Experience is the best teacher, but has two drawbacks: It takes years and and can be costly when wrong choices are made. "Comprssed experiences" (of the type we developed for IBM) overcome both drawbacks. People rapidly improve their problem solving, decision making,.and creativity; and they emerge unscathed from mistakes, since the experiences are virtual.

In the future there will be global databases of management, technical, professional, and social compressed experiences, similar to the paper-and-pencil "cases" employed in graduate schools of business and law, except vast in number and universally available.

In recent decades, mental models of management, sales, technical, military, and athletic processes have been employed -- with varying degrees of success -- to nudge behavior in productive directions. Mental models offered by the religions and self-help guru's have also been extensively used, often moderating destructive actions and stimulating positive ones -- but far from generating ideal behavior.

Current less-than-stellar behavior in business and society calls out for increased, more effective use of mental models of all types. As the information age gets more and more complex, mental models will become more of a necessity to shape and empower human performance.

Tomorrow's mental models will not only be in people's heads and on paper; they will also be "everywhere," in electronic form. For example, the Kepner-Tregoe model, used to improve managment performance in thousands of organizations, has recently been translated into software called eThink™. The Defense Advanced Projects Research Agengy -- or DARPA, which spawned the Internet -- recently announced an initiative to create a new generation of self-aware computing systems that "know what they're doing." This "conscious" code, interacting with humans, may prompt heightened human self-awarenes -- if only to keep ahead of the ever-smarter technology.

The "elements" of thought, feeling, and perception remain mostly unexamined by most people most of the time. When examined more closely, the elements gain definition and strength. The person then becomes more alive and effective, since he or she is the very sum of the elements.

The mental elements have long been the focal point of IQ tests and graduate record exams. Now is the time to focus on them in education, training, self-improvement, and entertainment.