sense of a transformative era -- I: What's happening?: predicting the present -- 2. Clarity and craziness -- Clarity -- Craziness -- 3. Secular and sacred -- Secular -- Sacred -- 4. Power and vulnerability -- Power -- Vulnerability -- 5. Technology acceleration and pushback -- Technology acceleration -- Pushback -- 6. Intangible and physical economies -- Intangible -- Physical -- 7. Prosperity and decline -- Prosperity -- Decline -- 8. People and planet -- People -- planet -- II: What if?: changing for the challenges ahead -- 9. Governance -- An emerging global governance -- Local innovations in governance -- A rising "second superpower" -- 10. Innovation -- Innovating for "the base of the pyramid" -- Sustainable solutions -- Education and learning -- III: What's next?: scenarios for the next decade -- 11. Three snapshots of the future -- New American century -- Patchwork powers -- Emergence -- IV: So what?: acting in an era of transformation -- 13. Creating our new future -- The new realities for business.