Articles

One thing often overlooked in the numerous descriptions of what makes a good futurist is the personal worldview of those doing trend hunting, pattern making, scenario writing, and speculative designing. Some of us are more pessimistic about the future; others lean toward believing in positive possibilities and outcomes. Some believe in the unlimited potential of humanity, while others see people as life’s biggest problem. Of course, there are many philosophical shades in-between these extremes. Still, one thing rings true no…

The Importance of Story in Organizations and Society The early 21st Century has been characterized as a time of great global change, reframing the way that we connect, create, and consume. This profound shift in human development is not only a catalyst for the destruction of our antiquated industrial systems, but is also facilitating the emergence of new models of transformation.

While it is tempting to retreat into a reactionary, fear-based operational model given our changing world, this is actually the least effective strategy. We must first discover where our natural strengths lie. Then, we can explore the strengths and weaknesses of each of the three leadership traits. Success in our complex world requires us to understand the art of embodying and leveraging all three traits.

In this video, Principal Frank Spencer (TFSX) interviews Suzette Brooks Masters – A social entrepreneur with a long track record of creating positive change in our society. Thought leader and strategist in the fields of social cohesion, democracy, and futures. Suzette uses her extensive philanthropic, non-profit, research, advocacy, program development, and legal experience to advise foundations, non-profit organizations, policymakers, and corporations on how to respond to the significant demographic shifts that have transformed America after decades of immigration and to…

Democracy’s tenuous viability is in part due to our exponentially changing landscape of technological access, economic precarity, and environmental collapse. What might be called a “polycrisis” of multiple, simultaneous, and convergent “wicked problems” has flung open the door of widespread fear, doubt, and anger about a landscape where many have been left out of the future altogether. (As well as a present that is devoid of visions for a more hopeful future that starts right now.)

When we want to implement change and transformation in our organizations, we are introducing a new vision or a new level of growth.

We have increasingly focused on the quantifiable world over the past 100 years as a means to growth and progress. Organizations have become obsessed with numbers and the warm, fuzzy feeling they give us when they neatly add up to demonstrate that the future looks bright. In reality, life has always been a mixture of what we might call “quantified and qualified metrics.” Today’s world is now forcing us to recognize the importance of qualitative measurements by virtue of its…

At TFSX, we have spent the past two decades establishing the idea and practice of the Inner Futurist, having created a dynamic philosophy of futures thinking as a cooperative evolutionary trait known as Holoptic Foresight that promotes the democratization of futures thinking, and that undergirds the concepts and implementation of our world-renowned framework known as Natural Foresight.

“I want to see the world. Follow a map to its edges and keep going. Forgo the plans, trust my instincts. Let curiosity be my guide. I want to change hemispheres. Sleep with unfamiliar stars and let the journey unfold before me.” — The Maptia Manifesto Travel with us back to 2008 Frank Spencer, an abundance-minded futurist, is working at a foresight firm in Washington, DC. For the last several years he’s worked as a foresight consultant who was always…

When contemplating the future, we instinctively think of the “top trends” lists that are always making headlines. For most, the word trend has become synonymous with the future. This common but erroneous interpretation causes many strategic foresight efforts to stall because trends are not the future. Trends are visible because they are occurring today. They represent the present. In fact, trends can be our worst enemy; they tend to keep us connected to what is immediate and surrounding us, but…