Futurism : Looking beyond the horizon- A learners series from Dr. SenGupta

The global weather forecasting services market size was estimated at?USD 2.39 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 2.54 billion in 2023! But well, I am definitely going to write about weather here! This article is about strategic foresight and futurism.

Let’s find out how much the forecasting agencies are earning. The fashion forecasting agency (they also publishes Trend report, Brand Strategy, Style & Innovation Consulting Agency etc.) Peclers Paris's revenue is $22.8M, according to Rocketresearch. Another fashion and lifestyle forecasting agency, WGSN's estimated annual revenue is currently $244.3M per year (by Growjo). The revenue of Future Laboratory, a company into future insights went ?up to $25M by February 2024 (similarweb). Another research and strategy company McKinsey & Company Inc's revenue is $10.5 billion (Zippa).

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These revenues are fascinating! Though most of the numbers appear a little puffed up to me as (I could not access their audit sheets) but I must state that the market is impressive and growing.

As a futurist and bio-behaviourist with over two decades of experience working with global brands such as Nike, Nokia, Nippon and Apple, I have been able to developed little expertise in this domain which I intend to share. My clients consult me for a variety of needs, including strategic foresight, consumer foresight, DNA mapping, brand strategies and product foresight. I am also a youth insights and color expert for brands like Sony, Nippon Paint, Plan UK, Skull Candy etc.. With my copyright-protected toolkits, models, mapping process, and intuition, I have helped brands like Hyundai, Kia Motors, Samsung, and Coke, among others. It's no surprise that they return to me for more. I am part of many universities and the futurism indeed helped most of them to streamline their DNA!

?Many asks me the easy way to become a Futurist (it is cool to write so in profile I guess, but many are genuinely interested to become a ‘forecaster’). My advice remains same:

“The Futurism is an ideology and practice, not a profession. Just like becoming a priest, a futurist needs Faith, Foresight, Force and Fable."

? 4F model I teach in my classroom and workshops.

Let me explain these 4 F.???

• Faith: As a futurist or foresighter you must believe in self, believe in your toolkit and believe in your intuition! If one is not confident of his/ her understanding, the futurism will not work.??
• Foresight: You need to have the ability to look beyond. Looking beyond the horizon is crucial, because unseen is better to be foreseen.?
• Force: The futurist should be confident enough to imply force in his/ her foresight. You must have the guts to break the ground and go deeper, look around in the dark space and appreciate the vision. However, do remember that the force-research must also reflect the empathy and unbiased views.?
• ?Fable: Like a good storyteller, a good futurist also tells convincing (yet fascinating) scenarios and builds emerging archetypes. These ‘stories’ help to visualize the ‘state-of-future’ in the current time. People loves stories, tell them the real one!?

Developing your own set of toolkit is crucial. This is your asset. Without your asset you cannot define your presence!?The toolkits should get updated too. For example, today, in my toolkit I have AI empowered tools.?

I regularly join courses and learn. Yes even at this age I am eager to learn. Currently doing a course on prompt engineering and have a list of courses to complete. A futurist must learn, eternally.

But, more than all of these, be a good listener and observer (I jokingly call it as ‘voyeurism’). Observe, read, document, and then try to map the impact in a cohesive manner.?

Remember, futurism is #Humanly and cannot be replaced with any machine.?

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Feel free to connect me for the workshops on strategic foresight and futurism.

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(This series of articles is copyright to Dr. Kaustav SenGupta and no part to be printed or referred without prior permission)