Great Client Feedback

Some Positive Thoughts from our Clients and others that have used our skills appear below.  You are probably also an organisation that is looking for some expertise to help answer some key questions for your future and want to feel comfortable knowing you’ll get the results you want.  Read for yourself what others have said and then contact us with any questions you may have: Email or 613 96 444 588

An excellent facilitator, an inspiring speaker and a knowledgeable mentor!  It has been a pleasure to work with Marcus Barber on the City of Greater Dandenong Ignite 2021 Program. His experience with start-ups, and excellent mentoring and coaching, have allowed our participants to start their businesses, with more confidence, networks and knowledge

Greater Dandenong
Economic Development Team
2021

‘We appreciate the time and effort you spent in preparing for your role as MC and providing a futurist’s view on the conference content. Delegates have commented to me on the smooth running of the event, and we found that your engagement and insights stimulated a great deal of discussion during the Conference.’

Tony Wright
CEO
Victorian Water Association
June 2017

Brilliant – thanks for your presentation last night Marcus, a Platinum highlight for 2013!’!

Andrew Gardner
Managing Director
Investor’s Edge

 

Justin Mansfield @joininthechorus

.@rightfuture thx 4 fascinating, energetic presentation @ #v21 today. Enjoyed it immensely, despite (or because of?) being dragged on stage!

Wordsbyjessica @wordsbymissjess

Marcus Barber from @rightfuture was THAT good … #V21 Note. Change the world … Stop being a douche!

agency marou @AgencyMarou

RT @twenty4_digital: Great presentation by Marcus Barber. We’re busy not productive. #v21 @rightfuture pic.twitter.com/abQvI72Jcj

Rowan Barnes @RowanBarnes

@rightfuture Really enjoyed your preso at #v21. Both entertaining and thought-provoking; I feel inspired to do better things!

Murray Galbraith @MurrayDG

@rightfuture Just wow.

Brad Paton @Brad_Paton

Incredibly thought provoking presentation by Marcus Barber @rightfuture at #V21

Kylie Eddy @KylieEddy

@rightfuture let’s stamp out ‘hairy eyeballs’ syndrome. Inspirational presentation! #v21

Laney Galligan @laneygalligan

@rightfuture thanks for getting the brain ticking. Am working on sorting out a few of the issues you raised today #flexiblework

 

Marcus the Victorian Industry Water Association (VicWater) would like to express its most sincere gratitude on behalf of the Sustainability Task Group…Your presentation provided high quality and pertinent information to the delegates on how to do more with less, balance priorities and engage customers and stakeholders in the sustainability debate…’

Tony Wright
Chief Executive Officer

 

Dear Marcus,

Thank you for the outstanding presentation you gave at our recent conference at the Grand Chancellor in Hobart.

Your captivating talk was inspiring and insightful, there was so much useful information that was of benefit to all those who attended on the day.

You were a big hit with all of our delegates, your energy and enthusiasm was infectious, thank you for such a memorable and enjoyable presentation.

Regards,

Leon Staropoli
National New Business
Development Manager
Australian Scholarships Group – Supporting Children’s Education

 

Good morning Marcus,

A belated thank-you for your contribution last week at the Victorian Regional Produce Summit held in Wangaratta. Your energy and enthusiasm were
definite factors in making the day the huge success that it was. Feedback has been extremely positive and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to think
outside the square for a few hours. Thank you also for your time the following day meeting with Council senior officers to bounce ideas around.
Your customer service in the lead up and during the event was exceptional and greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Kate Green
Manager – Tourism Development
Rural City of Wangaratta

 

On behalf of the Progress Association and the Industrial Park Committee we would like to thank you for doing such as wonderful job as MC and giving such a thought provoking presentation making us think about ideas that will shape the years to come.  You were able to cleverly pull together several threads that were explored in different presentations.

Judging from the positive feedback we have received from the Community, your contribution played a major factor in the success of the day. We have had many comments about the friendly yet professional way you handled the day, and we are sure that the other speakers and audience all appreciated your skill of keeping the program to time. Your expertise was very much appreciated and we would also like to thank you for your other contributions in the lead up to the Forum and post Forum assistance.”

