Marcus Barber

Utilising a wealth of process methods, Marcus’ world class facilitation & consulting skills enable Boards, Senior Management teams and diverse stakeholder groups to gather insights aimed at answering a core question: ‘What do you want to achieve, and by when?’ Marcus is a Strategic Futurist and Value Systems specialist assisting clients in strategy, risk & innovation and employee engagement.

Multi Disciplinary Experience & Client Port Folio:

Government Clients:

International

OIC COMSTECH (Pakistan+); Ministry of Manpower (Singapore); FBI Futures Working Group (USA); Defence New Zealand; Asia Productivity Organisation (Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Malaysia, Philippines), Development Academy of the Philippines

Federal Level

Regional Development (Victoria); DEST; Centre for Defence & Strategic Studies (Department of Defence); ABC Radio; Australian Sports Commission; Department of Agriculture, Forests & Fisheries; Australian Defence Simulation and Training Centre

State Level

VicUrban; Sport & Recreation Victoria; DIIRD; Department of Planning & Community Development; Victoria Police, Victorian Managed Insurance Agency, Queensland Rail; Department of Health & Human Services;

Local Level

Yarra Valley City Council; South East Business Networks (CGD); Moonee Valley City Council; Gold Coast Water; Gold Coast City Council; City of Wangaratta; City of Greater Dandenong; Albury City Council; Melton City Council; Local Government Professionals Association, Knox City Council. Frankston City Council

 

Other

Victorian Water Association; CSIRO; Community Sector Services (WA); CaFNEC; Central Highlands Water; Western Water; South East Networks (SEM) City Deals Partnership

Manufacturing & Production Clients:

Young Dairy Network; Turners & Growers, New Zealand (ENZA); Pacific Brands (Grosby, Everlast); Hilton Manufacturing; Conductix-Wampfler (Delachaux Group); Barleycorn Brewers; General Motors; GMH; Fosters Australia; Newcrest;

Professional Services Clients:

AIMIA; The CEO Institute; Selection Partners; PageUp People; KMPG; Frontier Media; Employee Assistance Professionals Association of Australia; Asia Business Forum; Audiology Australia; Parenteral Drug Association; Ernst & Young; CPA Australia, Assure Programs; Centre for Organisational Development; Australian Organisation of Occupational Hygienists; Centre for Australian Foresight; The Australian Strategic Planning Institute; Swedish International Water Institute; Mayo Clinic (Mayo-In-Oz); Grant Thornton Australia

Associations & Not for Profit Clients:

Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA); GPN South Gippsland; South East Manufacturing & Marketing Alliance (SEMMA); Queensland Supply Chain & Logistics Council; Queensland Dairy Farmer’s Organisation; Parenteral Drug Association (Australia); Homeground Services; Brisbane Institute; Australian Toy Industry; Beacon Foundation; Australian Computer Society; Australian Podiatry Council; Association of National Tourist Office Representatives in Australia (ANTOR); Audiology Australia; Australasian Institute of Occupational Hygienists; Australian General Practise Network (AGPN); RSCA; Association of Professional Futurists; Cairns & Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC), Dandenong Chamber of Commerce

Education Sector Clients:

Learn Local Metro; Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Korowa Anglican Girls School; Australian Scholarships Group; Swinburne University; Adult Community & Further Education (Loddon Mallee); Deakin University; Teach the Future (USA); Association of School Administrators; Kambrya College; Association of School Business Administrators; Carwatha College; Dandenong Primary School; Bentleigh West Primary School; Sandringham East Primary School; Noble Park Secondary College; St Margaret’s and Berwick Grammar School, Caulfield Grammar, Brighton Secondary College, GO TAFE

Broad Portfolio Clients:

Telstra; Sportsmans Warehouse; Leightons Holdings; ESPN; ARRB Group Ltd; Insurance Australia Group; AP Touring; Panthers Entertainment Group; Kimberley Clark;

 

Reputation & Standing

He delivered the strategic futures block at the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies (Australian War College) in Canberra, the premiere management training program for the Department of Defence that brings military personnel from around the globe to a year long residential strategy training program for 15 years

An engaging and thought provoking speaker, his public forums include UNESCO’s ‘Committing Universities to Sustainability’ conference in Austria, ‘World Futures Conference’ in Vancouver and ‘World Water Week’ in Stockholm along with many others in Australia on behalf of Ernst & Young, Victorian Water Association, CaFNEC, VicUrban, City of Greater Dandenong, Young Dairy Farmers, RSCA and many more.

