p.135 challenges faced... often begin as weak signals at the periphery... these signals are difficult to see and interpret but can be vital to success or survival.

p.135 Managers... need to be able to recognize when part of the picture is missing - to answer the question, "What don't we know that might matter?"

p.136 improving peripheral vision begins by asking the right questions.

p.136 Companies in complex, rapidly changing environments require well-developed peripheral vision... Once an organization has defined the scope of the peripheral vision it needs, it then must determine how to scan within this field of vision. What are the questions it should address?

p.136 When a company examines its main areas of focus, its questions are targeted and the answers precise... But the questions used to examine the periphery need to be much more open-ended and the answers far less precise.

p.136-137 Learning from the Past. What have been our past blind spots? What is happening in these areas now? ...Is there an instructive analogy from another industry? ...Who in your industry is skilled at picking up weak signals and acting on them ahead of everyone else?

p.138-140 Examining the Present. Research shows that we filter and ignore large amounts of information that reach our senses... this filtering... can exclude essential information from our perception... What important signals are you rationalizing away? Nearly all surprises have visible antecedents... In assessing the current environment, managers must separate signals from noise... But how do you identify important signals? A good way, we've found, is to select a signal and fast-forward its development using scenario planning or other future-mapping techniques... What are your mavericks and outliers trying to tell you? ...Find informed people, either inside or out, who reject the conventional wisdom about your businesses... What shifting winds are they feeling that the rest of the organization is missing? ...What are peripheral customers and competitors really thinking?

p.142-146 Envisioning New Futures... What future surprises could really hurt (or help) us? ...Managers can also reveal weak signals by asking themselves how they would attack their own businesses as a new market entrant ...What emerging technologies could change the game? ...Is there an unthinkable scenario? ...Without conscious intervention, the mind will naturally force fit any faint inclinations into preexisting mental models.

p.148 what actually transpired in Venezuela was never envisioned in any of the scenarios... Often the early warnings of pending turmoil are faintly visible at the periphery... If you mine for these warning signs and then combine them into seemingly far-fetched scenarios, you may see the threats and opportunities at the periphery more clearly.

p.148 Like being aware that a sudden outflow of the tide is a sign of a coming tsunami, recognizing these warning signs early can be a matter of life or death... As Charles Darwin said, "It's not the strongest of the species who survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change."