In a recent TED interview, Larry Page says that his most important state of mind is that he's always on the lookout for things that define the future.
He's not the only successful tech CEO who thinks this way. Jeff Bezos is well known for taking the long view, looking at how things are going to turn out during the next 10 years as opposed to the next 10 months: "We believe that a fundamental measure of our success will be the shareholder value we create over the long term."
Mark Zuckerberg also displayed this quality no later than yesterday by deciding to buy Oculus VR:
How are you planning to create the future?But this is just the start. After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face -- just by putting on goggles in your home.
This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.
UPDATE: just read Fred Wilson's take on this, who puts pretty much the same feeling in words:
And now Zuck and his team are looking up and saying “what’s next?”. It’s not that different from what Larry Page and his team are doing at Google. The Charlie Rose interview with Larry that I made Video Of The Week last weekend was a bit of a review of all the things Google is doing to figure out what’s next (balloons, driverless cars, Nest, DeepMind, etc).