Decoding Tomorrow:
Futurism and Foresights Today

FUTURISTS ARE NOT IN THE PREDICTION GAME. WE ARE IN THE PREPARATION GAME. Preparation MEANS YOU NEED TO PREPARE FOR ALL EVENTUALITIES. While this may sound 'doomsday prepper'-like, entertaining both Coronavirus dystopias as well as ideal utopias should be part of every strategist's mental tool kit.

In order for you to decode the changes and megatrends that are / will be shaping the new 2020s decade and influence your business and life, you must create a scenario plan. Look ahead to the future horizon and equip yourself with the thinking tools to cope with the exponential changes that can (and are) affect(ing) you, your life and your brand. Failure to understand and scenario plan for exponential changes like the spread of COVID-19 (and viral / non-viral transformations), can seriously disrupt your ability to survive and thrive in Tomorrowland. 

In part 1 of the Megatrends Shaping The New 2020s Decade, we decoded some counter-intuitive education trends and how important it is that we stop and think about structural and systemic shifts.

External disruptions are happening not only to the education sector but also to you and your business—every day.

In this week's blog my aim is to show you a practical tool for decoding, analysing and mapping trends, to help you to prepare for future scenarios, embrace emerging potentialities, as well as assuring success for the day beyond today. 

Scenarios are instruments for ordering people's perceptions about alternative futures. They are road maps that will help guide you from the present to the future. Check out the video animation below for some more future planning ideas. 

In October 2018, I was invited to be the futurist-in-residence for Interpublic during their global leadership conference. One of the key pillars of the program was teaching their leaders to think like futurists, which entails thinking of both best-case and worst-case scenarios. IPG as a brand understands the critical importance of thinking beyond today and to develop futurist thinking skills amongst their leaders. I would argue that any leader, parent, entrepreneur, creative and manager to also develop this skill. 

My Scenario Planning guide is a strategic thought experiment in which you become your own science fiction author with the power to pen, design and create a new narrative for your own future. There are several steps to successful scenario planning and I will help you start this process - by guiding you through the first step today: the STEEP Trend Analysis Framework. 

The STEEP Analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political drivers of change) helps you objectively identify the key strategic forces shaping our future. 

With the current STEEP panic amplifying the human fallout from the Coronavirus (COVID-19), it is time for us to pause and come together to discuss, find solutions, and plan for the changes ahead - for both this viral disruption and the beyond tomorrow trends that are also emergent. 

To this effect, On March 24th, 2020 I will be holding a Live Webinar 'Creating Sustainable Success: Scenario Planning for Coronavirus & Future Disruptions'.