Marcus was co-presenter on the National Geographic Channel’s TV series ‘Future Matters’, author of ‘The Money Tree and How to Grow One – Creating Success in Your Business‘ and in 2012 finished ‘Getting Your Future Right. He is now finishing ‘Killing Trends: the Graceful Art of Innovation‘ and also ‘Recession Proof Marketing’ (being co authored with Tod O’Reilly); he is the founder of The Australian Strategic Planning Institute was an advisory board member of the Australian Bill of Rights Initiative and is part of the Lifeboat Foundation’s Futures advisory Board.

He was on the Board of the Association of Professional Futurists for almost five years and is one of the co founders of the Centre for Australian Foresight. Marcus has been published in a number of Journals around the world, is often interviewed on radio and for articles in newspapers and magazines discussing leadership, management and ‘the future of…’ and was a regular contributor to Australasia’s innovation magazine ‘Fast Thinking

Qualifications

Master of Science, Strategic Foresight; Swinburne University of Technology

Master Practitioner Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), International NLP Training Association

Multiple Certification in Human Values Systems; National Values Centre, USA

Graduate Certificate in Teaching & Learning; Napier University, Scotland / SUT

Certificate IV in Training & Assessment; Holmesglen

Applied Sustainability; Fanshawe College, Canada

Professional Memberships

Professional Life Member of the World Futures Society

Past Board Member of Association of Professional Futurists, Current Member

Previously on Board of Management, Dandenong Neighbourhood House

 

Need to Find a Futurist? Email us today

Key Note Speaking information, including copies of a number of presentations can be found in the Free Articles section

Employee Engagement starts with a Deliberate Exploration of Futures

Aug 13, 2024

Some thoughts flowing from my session discussing challenges in Futures Consulting posted by James Balzer: I’d explained to the group that what I do is engage employees in thinking about their own and their organisation’s future potential. My strong view over twenty years of work in this space is that employee engagement is DIRECTLY driven…

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The Future of Workplaces

Jul 10, 2024

Tomorrow morning (Friday the 12th)  I’ll be joining Elizabeth Kulas on Disrupt Radio discussing the Future Of Workplaces. There’ll be a particular focus on why most organisations choose to struggle because they rely on outdated models of employee management. A 7.15am kick-off where, in about 7 minutes or so, I’ll try to distill 20 years…

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A New Form of Goal Directed Intelligence

Jun 28, 2024

It’s extremely rare that I post to a specific article and say ‘go read this’, which is what I’m doing today. This article on goal directed intelligence at a micro level is a challenge to read. And I do recommend you read it because it pushes forward our understanding of how our biology and arguably…

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Looking Up Feeling Good Partners with Steel Chicks

Mar 10, 2024

If you followed my numerous posts over the years you know I like jumping in early on new products or services – not all have been successful, especially on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but you roll the dice sometimes and see what happens. Over the years Looking Up Feeling Good was an early community investor in…

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Dragging Workplaces back to the 1760s – the Work In Office Dilemma and the Productivity Myth

Feb 16, 2024

In the 1760s Josiah Wedgwood changed forever the nature of workplaces. He expanded his pottery business and constructed a new large scale factory that required two critical elements: a) Systemisation of processes to ensure consistent high-quality outcomes b) Skilled workers on site The systemisation required experimentation, observation, trials, failures and recording of data – what…

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Dr Kim Hazendonk joins our Speaker’s group

Jan 18, 2024

We’re delighted to announce that Neuro-Psychologist Dr. Kim Hazendonk of Positive Brain has accepted our offer to join our elite speaker’s group. We’re looking forward to bringing her to more groups across Australasia as she discusses effective workplaces, positive mind management, and managing busy lives. If you have a need for an engaging and passionate…

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Embracing the Hybrid Workspace – are You there yet?

Nov 15, 2023

I flag my bias towards the need for a vastly improved approach to managing staff in the work environments. V A S T L Y improved. I’m still surprised at how clunky, disorganised or naive some senior managers are when it comes to that part of the business that considers ‘people’. And rather than cover…

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Exploring Strategy Development – the Organisational Evolution model

Oct 17, 2023

An interesting public workshop in Perth in the first week of October introducing a varied group to the Organisational Evolution model. The Org-Ev is the model I developed for the start up of The Australian Strategic Planning Institute in conjunction with Steven Bowman. Given the diversity of the group, there were a number of surprises…

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Perth workshop 5th October almost fully booked

Sep 18, 2023

A note for those of you in Perth that there are just 4 spaces left for the Introduction to the Organisational Evolution Model workshop at Adina Apartments in Perth.  The Org Ev model has been designed to enhance Strategic Planning and decision making and this introductory workshop is aimed at those looking to attend the…

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Delving into Heatwave Scenarios

Sep 12, 2023

Later this month I’ll be facilitating a scenario session looking at the potential impact of a long standing heatwave event for the City of Greater Dandenong here in Australia. Heatwaves kill more people than any other weather event. By a long way. Importantly they also have a ‘fat tail’ with physical impairments to individuals often…

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