In his latest book, What Matters Now, Gary Hamel urges his reader to ask, “What are the fundamental, make-or-break challenges that will determine whether your organization thrives or dives in the years ahead?” For Hamel, five issues are paramount:

o Values: “Not surprisingly, large corporations are now among society’s least trusted institutions…values now matter more than ever.”

o  Innovation: “After a decade of  talking about innovation, it’s time to close the gap between rhetoric and reality. To do so, we’ll need to recalibrate priorities and retool mindsets.”

o  Adaptability: “In most organizations, there are too many things that perpetuate the past and too few that encourage proactive change. The `party of the past’ is usually more powerful than the `party of the future.'”

o  Passion: “The problem is not a lack of competence, but a lack of ardor. In business as in life, the difference between ‘insipid’ and ‘inspired’ is passion.”

o  Ideology: “Better business processes and better business models are not enough – we need better principles. That’s why ideology matters now more than ever.”

As I worked my way through Hamel’s lively and eloquent narrative, I was reminded of one of Marshall Goldsmith’s books whose title asserts, “what got you here won’t get you there.” My guess is, this would be Hamel’s response: “What you do NOW and how well you do it will determine whether or not there will be– as Gertrude Stein phrased it – ‘a there there.'”

Peter Drucker frequently insisted that the future has already arrived. “The challenge is to recognize it.” Yogi Berra agrees: “You can see a lot by looking.”