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“Can you teach me thermodynamics in 20 minutes?”

Feb 20, 2023

overcoming short attention spans in foresight integration

Whether driven by lightening-fast product life cycles, legally-required quarterly reports, or over-stimulated brains, if you don’t offer a “quick win” then the chances are that no one will give you the time of day. To put it mildly, today’s organizations, institutions, and leaders have little-to-no attention spans.

If you’ve spent any time as a foresight practitioner within an organization (or have consulted organizations as a external foresight expert) you are familiar with the common request that we comically refer to as, “Can you teach me thermodynamics in 20 minutes?” The tongue-in-cheek metaphor here is that foresight professionals are constantly asked to do the impossible – to summarize a 100+ year-old field into a 20-minute agenda item. At The Futures School we liken it to being asked to simplify another complex field – thermodynamics – into a soundbite. I don’t know any professionals in the thermodynamics field, but I I doubt anyone riding with them in an elevator would ask them to give the “gist” of their field before arriving at their floor. Well, it happens to futurists. All. The. Time.

The conversation starts innocently enough – an inquiry into how we can participate in a two-day off-site with an executive team or a request to shape thinking in advance of a strategic planning cycle. But soon, the amount of bandwidth they are willing to dedicate to “the future” diminishes. There’s current, pressing business to take care of, after all. And therein lies the heart of the issue: organizations requesting our services are often hoping for a “quick fix” to address their underlying problems. They realize, especially after the last two years, that they are ill-prepared to handle the growing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity all around them. Unfortunately, this realization is often at odds with the prevailing internal culture. The result is a request to “fit” foresight into their existing system, when, in fact, foresight must replace the prevailing system all together. They wish to treat foresight like an “app” that they can download quickly when needed, but to be successful, foresight must become the new operating system, running in the background 24/7.

So what’s a foresight professional to do? How do you sell the benefits of aged-wine in an era of air fryer expectations?

Here is some practical advice we’ve successfully applied in our foresight practice:

• 🔮 The Future isn’t about the Future. The most important concept you can relay to a skeptical audience (or one that doesn’t yet prioritize futures thinking) is to explain the relationship between the future and today. In fact, they are directly linked. The way we think about the future (consciously or unconsciously) directly impacts the actions we take in the present. By applying Strategic Foresight tools and methods, we can ensure that we “think” about the future in a purposeful and collaborative way that directs our decision-making in the here-and-now.
• 💃 Don’t Offer Executive Entertainment. At The Futures School we believe in meeting our clients where they are; however, this does not mean that we tell them only what they want to hear. Far from it. The fastest way to kill your foresight efforts is to fall prey to delivering executive entertainment. Don’t believe me? Google Muammar Gaddafi and Monitor Group. 😵

Listen to the following episode of the Wicked Opportunities® Podcast for more insights into overcoming short attention spans and even shorter planning cycles.