In most cases being on top of what the innovators are doing, keeping up with trends and using that knowledge to even predict things. In my case being on the east coast, trends in technology that are trending up on the west coast usually get here within a few months. Though by following the west coast I already know what I wold have to learn, so technically that is being "Ahead of the curve."
Source(s):
Personal Experience

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Relating to baseball terms, I was always told if you're expecting a curveball to move up in the batter's box so that you can hit it before the break. "Ahead of the curve."
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If "you have ahead of the curve" you are advanced in some way

If you plot normal probability distribution on a graph, the shape looks similar to a bell. This is usually referred to as the Bell Curve. If someone is ahead of the curve, they're beating the odds or staying ahead of the game

To be ahead of the curve means you've anticipated the market or are ahead of everyone else.
Source(s):
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/44/messages/12.html
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/english-idioms-sayings/20256-ahead-curve....

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There was an excellent book written called, "Crossing the Chasm"

Quote
The customer can’t reference each other when they are in different markets. Customer reference is a chain reaction affected usually by word of mouth. The market purpose must be to develop and shape something that is real and has a set of potential customers and a given set of products and services and allows the customers to reference each other when making buying decisions

Customers are caught in informational silos. A chain reaction occurs by word of mouth or advocacy that starts creating momentum. The designer or creator of the idea is ahead of the demand curve. Early adopters take a liking to the product and begin advocating their preferences (Mavens). A S-Curve starts to emerge and about 10 percent acceptance determines an inflection point where the product will advance toward dominance. Innovators develop something "Real" but Mavens bring the real product to market. The Mavens are the visionaries that give the company or inventor their first break into stardom. The perception is the innovators foresaw the demand curve materialize before it actual did.
Source(s):
http://www.listensoftware.com/hrxp/cmarticles.asp?SiteId=4&process=disp...

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Being able to anticipating up coming issues and able to resolve them ahead of time, is what "ahead of the curve" means. It can be about questions, fashion, what ever the case maybe. It basically means that person or the case in subject is ahead of everyone or everything else.
Source(s):
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_it_mean_Ahead_of_the_curve , BUT WROTE IN MY OWN WORDS AND ADDED MORE, I AM JUST GIVING A SOURCE. Thank you. (^_^)V

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The curve can be viewed as the classic grading curve, or as I prefer, the philosophical curve one encounters on life's path. As we progress through time, things become familiar and comfortable, but nothing stays static for long. Being ahead of the curve means being able to take in enough information from the present and past, so as to be able to handle whatever curve may lie ahead in the future. If you are a keen observer of the current moment, you can better prepare yourself to react to future events which are derived from the present.
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