Book excerpt: “Much is said these days about building bridges to the 21st century, and savvy businesspeople are constantly on the lookout for ways to make this colorful metaphor into reality. Thinking in the Future Tense: Leadership Skills for a New Age, by author and business lecturer Jennifer James, clearly establishes the framework for a real-world transition” (Amazon.com). American business, economics, and society are changing at a phenomenal rate. The pressure is on, and managers need to learn faster, think smarter, and free themselves from confining assumptions and old mindsets. In this important book, James—"the Margaret Mead of modern business"—reveals the business survival skills managers need to know to operate in this new fashion.