You should read this if… you, or your organisation, has dismissed scenario planning as too complex or time‑consuming, yet knows your organisation is increasingly exposed to sudden disruption and strategic surprise. This article argues that traditional, heavyweight scenario approaches have discouraged executives from using a tool that is now essential, and makes the case for simplified, flexible scenario planning that fits real leadership constraints. It shows how streamlined scenario methods can cut through complexity, improve strategic clarity, and help leaders build agility and resilience—enabling faster, better decisions in volatile conditions without overwhelming teams or locking them into rigid plans.

You should read this if… you are a leader feeling overwhelmed by constant headlines, trends, and opinions, and want to make better decisions by distinguishing what is truly shaping your futures from what is merely distracting. This article explores the difference between “noise” — the loud, fast‑moving information that drives reactive thinking — and “signals,” the quieter, deeper patterns that point to enduring change. It explains why leaders who learn to listen for signals rather than react to noise are better equipped to address root causes, allocate attention and resources more wisely, and shift from short‑term reactions to more thoughtful, futures‑focused strategy in an age of information overload.

You should read this if… you want to strengthen strategy by improving how your organisation thinks, not just how it plans. This article draws on Maree Conway’s work to clearly distinguish strategic thinking from strategic planning, arguing that effective strategy depends on the ability to imagine and explore future possibilities before locking in actions and plans. It explains strategic thinking as a deliberate, ongoing practice that helps leaders make sense of uncertainty, challenge assumptions, and consider multiple futures, providing the foundation for more coherent, future‑ready decisions rather than plans built solely on past trends or short‑term operational priorities.

You should read this if… you are a CEO or board member looking for a proven, structured way to move beyond short‑term planning and actively shape your organisation’s future. This article introduces Sohail Inayatullah’s Six Pillars of Futures Thinking—mapping, anticipating, timing, deepening, creating alternatives, and transforming—as a comprehensive framework for understanding change and designing preferred futures rather than defaulting to inherited or “used” ones. It explains how the six pillars help leaders recover strategic agency, challenge dominant assumptions, explore alternative pathways, and align action with long‑term transformation in an increasingly complex and uncertain world.

You should read this if… you are a leader working in strategy or transformation and looking for a practical way to balance today’s operational realities with long‑term transformation. This article introduces the Three Horizons framework, originally developed by Bill Sharpe, as a powerful tool for futures thinking that helps leaders distinguish between what must be sustained in the present, what is emerging and disruptive, and what could ultimately replace today’s dominant systems. It explains how using the three horizons together enables organisations to address short‑term performance while simultaneously nurturing innovation and preparing for deep, long‑term change—reducing tension between “business as usual” and the futures you need to build.

You should read this if… you are a strategic thinker seeking a clear, end‑to‑end way to integrate futures thinking into strategy rather than treating foresight as an isolated activity. This article introduces Joseph Voros’s Generic Foresight Process Framework, which lays out a structured sequence from scanning and sense‑making through to generating insights that directly inform strategy development and planning. It explains how the framework helps organisations systematically explore alternative futures, diagnose gaps in how foresight and strategy are currently practiced, and design more robust, adaptable decision‑making processes—turning foresight into a practical, repeatable capability rather than a one‑off exercise.

You should read this if… you are a CEO or board member who wants a clear, accessible way to engage your leadership teams in futures thinking without wading through academic complexity. This article introduces Icons of Futures Thinking as a set of five practical, visual frameworks—the Futures Triangle, Two × Two Matrix, Three Horizons, Four Archetypes, and the Futures Wheel—that make it easier to explore uncertainty, challenge assumptions, and discuss alternative futures. It explains how these icons provide a shared language for leaders to identify signals of change, explore plausible disruptions, and think beyond short‑term horizons, turning futures thinking from an abstract concept into a usable, repeatable capability for strategic decision‑making.

Why was insight & foresight created? Who are our customers? How do we deliver value? Read this note from our founder James Clampett.

You should read this if… you are a leader who wants a disciplined, practical way to scan the external environment without missing critical drivers of change. This article explains how using the STEEP framework—Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political—brings structure and balance to horizon scanning, helping leaders organise weak signals, trends, and emerging issues into a coherent picture of what could shape their organisation’s future. It shows how STEEP‑framed scanning improves long‑term decision‑making by reducing blind spots, clarifying uncertainty, and enabling organisations to anticipate risks and opportunities with greater confidence and reliability.

