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“The robots are coming!” This phrase has been used in countless books, articles and news programs over the past several years to describe the march of our mechanical counterparts toward their enshrinement as an indispensable part of our daily lives – and for good reason. Of course, the robots actually came a long time ago. As a matter of fact, the word “robot” was first used in writer Karel Capek’s 1920 science fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). In contrast…

Recently I’ve been asking myself, “Why don’t we see more design-oriented firms incorporating and utilizing the power of futures thinking and foresight?” And I’m definitely not alone in this line of thinking, because something really exciting has been emerging in various design disciplines, companies and educational institutions across the globe. In growing numbers, designers are realizing that it isn’t sufficient to only create things that are beautiful or maximize productivity, but that design must also understand deep patterns and trends,…

The Wicked Opportunities® Creator Economy Pack Sources This edition of the Wicked Opportunities Card Decks explores the Creator Economy. Individual participation and crowd-funded innovation are spurring the transition to a new economy. Consumers are choosing experiences over physical goods, and technologies such as 3D printing, virtual reality and drones are creating an environment where access to assets trumps ownership. Below are the sources utilized in the Creator Economy Pack trend cards: Authentic ExperiencesPush: Travelers Seek More Authentic Experiences; Agents And Tour…

Here’s a secret about futures thinking and foresight: It should be a natural part of your organizational processes and operations, an organic component of your business culture. In other words, foresight should naturally flow from organizational design, being just as commonplace and essential to a business as leadership development, human relations, strategy, planning, or talent management. Yet foresight is often ignored or sidelined in organizational development because we tend to view company-building as a highly quantifiable process, as if we…

As futurists, we never claim to be able to predict the future. Predicting means you reject all possible outcomes in favor of one that you’re certain will come to pass. With the rapid pace of change and increased complexity of today’s environment, a predictive approach is only effective in the short term at best, and at worst, it’s dangerous.

We are entering an economy where jobs as we know them are rapidly changing and in many cases disappearing: where technology and humans are changing how and where we work. So, what will the world of work look like in 2030? We often hear buzzwords like ‘collaboration’, the ‘gig economy’, and ‘artificial intelligence’, and see companies forming around these ideas (like Rainfin, TaskRabbit, and the Bebot AI in Japan, respectively), but what are the implications of these trends and how might…

The field of Strategic Foresight was born decades ago. Traditionally, it has been relegated to academic circles and small teams within large corporations. But today, in this increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment, it’s much more obvious that every organization, and every individual, needs foresight. In its most basic form, Strategic Foresight gives us a framework to identify emerging trends and issues, and then use this insight to map out possible futures. These well-informed maps of the future allows…

Each of our TFS cohorts is special, but the first ever group in South Africa was in a league all its own. Many of our participants have a sense of excitement when it comes to learning foresight, but in our Cape Town session, there was a sense of urgency and energy that made the session come to life. As our South African partner Wilhelmina Linell puts it in her Profiles in VUCA piece, “We have a survivalist mentality in South Africa.…

PVH is one of the largest apparel companies in the world with 30,000 associates in more than 40 countries and iconic American brands such as Calvin Klein, IZOD, and Tommy Hilfiger. What role do you play in this huge operation? I lead a team that is focused on the future of supply chains, and how PVH should be operating in that future space. We’re not responsible for day-to-day supply chain operations, but we explore, build, and implement how they’re going…

After a decade as a finance professional, I was tapped to lead a division focused on the future of work at Disney. But in just the 7 or so years I’ve been in the field, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. In an attempt to earn the coveted “seat at the table,” most HR professionals seem singularly focused (obsessed even) on data and quantification.