Australia’s 2020 Future – the Futurist’s report
You’d think that given a focus on the future, you’d ask specialists in the future to have some input, and whilst that didn’t occur for the PM’s Summit in Canberra over the weekend, some of Australia’s Futurists had already done the leg work to contribute their thoughts on the future of Australia. That report is now available and it would appear, given some of the initial media coverage suggesting that ‘nothing new’ emerged in Canberra, the Futurists have once again shown that their aproach to thinking can be a significant benefit
Whilst it is harsh to suggest that, given a very limited window of opportunity, 1000 people could be given the chance to explore in depth a number of radical, interesting and useful ideas and generate some pure gems, Prime Minister Rudd’s Summit has achieved at least one key outcome – people are now actively and consciously talking about the Future of Australia in a means that has not appeared feasible for some time.
And we’d urge people to hold judgement as to the success or otherwise until we see what comes of the process because the proof of the pudding as they say, is in the tasting, not just in the making.
The focus on Australia’s future neither suggests anything better or worse, just different from recent history and it is this ‘difference’ that can provide significant leverage. Which is why the Australia 2020 Futurists Summit was convened by Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber from the outset. Although the futures community was hopeful of obtaining a ‘seat at the table’ in Canberra over the weekend, most Australia Futurists are for more realistic and grounded in likely outcomes. To that end then, there was a strong chance that the experts in the futures field were going to be sidestepped at the Canberra process, which is what happened.
Taking the perspective that assuming involvement in the Canberra summit was not a ‘fait accompli’, Marcus Barber gathered a group of Australian Futurists together to tackle each of the 10 themes and the output of that thinking is now publicly available
The immediate needs of farming families are obvious. Feed to keep stock alive, someway of holding onto their farms under the stand-over tactics of some banks, and Rain. Donations can fix the immediate short term to an extent but they cannot fix the long term trajectory. That requires difficult conversations and an acceptance of the…
Read More >There are four phases of thinking that every organisation MUST have available to them if they plan to be resilient to challenges, adaptable to changing circumstances and able to sustain themselves over time. The Phases are Strategic; Operational; Execution; and Evolution. If you miss any one of them or underplay an area, sooner or later…
Read More >Life is full of interesting and not so interesting choices. Some seemingly mundane or innocuous choices turn out to be life makers (and breakers). Occasionally the noisy intensive choices turn out to be little more than a passing zephyr carrying dust. The National Party in Australia have just been presented with a ‘Fork in The…
Read More >It probably does not get much simpler than this – no MBA required, no advanced training needed. And rather than give you the ‘mistake’ I’ll just give you the solution which is this: NEVER mistake the positiveness of Your Intent… with the ACTIONS you have taken! You cannot improve if you convince yourself that ‘good…
Read More >In parts of the world it’s Christmas day, a time for excusing your retail spending on a ‘worthy cause’. Which is fun in some ways and delusional in others 🙂 Don’t allow my grinchness deter you from enjoying today. As for me, I’m delighted that a) my present was wrapped in old newspaper and b)…
Read More >Part of being effective as a futurist is being able to assess potential issues and their impact over time. The Victorian State Election is on this Saturday and though many say that State elections have little bearing on issues we face, our system means that the fluctuations at a Federal level are often countered by…
Read More >‘m wrapped to be acting as EmCee for the third year in a row at Blackwood 8’s Celebration of Hope event, raising money to find a Cure for Brain Cancer. And delighted that the event has sold out. But fret not – you can still bid for some great auction items online or make a…
Read More >The major party in Australia’s dual party Government, the Liberal Party, has removed their leader Tony Abbott, replacing him with the previous leader, Malcolm Turnbull. PM designate Turnbull may be inclined to spend the first few days appeasing and reassuring his party members that everything will be okay. And that would be a mistake. Public…
Read More >When I look at my overall client types, it seems to me that I have two main types of client. The first is a client that has a good business and is generally successful and wants a futurist to help keep them ahead of emerging issues and opportunities. The second main client type is one…
Read More >As a consultant, one of the great puzzles I consistently discover is the mindset many clients hold with regard to their own abilities to conceive of and pursue, their own approach to futures thinking. I know this is not an issues restricted to futurists as where some clients have a ‘not invented here’ approach to…
Read More >