Innovation & Counter Intuitiveness

The idea behind Innovation is to create something new, that has yet to be conceived. A lot of the times that requires Counterintuitive thinking and that can be a very difficult challenge because it needs to break the habits in our thinking styles. For me the essence of being a futurist is the essence of innovation, two concepts which cannot be separated.

Here’s a few counterintuitive thoughts just to help shift perspectives:

The cure for baldness is to slow down hair growth, not speed it up!

Nappies encourage young children to remain toilet Un-trained for longer (especially at night!)

The key to reduction in water consumption can be clearly tied to the length of your hair!

Email us should you want some more explanation or find out from others that have worked with Marcus Barber in a ‘Think Different’ session. There really is method in this counterintuitive approach 🙂

For a Futurist, 50 Years isn’t so long ago

Aug 17, 2011

A quick note for the history buffs among us – in this month of August fifty years ago, the first components of the Berlin Wall were constructed with rings of barbed wire severing Berlin into visually distinct west and east Berlin. Russia’s main challenge at that time was the 10,000 or so East Germans each…

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The Flaws in Demand & Supply thinking

Aug 7, 2011

Let me start by saying that my Masters of Science qualification is NOT held in economics and with that said I’m holding an interested person’s perspective toward wanting to know ‘why’ and ‘how’. I have some questions and thoughts about the theory of Supply and Demand and would be happy to have some feedback from…

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Cultured Meat’s potential for energy and water reductions

Jul 18, 2011

Below you’ll find this afternoon’s discussion with ABC Darwin radio in which host Vicki Kerrigan chats with futurist Marcus Barber about the emerging research into lab grown meat as a potential addition to or replacement of, existing livestock farming methods.   The program streamed live on 105.7 ABC Darwin this afternoon, discussing the University of…

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Speaking of the Future at the World Futures Conference

Jul 11, 2011

Continuing the futures discussions on ABC Darwin Radio, this time with Paul Dale who is filling in for Vicki Kerrigan whilst Vicki is handling the breakfast time slot, we discuss some of the conference sessions at the World Futures Conference here in Vancouver   You can listen to the audio stream here and cue this…

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Getting Your Future Right

Jul 8, 2011

My slides from today’s presentation on ‘Getting You Future Right’ can be found at the link below   To those at the session, my apologies for the technical challenges and hope these slides can provide more context for you – contact me if you have any questions.  Access the Slides Here

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The Future of You Part 2

Jun 27, 2011

Here’s the upload of my conversation with Vicki Kerrigan at ABC Radio Darwin. In it I offer the first three of ten steps designed to help you get your future right. In last week’s session I left Vicki with a question to ponder: Is my life headed where I want it to go, and if…

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The future of… You

Jun 12, 2011

Futurist Marcus Barber will be joining ABC’s Vicki Kerrigan in Darwin for the first of an ongoing discussion about the future this Wednesday. Each week on Wednesday afternoon’s, Vicki and Marcus will discuss the future of something, how we prepare for the future, what the future looks like for some industries and other related futures…

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Innovation in Manufacturing – there really IS a Future! But action needs to happen NOW!

May 25, 2011

The panel session at the National Manufacturing Week 2011 went well though with four of us on the panel, time was quite compressed. Some really good thoughts from Phillip Chindamo from AIG, Damon Cantwell from Deloitte and Erol Harvey from Minifab, delightfully chaired by Sandra George from SEBN at the City of Greater Dandenong. Rather…

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Building on Innovation for a vibrant and sustainable future – a focus for future manufacturing

May 23, 2011

On Thursday I’ll be part of the panel that wraps up the National Manufacturing Week 2011 in Melbourne at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre under the theme of Meeting the challenges of the next generation of manufacturing with a focus on Innovation and Sustainability. It should be an interesting chat as we consider what…

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What Australia Can learn from Finland’s Education System

May 1, 2011

There’s lots to like about borrowing ideas from other areas especially where those ideas can lead to a significant positive shift. In the link below, Zaid Ali Alsagoff an educational blogging specialist highlights why the Finnish Education system stands as a potential model to embrace. And whilst there are examples of this type of thinking…

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