12 Provocations for Year Ahead: 2025

“Predictions are boring. None of us knows the future and therefore no one cares what you think is going to happen. Provocations are different. There is no right or wrong, just boring or stimulating. As a result, they can take many more forms: a meaningful question, a firm statement, or ambiguous feeling.”

That’s the way this list of provocations from leadership network ON_Discourse is introduced as the platform compiled interesting thoughts from their members to share as an alternative to predictions. While I don’t agree that predictions always need to be boring, I do love the idea that these insights can be framed as provocations meant to start a dialogue. The list shared in their article does offer some unique perspectives that will get you thinking about the year ahead.

One insight from the list suggests that “AI won’t take jobs; it will take tasks.” Another suggests that Google will win the AI wars because they have the biggest data store of human interest thanks to all their search and click data collected over the past three decades. What’s also interesting about this list of provocations is that each is also examined from the lens of other members who push back against it or offer a different perspective.

Altogether it’s an interesting article to read if you’re looking for a bit of inspiration to get your strategic mind working as we head into the final weeks of the year and many of us start thinking about what will matter in 2025.