Articles

The Wired For Next series looks at the deepening relationship between technology and humanity, and how that co-evolutionary relationship is changing the way that we approach the future of work, consumption, connection, food, play, learning, health, governance, transportation, organizational development, and so much more. In 1973, renowned design theorist and university professor Horst Rittel penned a treatise on an original concept that he called wicked problems. According to Rittel, a wicked problem differs from a regular problem in that the…

You could think of Richard Ramsey as the foresight maestro at Walt Disney International. He expertly coordinates training, projects, and presentations for hundreds of practitioners in various time zones. While his work started with a focus on talent in the workplace, it now affects all aspects of the company. Members of Disney’s regional foresight teams span different functional areas, ethnicities, and age groups. The foresight program is taken very seriously (they have an application process with a mile-long waitlist), and…

A key focus of The Futures School is on assumption and bias work.  This unique feature set us apart from similar training programs, and is THE critical success factor of any foresight effort. It’s tempting to skip the “Discover” phase (where we uncover our blind spots) and jump right to scanning and scenarios.  Unfortunately, if you fail to challenge your perspectives, you will only find trends and build scenarios that look much like today’s world, and that’s a waste of…

Today, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States of America. Every single day since the election, I have spent countless hours thinking about what this presidency – born in an atmosphere of fear, anger, hate, and authoritarianism – means for the future of the great American dream and experiment.

Doesn’t the thought of building strategy for your organization—one that is practical and motivating—make you feel anxious and even a little bit nauseous?

As we get ready for 2017, it’s time to reflect on the amazing year that we had at Kedge, helping clients and professionals all over the world to discover and create the future for better strategy, innovation and organizational transformation.

The Natural Foresight framework and tools have been leveraged in major companies in 23 countries over the past 5 years under our parent company, Kedge. The Futures School is the democratization of these same tools, now available to everyone.

If you’re in a position of leadership today, then you’ve definitely experienced what it means to be “environmentally challenged.” Normally, this phrase refers to the frustration of being too small or too tall in a world made for “normal” people.

As social media and collaboration expand, the People Cloud can be found in every discipline and domain. Several factors are contributing to the ubiquitous nature of this emerging future: the proliferation of wearables, the emergence of the worldwide connectivity, and the advancement of mobile and sentient technology.

There are 7 shifts dramatically altering business, society, and technology, and they are a result of the inevitable change taking place in response to our landscape of increasing complexity, and the subsequent emergence of new values, ideas and systems that will shape the answer to the question of “What’s next?”