Respect and make use of the past

Respect and make use of the past—for history is the great teacher.

The world is full of market and social forecasters. But few have a definable method, and even fewer have road-tested their method—as LifeCourse has—on five centuries of past events. For those who have the key, the past can be a treasure chest of parallel lifecycles and instructive scenarios. To comprehend today’s “Millennials” for instance, reacquaint yourself with the original powerhouse “G.I.” generation—and to dig deeper into the uncertainty and fragmentation of the ’00s—take another look back at the 1930s or 1860s. History’s echoes deserve attention not just because they bring us closer to our past, but because so much can be learned from them.

The text above is copied verbatim from William Strauss and Neil Howe's Lifecourse site; the full 26-page document from which this text is copied can be found and downloaded here.