If organizations can sense and respond to emerging opportunities, there is a good chance they will endure. If they can embrace each new opportunity with greater ingenuity and speed – that is, if they can get better at getting better – there is a good chance they will bloom. Bruce Henderson, an early writer on business strategy, noted that strategy and its implementation are related to the natural system of evolution and survival of the fittest. His argument – that organizations, like organisms, must adapt or die – is perhaps even more poignant now.

Today it seems that organizations need to be able to do more than just adapt; they must become agile in the face of constantly changing conditions. And if organizations are to respond intelligently, they must make learning a central part of their strategy for survival and growth. If they do not, the future looks more and more bleak; it will just be a matter of time. If, however, leaders and the people within the organization are learning all the time, faster than competitors, and applying the right strategies at the right times, the organization has hope.

To create a climate in which all of that is possible, leaders must ask themselves, “How can I dramatically increase my organization's ability to learn?” As this volume has demonstrated, there are many answers to that question. Face-to-face in-person education has not disappeared and is not likely to anytime soon.