What It Means to Think Like A Futurist

Being a?‘Futurist’?is not without its drawbacks! For one, it often means having to explain exactly what it is that you do. I once had a grumpy immigration official at Heathrow say to me,?“What is this nonsense…what do you do?”?on reading?‘Futurist’?on my landing card under?‘occupation’.

As I started to enlighten him, he impatiently interrupted me with,?“You’re a consultant. Next time just write ‘consultant’ and make my life simpler and yours a lot easier”.

Having thanked him for this insight I then asked,?“But if I write ‘consultant’ and you do your job, what will be your first question? … ‘What do you consult on?’ to which I will reply,?‘futures’?– and we’re back to square one!”

There was an uncomfortable (but I would like to believe insightful) pause before he impatiently waived me on my way.

When it comes to being a Futurist let me pose and engage with three obvious questions:

What is it?

Why is it important?

How do you do it?

1. What is it?

A futurist is simply someone who?intentionally builds the capacity to see and understand the implications and meaning of change.

Straightforward enough.

However, each of those key words are where the real work sits…

What it means to?see;?how one builds?understanding;?how one articulates the?implications, and how one ascribes?meaning.

All this rests on the building block which is to?intentionally build the capacity.

Being a futurist is an assumption of life-long learning; it implies a never-ending task and hints at the realisation that there is always?‘more’?that can and should be done.

2. Why is it important?

When you look at the simple explanation offered as to “what is a futurist?” I think you will readily agree that much of any leader’s responsibility ought to enfold this definition. Smart leaders understand the need to be able to?‘see and understand the implications and meaning of change’.?They ensure that they not only develop this capacity in themselves but that they also ensure it is something that becomes part of their organisation’s DNA and culture.

Of course, I would argue that whilst this is obvious in its application to leaders, it really ought to have a broader appeal. For example, as any parent of young children, I would think that?‘thinking like a futurist’?ought to be a key component of a parenting mindset and skillset as you shepherd your children into their future.

It’s an important life skill, mindset and way of operating in the world that allows you to anticipate change and adapt effectively. (There’s an argument to be made that everyone should be a futurist - at least to some degree.)

3. How do you do it?

This is the fun part! There are numerous ways in which you can?intentionally develop the capacity?to think like a futurist.

In TomorrowToday, we refer to this as the?Future Fit Toolkit.

Let me briefly share just four of these tools with you and invite you to experiment with any that might resonate with you. In fact, when it comes to these tools, you might even challenge your team to undertake some experimentation of their own.

1. Look out the window

To what extent are you?‘scanning the horizon’??I saw a billboard in London recently that said,?‘By the time you see it, it is too late’.?For numerous reasons we often fail to spot disruption, something that can prove fatal.

In TomorrowToday we use a framework we developed many years ago called?‘TIDES’?to do this work. TIDES is an acronym for what we believe are five major (disruptive) change drivers, namely:

Technology

Institutional Shifts

Demographics

Environment

Shifting Societal Values

2. Get off the dance floor and onto the balcony

Credit for his powerful analogy belongs to Ron Heifetz and is integral to his wonderful?‘Adaptive Leadership’?framework. Most senior leaders I meet are on at least one dance floor that they shouldn’t be on. There are many possible reasons for this including; they simply like being there – it is what they know and what they are good at; being there has brought them recognition and success or, they are reluctant to trust the dance to others on the dance floor.

The thing is that when you are on the dance floor, you don’t see the changes taking place on the periphery of the dance floor. From the balcony you do. ****

Being on the balcony provides you with the perspective you need to better see and anticipate the disruptors.

Of course, leaders do need to spend some of their time on the dance floor, but I have found that those?‘balcony conversations’?and perspectives are all too rare within many executive team meetings!

Can you think of a dance floor you need to get off? If so, how best can you extract yourself from the dance? (Anticipate the consequences your absence from the dance floor will create; you might need to tolerate a period of readjustment for both you and those left dancing.)

3. Ask (better) questions

For too long leaders have felt that they need to have all the answers. It is obvious that this is bad thinking! Smart leaders understand the need to ask provocative and clarifying questions; they understand the power and importance of?‘open-ended ‘questions’; a question where there is no immediate apparent answer. The mind works best in the presence of a question. At your next team meeting track the number of questions asked. The result might surprise you!

I keep a?‘little book of questions’?and it accompanies me wherever I go for work. I train myself to both hear and ask questions and of course, as those who know me will attest to, there is much room for improvement!

4. Host Curiosity Conversations

The idea here is to intentionally approach people?from whom you want to learn something specific?and tee-up dedicated time with them for a conversation. It is a wonderful tool to invigorate learning and should you feel that your team has become somewhat arthritic when it comes to their own learning, Curiosity Conversations could be the way to reignite their learning.

I was asked to write up the methodology for Curiosity Conversations for the book?Mavericks: How Bold Leadership Can Change the World?(co-authored by TomorrowToday’s associate psychologist?Tamryn Batcheller-Adams). In the book, you can find a more detailed explanation of fun ways to unlock learning and build the capacity to?think like a futurist. Maverick Leadership is a framework that can be applied at a personal, team or organisational level – if you are serious about leading differently tomorrow then this is the model to take seriously today.

Thinking and leading like a futurist, especially for business leaders, is not about having access to a crystal ball, or about coming up with wild projections about the distant future.

It is about being able to spot the trends that are already shaping the world, and confidently predict how these will create threats and opportunities, within the next business planning cycle.

There are of course several other?‘tools’?in the Future Fit Toolkit. Perhaps you would like to know more about how to?‘Think like a Futurist’?and how to ensure your team are also thinking this way?

If so, we would be delighted for you to?contact us at [email protected]?and have that conversation with you.