Max Day
President Lockhart & District Progress Association.

 

It was a pleasure to meet you this morning.  As a last-minute replacement to this morning’s breakfast I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I found your presentation to be very informative, inspiring and it was quite eye opening.  You’re clearly very passionate about driving change and sustainability and definitely got me thinking.  I’d love to keep in touch and would be happy to recommend you to clients and other colleagues.

Alice Morden
Principal Consultant
Boston Kennedy

 

Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC)

“A presentation that was both relevant to our sector and stretched us to think outside it.  The delivery style was excellent and engaging combining facts and complex ideas with humour and audience involvement resulting in a session that matched or exceeded expectations of all involved”

Felicity McGrath
Communications Manager

Southport Engineering Pty Ltd

Marcus I just wish to thank you for providing such an interesting, informative & entertaining session AND for all the information I wasn’t able to write down.  I’ve never taken so many notes at a breakfast meeting in my life, nor will I ever take so few again.  I can already see many opportunities to apply your teachings with one of them being a presentation on Monday.

Thanks heaps… Best Regards
David Hilder
Engineering Manager
Dandenong South, VIC

Gold Coast Water

‘…Marcus’s facilitation skills were probably some of the best I’ve seen to date.  A combination of broad multi-disciplinary knowledge and high calibre interpersonal skills were evident in his ability to facilitate and contribute to the industry related discussion without imposing on the clientele…”

Ben Sheppard
Strategic Management Coordinator

 

Fosters Australia Foresight Group

‘The Accelerated Scenarios process was enthusiastically embraced by the team here at Foster’s.  This approach to futures thinking led to a re-perceiving of where we saw the market heading and the future opportunities and threats…”

Steve Tighe

Foresight Manager

Fosters Australia Foresight Group

“Through his teachings Marcus has left a legacy at Foster’s.  Over the past year we have learnt that looking for insights in the ‘safe areas’ provides less value than looking for ‘signals’ in the ‘right’ areas.  This changed perspective has been largely due to the influence of Marcus”

Steve Tighe
Foresight Manager

Gold Coast Water
“Marcus mentored myself and the GCW team in the process of Environmental Scanning.  Marcus kept in touch with the group, coaching us through the practical application…that increased our practical understanding of the process, as well as improving the quality of the outputs.”

Ben Sheppard
Strategic Management Coordinator

Frontier Media & Marketing
“…the team loved it, they are still talking about it”

Neil Hoar
Director

Selbys
We created a branding message that is concise, clear and effective – years on we still get constant feedback that the branding message was a key reason people contacted us”

Marc Selby
Director

UNESCO sponsored ‘ Committing Universities to Sustainable Development’ conference
“… of every presentation I saw here at the conference, yours was the most effective and engaging…”
A-M Fortmann of OIKOS

Fosters Australia Functional Beverages
“Marcus led a fun and informative workshop that focused on gettng the team to take a step back and ask ‘What are we really trying to achieve here?’  He then facilitated a process that enabled us to articulate our thoughts into a format that we could then engage the entire business with.  Fantastic!”

Andrew Fairlam
Fosters Australia Innovation Team

South East Business Networks

“In the multi-company sessions that Marcus facilitated for us, he displayed the uncanny ability to challenge the very essence of the participants’ thinking process and the potential (and often untapped) opportunities within their business, allowing them to leave with not only theory, but the ability to implement!”            

Sandra George
CEO
South East Networks

These are among the many clients and training sessions available – ask away…

Our Experience Means You Benefit

Acquiring this level of skill can only come through well developed ‘travels’ across industry sectors, positions, functions and outcomes.  It requires a willingness to walk the ‘paths less travelled’ and to show how the richness of the journey can be of benefit to those who have enjoyed the alternative.

With direct exposure to the Financial Services, Policing, Education, Advertising, Manufacturing, and Recruitment sectors, we are able to draw upon functional understanding across businesses of all types and purposes.

This means you get access to our ability to identify the very best of ‘cross industry’ opportunities – customer retention strategies; employee engagement methods; sales processes; strategic development initiatives; marketing excellence; innovation creation and many, many more.

