What mattersisn't how you solved the problems of the past, but how yousuccessfully anticipate (and thwart) the problems oftomorrow.

On the evening of September 22, 1970, mankind would be foreverchanged. At 10:55 pm, the BBC began airing the second episode ofthe second season of a surreal sketch comedy that to this daycannot be distinctly described.

It was in the first skit following the opening when a millworker approaches a woman quietly knitting as she sat comfortablyon a couch. "One of the cross beams has gone out askew on thetreadle," he tells her.

The woman expresses confusion and repeatedly asks the millworker to explain himself. Increasingly frustrated, he finallybursts out, "I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition!"

To the sudden sound of ominous musing, in burst three men cladin red medieval vestments. The leader among them steps forward withthe iconic pronouncement: "NOOO-body expects the SpanishInquisition!"

Thus comes the lesson from Monty Python's Flying Circus and itsSpanish Inquisition sketches that  all 401(k) plansponsors must heed as they address the highest current concern.

Think about this for a moment. Trade journal headlinesare replete with suggestions, current topics and perilous warningsfor 401(k) plan sponsors. But these missives, once amassed, amountto nothing more than preparing for the last battle.

The world–whether it be competitors, customers, or compliancecops–consistently speeds always one step ahead of you. What matters isn't howyou solved the problems of the past, but how you successfullyanticipate (and thwart) the problems of tomorrow.

I'd give you a few examples, but, then, they wouldn't beexamples, would they?

You can research all you want about the known universe of dataregarding the retirement plan environment, but it will always bethe one stone left unturned that will ultimately do you in.

How do you combat an enemy you cannot see? By changingyour frame of reference.

Everything, even something normally invisible, casts a shadowwhen viewed from the right angle.

So, how do you reposition yourself to catch that correctperspective? Well, it's near impossible to know since our quarry isso elusive. It's like asking, "How do I find something I'm notcertain I'm searching for?"

To answer this, we need to borrow a phrase from subatomicparticle physics. It's called "cross section." It refers not to aphysical area (like the length and width of "area"), but is rathera function of both time and space. Think of it as a car movingalong a highway. Its cross section is the space it occupies not ina single instant, but over the duration of several instances.

Imagine taking a picture of that moving car and keeping the lensopen for a few seconds. When you expose the film, you don't see aclean crisp image of a single car. Instead you see the blurrysmudge of the car stretched across the highway. It's this smudgethat physicists call the "cross section."

The practical implication of the term is this: Asedentary object has a smaller cross section than if that sameobject were in motion. The size of the cross section is important.The bigger the cross section, the more likely the object willinteract with another object.

Going back to expecting the 401(k) unexpected, plan sponsorswith a bigger cross section will be more likely to identify theunexpected before it surprises them. What kind of motion will maketheir cross section larger?

Here, the answer is quite simple, and yet quite hard. The simplepart is knowing what to do: keeping abreast of the latest trends inthe retirement plan industry, reading trade journals likeBenefitsPro or FiduciaryNews.com.

But don't just read the headlines. Connect the dots of thoseheadlines.

The hard part is having the time to do that, but if plansponsors can stay in motion this way, they may be in the positionto avoid being surprised by the unexpected. Indeed, they'll be ableto turn the tables and surprise the unexpected.

In fact, you might say they would be poised to pop in, clad inred vestment, loudly declaring, ""NOOO-body expects the SpanishInquisition!"

Read more: 

• A warning to all 401(k) plan sponsors who assumetoo much
• Do you have the 'knows' to be afiduciary?
• 'Hands-off' plan sponsors failing on participantgoals