Category: Impact

As part of a regional 3-year plan to reframe economic development through the lens of broad-based prosperity, the Orlando region has leveraged foresight to develop a series of strategic transformations.  One such initiative has been called “Autonomous Connection” and leverages the growing technology of autonomous transportation as a means to create community-wide access and inclusion to services, education, healthcare, jobs, tourism, cultural diversity, and a broader sense of place and belonging. As the Orlando region increases the use of autonomous…

Author’s Note: (In the process of writing this piece on the future of transportation, I decided to focus on the effect that new personal transportation and disruptive mobility technology choices will have on strategies for transportation resilience.) Predictions about the transportation industry are rife with extremes and contradictions. Can autonomous vehicles make up the vast majority of more last-mile deliveries but also bring an end to congested streets? People look forward to traveling in their personal drones, yet only 37%…

Change management efforts often fail because they focus on the issues as they bubble up to the surface. The result is Band-Aid solutions that fail to address the underlying culture and guiding narratives of an organization. To achieve long-lasting change, we must explore what is beneath the obvious to understand why this issue exists in the first place. Foresight uncovers the dynamics of our present story while also creating pathways to our preferred outcomes. We all have a natural filter…

In 2017, Yvette Montero Salvatico, Co-Founder of The Futures School, conducted a webinar for the Institute for Competitive Intelligence on, “Strategic Foresight – How to Achieve a Forward Looking Perspective.” In this presentation, Yvette explained how a foresight mindset and toolkit propels us from competitive intelligence toward futures intelligence.

Last month, Kedge had the honor of partnering with branding firm, Picnic, to host The Future of Brands event in Madrid, Spain. Marketing professionals, brand executives and creatives from across multiple industries joined us for two days of thought-provoking foresight imagining the future worlds that brands will need to prepare for. The topic is timely as most organizations we partner with share that maintaining relevancy is leadership’s top concern.

Most of us cannot fathom the profound changes that are at our doorstep. Following are just some of the disruptions that will transform the nature of innovation and breakthroughs in today’s organizations.

In 2018 Central Florida launched an ambitious plan to reconceptualize economic development through participatory foresight. Kedge had the privilege of partnering with the region’s local economic development organization, The Orlando Economic Partnership (the Partnership), to advance its mission for broad-based prosperity using foresight. The project launched with an immersion phase (including targeted interviews, a survey and extensive trend research).

We are no stranger to the question, “Do you have a case study about X foresight work you conducted with X organization?” While over the years we’ve had a variety of briefs detailing transformation in strategy, city development, innovation, change, and culture via our foresight toolkit, we did not have a start-to-finish case study in writing. 2019 is the year that changes!

Excuse me, have we met? Weren’t you the one questioning leadership at the last company town hall? The so-called “squeaky wheel” that’s forever pushing back on the status quo? The person that the organization has learned to avoid, undermine or even silence? Oh, yeah, we definitely know you, and we feel your pain.

Many business professionals are not aware that the secret to success in today’s fast-paced environment is having a better understanding of the future. However, that’s exactly what former Walt Disney International VP of Human Resources Richard Ramsey learned when being tasked with leading the WDI Global Futures Team for six years.