Think Like a Futurist for Impact and Future Growth.
Updated 17 July 2024
The 2020s are years of upheaval and uncertainty. The pandemic has upended our lives and left many of us feeling anxious about our futures. It's natural to wonder what the next year will bring and whether we are headed towards a future of abundance or scarcity.
One way to make sense of what's happening is to think like a futurist. Futurists use foresight to examine trends and identify potential scenarios for a range of futures. This helps them to see both the opportunities and the challenges that lie ahead. While futurists can't predict futures with certainty, they can help us to understand the different pathways that might lie ahead. This is valuable knowledge for anyone who wants to make the most of what happens next.
What's going to happen next?
It's human nature to want to know what's going to happen next. We want to be able to plan for upcoming events and avoid any potential pitfalls. However, futures are inherently unpredictable. So why bother trying to think about them? According to futurists, foresight is a way of thinking that helps us to make better decisions in the present. By considering a range of potential future scenarios, we can start to prepare for them. This helps us to minimise the impact of negative events, and capitalise on positive ones. In other words, foresight gives us a form of insurance against the unknown.
Whilst thinking about futures and all the different potential pathways that could unfold is interesting. It's even more fascinating to consider how our actions in the present can shape futures. This is what futures intelligence is all about: understanding the trends and dynamics at play in the world today so that we can make informed decisions about futures. This process of imagining different futures and mapping out potential pathways is essential for making progress on big challenges like impact and future growth. By using futures intelligence, we can make sure that futures aren't just something that happens to us, but something that we actively create - they happen with us!
Think five to ten years ahead.
It's interesting to think about how far into the future we can reasonably predict. Obviously, the further out we try to look, the more variables there are that could impact what happens. But foresight is more accurate when considering events that are closer in time. At insight & foresight we like a five to ten years timeframe for people to think in because the futures intelligence available is stronger and people can generally agree on possible, probable, and preferred futures within that timespan. This gives us just enough time to take action on our findings and make a real impact. So while it's important to monitor longer-term global trends and changes, the five to ten-year horizon is our focal point when it comes to foresight and using futures intelligence.
Build futures intelligence.
Foresight is all about understanding and preparing for change. Futures intelligence is the data we use to support our thinking. Futures intelligence can come from anywhere. They could be a technology, a product or service, a social media topic, a research project, a news story, or just a piece of data that shows something is different or changing.
And right now, there are plenty of signs that change is on the horizon. From new technologies to social trends, from economic shifts to environmental changes, we are seeing the world around us shifting in some pretty big ways.
Of course, change is always happening. But sometimes things happen slowly and gradually. Other times, there are inflection points – moments when change happens more rapidly or dramatically. We seem to be at one of those inflection points right now, with signals of our futures all around us.
So what exactly are these trends, signals, and emerging changes? They can take many forms, but usually, they are things or developments that are on the margins – things that look strange or weird or out-of-the-ordinary at first glance. But upon closer inspection, we can see that they are forerunners of much larger trends.
Some examples of trends, signals, and emerging changes include:
New technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, Web3 and 6G wifi
Social trends like the rise of the gig economy or the popularity of veganism
Political movements like populism or nationalism
Economic shifts like the rise of China or the slowing of global growth
These are just a few examples, but you get the idea. By paying attention to futures intelligence, we can start to see patterns and trends that give us a glimpse into what lies ahead.
Of course, not all futures intelligence is positive. Some signal potential problems or challenges that we will need to address. For example, the rise of populism or nationalism could signal a future of increased conflict and division. The slowing of global growth could signal a future of economic insecurity and hardship. So while it's important to be aware of both positive and negative signals, we also need to be thoughtful about how we respond to them.
This is where foresight comes in. By understanding the trends and dynamics at play in the world today, we can make informed decisions about our futures. We can use foresight to see both the opportunities and the challenges that lie ahead. And we can use our insights from the past to help us navigate the present and shape our futures.
Learn foresight tools.
Futurists often use a tool called scenario planning to explore different futures. This involves imagining different potential outcomes and mapping out possible pathways. It helps us to understand the different factors that could impact our futures and identify areas of opportunity or concern.
Scenario planning is a useful tool, but it's not the only way to think about the future. Futurists also use futures triangle, emerging issues analysis, three tomorrows framework, cause layered analysis, visioning and backcasting as well as tools like the Futures Platform and other methods to explore different possible futures. The important thing is to start thinking about futures more intentionally.
The world is changing rapidly, and it can be hard to keep up. But by thinking like a futurist, we can gain a better understanding of the trends and changes that are happening in the world today. We can use this knowledge to make more informed decisions about the future. And we can take action to make a positive impact on the world around us.
insight & foresight supports CEOs and Boards to use foresight to plan and make decisions for impact and future growth with more confidence and great reliability. We use the world-leading Futures Platform as a source of data to significantly improve foresight outputs. To learn more get in touch with us today.
