(FORTUNE Magazine) – I try to remain as cool as I can, but it isn't easy. The world keeps changing, and I'm not as aware of what I need to do to keep pace as I used to be. That's why I was so interested the other day when I read about two young women in California who help corporations figure out what's going to be cool, if not now, then very soon. The very cool magazine I read this in reported that these women charge their clients tens of thousands of dollars for a newsletter pertaining to this issue of coolness, which is very cool. Of course their insight has implications for targeting and demographics and targeted demographics and much, much more. For instance, they predicted the return of the simple sneaker, and just what do you think Kurt Cobain was pictured wearing when they found his body? You guessed it. Access to that kind of heads-up data can be worth millions to the intelligent marketer.

The only thing I found obnoxious about these coolhunters was the fact that, invariably, the information they provided was based on what people under 30 were into. Now, people under 30 can be very nice, but they do not run things and have little disposable income that isn't handed over by Mommy and Daddy. Where was the information for young geezers like you and me? What would it be worth to you, I asked myself, to find out what was soon to be cool? A lot, I bet. Maybe even tens of thousands of dollars, huh?

Here, then, based on a tremendous database of experience, close observation of what younger people are doing, and a fair amount of idiotic speculation, are my predictions of what will be cool, if not now, then certainly very shortly, for people who, if they are not you, are very much like you.

--Corporate nesting. In the 1970s through the 1990s, many people strove to attain the briefest interactions in the history of business, thinking this was cool--and it was, for a time, as we managed by walking around and interfaced with brief scenarios. Now things have changed for the corporate player. There are fewer of us around, and most of us have interlocking agendas. This means every issue ends up involving the same six or eight guys. Truly cool people will see this trend developing and nab it early, scheduling meetings wrapping around meals that are served at regular hours and feature bacon, ribs, and other comfort food.

--Comfy footwear. Business people have suffered for more than a century with some of the stiffest and most difficult shoes man or woman has been forced to wear since the Dutch invented clogs. Trends coming out of the Pacific Northwest hint at a very cool change in the making that has already penetrated non-gender-specific culture on the left coast but has yet to pierce Wall Street and its elitist East Coast toadies. Soon, however (at 8:17 a.m. on Feb. 28, 1998, to be exact), the first corporate executive will enter his workplace wearing white socks beneath a pair of wingtipped Birkenstock sandals, and a new level of corporate hipness will be born. After that, dudes from Patterson to Petaluma will begin to introduce this apotheosis of the new comfort, first on Fridays, when folks are already relatively informal and as funky as chickens, then on other days of the week. Swoop in early on this trend with nice, thick woolen socks and Birks in either classic black or sensuous cordovan--no suede, though. Some things aren't cool, they're dorky.

--Mellow hours. Back before the anal-retentive, relentlessly sober 1990s, the morning was a time one could greet the day and establish some internal priorities. Now it's all about being there. Showing up. Taking up space. Nothing could be more uncool. Taking a page from those born after 1970, cool people this fall will begin to take a more Zen attitude about the entire concept of punctuality, particularly in the morning. Be the first on your corridor to "step away" before most people have stepped in. The key to coolness here is to leave one's door open the night before, keep the lights burning, and maintain a false briefcase open on a chair. That way, if anyone looks, you could be out, you could be in. Nobody knows your status at all. You're just...not there! For a business person, it doesn't get any cooler than that.

--Corporate piercing. Of course, cool people in a workplace can't go around like nutsy grunge guitarists ventilating their extremities. It has become increasingly clear, however, that no individual can be truly cool without a metal object hanging off a nearby body part, sometimes more than one. That's why, right down the road, you're going to see midlevel senior management (the source of all cool innovation) begin to sport strategically placed small binder clips from Acco. You know the kind; they're black with silver handles, designed to bind together documents of more than ten or so pages. Put three on your earlobe, and suddenly you've got a cool accessory, and one that will certainly engender comment. Truly daring and outre players could clip a nostril or, off duty, a bellybutton or eyebrow. Remove the clip for a more conservative look. Hiding your true nature is never out of fashion.

--Refreshing lack of loyalty. Face it, fidelity within a business context is so five minutes ago. It's nice as a concept, of course, when times are good. But when the alligators are biting at your butt, sentimental fealty is virtually worthless--a fact that bigtime senior management has been hip to for years. Now it's our turn. Don't be mean or vindictive. Don't impale your friends when it's not necessary. Just don't let feelings of affection or gratitude, or worse, common history, determine your actions. Go out of the way to show they do not. That's not only cool. It's cold. And very '90s, don't you think?

This is just the beginning. As you can see, even though we're an independent generation and very much in control of this society, our notion of cool is shaped, to a certain extent, by the behavior of those younger, more daring, with a lot less to lose. As a group, however, we are not slaves of younger fashions, and cool business people will continue to develop cool business trends that will not be shared by those under 30, who want our jobs but aren't cool enough to get them. These generational coolnesses include shaving on weekends even when we don't have to, going to bed early, never ever getting on a skateboard, and having only one small glass of Chardonnay with our poached salmon. If you're already doing all that, well then, you're ahead of the curve, baby!

And that's just about as groovy as we're going to get.

By day, STANLEY BING is a real executive at a real FORTUNE 500 company he'd rather not name.