The really important thing to note is that we do not bring a ‘cookie cutter’ with us.  Whilst your business may share similarities with others in the same sector or different sectors, it is unique.  Applying ‘model x’ regardless of what you really need is not our style.  EVERYTHING will be tailored specifically to what you need and for the purpose you need it.

Key Personnel

All of our personnel and facilitators bring with them extensive trainng and real life operational experience.  Specifically it is probable that our personnel will have qualifications in at least one of the following disciplines:

  • Post Graduate Qualifications in Strategic Foresight
  • Certification in Spiral Dynamics from the National Values Centre in the United States
  • Certification in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)

When you add these exquisite and precise thinking skills to extensive experience across a wide variety of business sectors, you have available to you an exceptional business asset that will transfer skills into your business.

 

Queensland Rail Strategic Foresight & Planning Session

Happiness Makes the World Go ‘Round

Apr 9, 2012

Columbia University’s Earth Institute have just made publicly available their World Happiness Report, joining the expanding list of happiness reports emerging ultimately from Bhutan’s Happiness Index. There’s some interesting results in this one and some that you might expect were more obvious, like the idea that at a certain point, more money won’t make you…

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Local Councils’ Role in Economic Activity

Apr 4, 2012

Whilst the main thrust of Australian economic activity is said to be in the hands of the Federal Government, we should not overlook the significant role that Local Council Government’s can have. As the Federal Government wrestles with falling taxation revenues and an apparent inability to get the message across about distributing the income of…

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Eat or Extract – Farming versus Mining in NT and Australia

Mar 26, 2012

Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber chats with Vicki Kerrigan on ABC Radio Darwin about the challenges facing the Northern Territory, the farming and mining sectors. In summing up the emerging signs of a clash between agricultural uses of land and land use for resource and mining needs, Marcus uses the phrase ‘Eat or Extract’ as the…

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Top 10 Tips for Resilience

Mar 25, 2012

As most of you know I nominated this year as the 2012 International Year of Resilience because frankly, that’s what I reckon large chunks of the world need right now. The twitter feed is #2012YearofResilience. I sent a few of these tips out at the start of the year and have seen a few of…

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Is more foresight needed for Urban Planning in Darwin?

Mar 12, 2012

A new city is due to emerge in Darwin over the coming couple of years and the key question is – what sort of attention is being paid to weather related disasters in the design phase? Paul Dale on ABC Radio Darwin chats with futurist Marcus Barber about planning and weather. You can download the…

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After the Rains – thinking about Urban Planning in a future of havoc weather

Mar 5, 2012

Dorothea Mackellar’s poem ‘My Country’ is best known for its second verse – “I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains”. As vast tracts of Australia again face the prospect of massive floods I wonder if our Urban Planners ever consider the significance of…

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Innovation in Your Supply Chain – Symbiotic Supply Chain management

Feb 14, 2012

Potentially the biggest area of untapped competitive advantage (and arguably one of the biggest areas where costs could be reduced) is within supply chains. Most approaches to Supply Chain Management are linear and isolated with one player trying to squeeze the other with no regard to the overall effect of the full supply chain. It’s…

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Remote Mining poses challenges for Australian Airlines

Feb 5, 2012

There’s a shift underway in the mining industry that will likely catch Australian airlines out if they aren’t paying attention – the shift toward ‘remote’ mining. Remote mining is being pushed by the automation ability across all aspects of current mining technology, which at the basic level, means that fewer humans are needed on site…

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Is Your Organisation’s Strategy D.E.A.D or A.L.I.V.E?

Jan 18, 2012

Simple question really. Or is it? In this quick article I provide an overview of the difference between strategy that is D.E.A.D and A.L.I.V.E Think of it as a potential ‘do this’ collection for your Organisation   You can download the article for free here – ‘Is your Organisational Strategy D.E.A.D or A.L.I.V.E?’

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Are you lining your future up in the right direction?

Jan 15, 2012

Lots of thoughts for the year already underway, with some covering a range of ideas from ‘don’t cut corners on relative incidentals when the project is significant for you’ to ‘you can’t change your approach if you keep thinking inside the same box’. But for now a reminder about planning for your future: If you…

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