Luminary: John Petersen

Luminary: John Petersen

President and Founder, The Arlington Institute John L. Petersen is considered by many to be one of the most informed futurists in the world. He is best-known for writing and thinking about high impact surprises--wild cards--and the process of surprise anticipation and for having conceived of and developed the first national surprise anticipation system in the world for the government of Singapore.  His current professional involvements include the development of sophisticated tools for anticipatory analysis and surprise anticipation, long-range strategic planning and helping leadership design new approaches for dealing with the future.

He has led national non-profit organizations, worked in sales, manufacturing, real estate development, and marketing and advertising, mostly for companies he founded. A graduate electrical engineer, he has also promoted rock concerts; produced conventions; and worked as a disc jockey - among other things.

Mr. Petersen's government and political experience include stints at the National War College, the Institute for National Security Studies, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council staff at the White House. He was a naval flight officer in the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserve and is a decorated veteran of both the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars. He has served in senior positions for a number of presidential political campaigns and was an elected delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1984.

In 1989 Petersen founded The Arlington Institute (TAI), a non-profit, future-oriented research institute. TAI operates on the premise that effective thinking about the future is impossible without casting a very wide net. The "think tank" is dedicated facilitating the transition to a new world which appears to be emerging out of the erosion of the current familiar paradigm.

An award-winning writer, Petersen's first book, The Road to 2015: Profiles of the Future was awarded Outstanding Academic Book of 1995 by CHOICE Academic Review, and remained on The World Future Society's best-seller list for more than a year. His second book, Out of the Blue: How to Anticipate Wild Cards and Big Future Surprises, was also a WFS best-seller. His coauthored article, "The Year 2000: Social Chaos or Social Transformation?" was one of the most highly acclaimed writings on Y2K. His 1988 book-length report "The Diffusion of Power: An Era of Realignment" was used at the highest levels of American government as a basis for strategic planning. He has also written papers on the future of national security and the military, the future of energy and the future of the media. John's current book, A Vision for 2012: Planning for Extraordinary Change, presents a systems approach for preparing for big change whether from the perspective of a government, organization or individual. 

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