You should read this if… you are questioning the value of rigid strategic plans in a world that no longer behaves predictably. This article introduces informed uncertainty as a more effective strategic posture—one that accepts unpredictability and deliberately expands an organisation’s range of options rather than committing to a single, fragile path. It explains how embracing uncertainty, building optionality, and exploring multiple plausible futures increases strategic flexibility, resilience, and the ability to shape outcomes over time, shifting leadership from the illusion of certainty to making better decisions in conditions that cannot be fully known.

You should read this if… you are a CEO, executive or board member who wants a practical, repeatable way to explore uncertainty and strengthen strategy without relying on a single forecast. This article walks through the scenario creation process, showing how teams can systematically explore and analyse multiple plausible futures to test assumptions, surface risks and opportunities, and build more resilient strategies. It demonstrates how well‑constructed scenarios expand thinking, support better conversations at the leadership level, and equip organisations to navigate complexity by preparing for a range of futures rather than betting on one expected outcome.

You should read this if… you are a leaders partway through a strategy cycle and want to pressure‑test your current operations plan against a rapidly changing future. This case study shows how scenario planning can be used mid‑strategy to pause, reflect, and recalibrate—helping leadership teams look beyond short‑term delivery and examine how emerging uncertainties and long‑term forces could affect today’s priorities. It demonstrates how using scenarios to review an operations plan surfaces hidden assumptions, strengthens alignment, and ensures near‑term actions remain robust and relevant across a range of plausible futures rather than being locked into a single, increasingly fragile view of what lies ahead.

You should read this if… you are leading a business and feeling pressure to focus on immediate issues while sensing that short‑term fixes are no longer enough. This article explains why the current climate of disruption, complexity, and interconnected change makes long‑term thinking more important than ever, and how an over‑reliance on short‑term decision‑making can undermine resilience and future impact. It argues that intentionally extending leadership time horizons helps organisations address root causes, anticipate emerging risks and opportunities, and make choices today that create lasting value rather than temporary relief.

You should read this if… you are a CEO or board member facing uncertainty and noticing that traditional defensive responses—cutting investment, freezing hiring, or delaying decisions—are starting to limit growth and opportunity. This article explains the core business problems that foresight is designed to address, including indecision in volatile environments, over‑reliance on past data, missed emerging opportunities, and an inability to adapt strategy as conditions change. It shows how strategic foresight helps leaders move from reactive cost‑cutting to proactive decision‑making by using signals, trends, and alternative futures to make more confident, informed choices that support resilience, innovation, and long‑term success.

You should read this if… you are looking to move beyond short‑term thinking and build lasting advantage in an increasingly uncertain business environment. This article explains how foresight can be used to support long‑term success by helping leaders better understand their industry, anticipate customer needs, and stay ahead of technological and market change. It shows how bringing external signals, trends, and emerging issues into decision‑making enables organisations to manage uncertainty more effectively, reduce risk, and make smarter strategic choices today that strengthen resilience and competitiveness over the long term.

The world is becoming more complex and unpredictable, making it difficult for businesses to stay ahead of their competition. This is where strategic foresight comes into play. It allows businesses to identify potential risks and opportunities before they arise, allowing them to make informed decisions about how best to move forward.

In this article, we are going to explore blockchain and some of the things you might consider when developing a blockchain strategy for your business, plus we explore a DAO for payment by outcomes.

You should read this if… you are a leader who wants to make better decisions by clearly distinguishing between what can be managed and what must be navigated. This article explains the difference between business risk and uncertainty, showing how risk involves known variables that can be analysed and mitigated, while uncertainty reflects unknown or unknowable conditions that cannot be reliably predicted. It argues that conflating the two leads to false confidence and fragile strategies, and that leaders who recognise uncertainty as a distinct challenge are better equipped to use foresight, expand options, and make more resilient decisions in complex and rapidly changing environments.

"What if?" analysis is a powerful tool that can be used to make more informed decisions, identify potential risks, and develop strategies to counter potential threats.

You should read this if… you are curious and want to better understand the complexity of your operating environment and make more informed, confident decisions. This article explains the benefits of systems mapping as a way to visualise how different elements of a system interact, revealing relationships, feedback loops, and unintended consequences that are often invisible in linear thinking. It shows how systems mapping helps leaders step back from isolated problems, ask better strategic questions, and identify leverage points for change—supporting clearer sense‑making, stronger collaboration, and more resilient decisions in an increasingly interconnected and uncertain world.