My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
Charles Kettering (Inventor, August 29, 1876 – November 25, 1958)
Like Charles Kettering, the future is always where we’re headed. It’s difficult to see accurately, and we don’t have a crystal ball either.
Instead, we use proven techniques of foresight to rigorously explore plausible futures, not just bank on the want we want turning out as expected. We use foresight to anticipate how we can act with our intended impact in a range circumstances we might find ahead of us. That means thinking through the opportunities, challenges, disruptions and risks that each plausible future holds, and being equipped to observe, orient, decide, and act in the world that we will face tomorrow.
We’re advocates of the “VUCA” concept: that the world is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. This gives us a key framework for thinking through foresight.