I wrote this feature in today’s FT on the use of futurists by managers. Futurism remains an unformed field, ranging all the way from finger-in-the-air prognosticating to highly quantitative scenario planning. But is there a manager in the world who hasn’t been tempted to pay someone who promises to tell them their future?

A visiting English friend and I recently paid $40 to have our palms read on Mercer Street in SoHo by Elaine the Psychic. She told me I should express myself in writing. Which I try to do, and that I should live on water, which I don’t, but would like to.