What made Wayne Gretzky the greatest hockey player of all time wasn’t his speed on the ice or the uncanny accuracy of his shots, but rather his ability to predict where the puck was going to be an instant before it arrived. In other words, it was Gretzky’s brain that made him exceptional. Over the past fifteen years, scientists have found that what distinguishes the greatest musicians, athletes, and performers from the rest of us isn’t just their motor skills or athletic abilities—it is the ability to anticipate events before they happen. A great musician knows how notes will sound before they’re played, a great CEO can predict how a business decision will turn out before it’s made, a great chef knows what a recipe will taste like before it’s prepared. In a powerful narrative that takes us from the research in the labs to the implementation of predictive technology inside companies, Vivek Ranadivé and Kevin Maney reveal how our understanding of human mastery is being applied to the way computers "think." In the near future, the authors argue, the most advanced computer systems and the most successful businesses will anticipate the future much like Wayne Gretzky’s brain does. As a result, companies will be able to use a new generation of technology to anticipate customer needs before customers even know what they want, and see production snafus before they occur, traffic jams before they materialize, and operational problems before they arise. Forward-thinking companies will be able to predict the future just a fraction ahead of everyone else with a little bit of the right information at the right time—what the authors call the two-second advantage—and it will transform the way businesses are run and offer companies an enormous competitive edge in the marketplace. In the bestselling tradition of Blink, Sway, and How We Decide, The Two-Second Advantage will change our understanding of what makes a company successful. "The right information at the right time is often the key to breakout success. Vivek's legendary entrepreneurial track record and the deep insight that he and Kevin Maney offer into the art of information technology makes this the right book at the right time to arm the reader with the knowledge and perspective the future will demand” —Marc Andreessen, Co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, Opsware Inc. and Netscape   "Anyone interested in understanding the one common denominator of almost all long term success should read The Two-Second Advantage ...organizations or even talented people don't need to have a vision of the future ten years or even ten days out. They need to accurately anticipate what’s about to happen next a split second before the competition using the right information at the right time." —Phillip Hellmuth Jr, 11-time World Series of Poker Champion and Poker Hall of Famer   "A compelling book on the 'art of anticipation' that everyone should read for every business today." —Mark V. Hurd is President of Oracle Corporation and a member of the Board of Directors.   “Ranadive and Maney convincingly show that by seeing the future we can achieve a new one. Neuroscience meets computer science and the result is profound, not to mention a great read.” —Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics   “In an environment where the velocity of change is faster than at any other time in history, a company’s ability to capture The Two-Second Advantage can mean the difference between success and failure. Vivek articulates how leaders and organizations can use predictive processes to anticipate change and gain a competitive advantage that shapes the future of work.” —Francisco D'Souza, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cognizant   “An elegant exploration of how a company could in effect not guess, but anticipate what’s about to happen in two months from now or even an instant with right information at precisely the right time. The Two-Second Advantage is one of those rare books that shape our thinking about how companies and organizations should use technology to operate more like ‘talented’ humans.” —N Chandrasekaran, Chief Executive Officer, Tata Consultancy Services   “What does the unique scoring ability of hockey great Wayne Gretzky have to do with leading the modern organization in the digital age – how valuable is a consistent competitive advantage driven by predictive power?  With these engaging and insightful examples Ranadivé and Maney explore and explain how the leaders of ‘Enterprise 3.0’ are achieving sustainable competitive advantage through the use of predictive computing.” —Thomas H. Glocer, Chief Executive Officer, Thomson Reuters   “Critically important for today’s business leaders.   Customers are engaging with companies through an exploding number of channels, from mobile devices to the social universe.  The concept that we can not only understand all that customer data, but make accurate and business-shaping predictions from it, puts this on the must