Of course, just because a futurist's value is hard to measure doesn't mean he's worthless. "What's the value of a single strategic insight that allows you to avoid some catastrophic event?" Chermack asks rhetorically. Even barring mega-insights, there's no harm in hiring someone to collect, analyze and deliver information to time-strapped staffers.

If your company gets blindsided anyway, you might want to consider a career as a futurist.

Forbes has a special feature on futurists. See articles by James Surowiecki, along with a bunch of other names you'll recognize: Cory Doctorow, David Brin, Stewart Brand, Esther Dyson, Nicholas Negroponte, Paul Saffo, Stephen Wolfram, and more.