By Onesmus Joseph
Every afternoon during lunch I noticed dozens of people crossing the road to look for lunch and the luck one waring their food rightly so to ultimately have lunch.
It is an ordinary routine, one so familiar that we hardly give it a second thought. Yet this hour, I invite you to think about lunch differently today.
Imagine for a moment that lunch is not the meal on your table, but a metaphor for survival. In the natural world, every living creature is either searching for its next meal or doing everything possible not to become meal.
The lion cannot afford complacency because hunger never rests and equally so, the kudu cannot afford carelessness because danger never sleeps. Take it from me, nature is unforgiving to those who fail to adapt.
I put it to you that the same principle governs our lives, our careers, our businesses and even our nation. The only difference is that today’s predators do not have sharp teeth.
They arrive disguised as artificial intelligence, technological disruption, changing customer behaviour, climate change, economic uncertainty, shifting consumer preferences, demographic changes and new ways of working.
They quietly reshape industries while many of us continue believing that tomorrow will look remarkably similar to yesterday.
That assumption has become one of the greatest strategic risks of our time. As you read this article, I invite you to ask yourself this question: What is your lunch? More importantly, are you becoming smarter than it every single day?
The future it rarely announces its arrival with loud noises. Instead, it whispers through trends, weak signals and subtle changes that many dismiss as temporary inconveniences. Unfortunately, by the time those signals become obvious, they have often matured into irreversible realities.
Those who prepared early describe the moment as an opportunity, but the one that ignores it; call the same moment a crisis. Trust me the situation may be the same, but the difference lies in preparation.
Remember when people would queue to withdraw cash or request bank statements. Those scenes are bygones and mobile phone performs tasks that once required an entire department of employees.
Banks have not necessarily become smaller; they have become different. Their value increasingly lies in technology rather than the number of tellers behind the counter.
I invite you to think about what this means for someone entering the labour market today.
Many young people continue searching for employment exactly as their parents did twenty years ago, while employers increasingly look for digital skills, critical thinking, innovation and adaptability.
The unemployment challenge is therefore not only about the shortage of jobs; it is also about the growing mismatch between what the economy demands and what many people are prepared to offer and for me this is uncomfortable reality deserves honest conversation.
The same is in organisations, there are individuals who genuinely believe that years of service should naturally translate into promotion. Experience certainly matters, but experience alone has never guaranteed relevance.
Organisations are increasingly rewarding those who demonstrate foresight, embrace change, solve emerging problems and continuously develop themselves. Remaining in the same position for years is not always evidence of organisational injustice.
Sometimes it reflects a widening gap between what an organisation needs tomorrow and what an individual continues to offer today. I appreciate that this observation may be uncomfortable. However, strategy has never been about comforting people. Strategy is about confronting reality before reality confronts us.
To further it, there are professionals who proudly display qualifications obtained twenty years ago without asking whether those qualifications still speak to today’s economy.
Imagine manager who continue leading teams using methods developed for a generation that no longer exists. The world is changing too rapidly for any qualification, title or previous achievement to become a lifetime guarantee of relevance; the era demand thinking and contextual intelligence as a skill.
Omuwambo ohati, “Omunhu ohakulupa tete pamadilaadilo, ndele hakomido.” A person grows old first in their thinking, not in their age.
I have met young professionals who stopped learning immediately after graduation, just as I have encountered older professionals who remain curious, continually reading, questioning and reinventing themselves. The difference between them is not age but the mindset.
As a strategist, I have come to appreciate that strategy is not primarily about writing impressive documents or facilitating colourful workshops.
Strategy is fundamentally about developing the discipline to see what others overlook and preparing for what others dismiss. It requires learning, unlearning and relearning.
It demands intellectual humility; the willingness to admit that what made us successful yesterday may not be sufficient tomorrow. I invite you to pause for a moment and reflect on your own life.
What are you learning today that will still matter ten years from now? Which of your current skills will remain valuable when artificial intelligence becomes an everyday colleague rather than a futuristic concept?
When was the last time you deliberately studied an emerging trend outside your profession? Which books are shaping your thinking?
Which assumptions are you challenging? More importantly, if your current job disappeared tomorrow, would the market compete for your capabilities, or would you begin competing for opportunities that fewer and fewer employers require?
The future is always looking for its next meal. The question is whether it will find an opportunity in you or a victim.
The future does not discriminate between governments, businesses, universities or individuals. It eventually visits all of us.
It quietly examines whether we remained curious or became complacent, whether we anticipated change or merely reacted to it, whether we invested in tomorrow or remained imprisoned by yesterday. Those who prepared recognise the future as progress. Those who neglected preparation often experience the same future as adversity. So, what exactly is your lunch? Whatever your answer may be, remember this.
The world is asking each of us to become a new version of ourselves far more frequently than previous generations ever experienced. Those who embrace that reality will not merely survive; they will shape the future.
Those who ignore it will gradually discover that relevance is never a permanent possession; it is something we earn continuously. So, as you sit down for your next lunch, just remember the future is already searching for its next meal.
The only question is whether it will find you prepared or whether it will find you as its next lunch.
*Onesmus Joseph is a Business Strategy and Chartered Corporate Governance Practitioner with a strong focus on strategic foresight and futures literacy. He is currently the Manager for Intellectual Property Enforcement and Frameworks at BIPA. He writes in his personal capacity. Connect with them at josephonesmus@gmail.com
