The Drive to Make Futures Thinking Pragmatic

 

I’ve writen a fair bit over the years about the need to move futures thinking out of a theoretical approach and into a more applied model.

 

Recently I’ve come off a 6 month project working with the Asian Productivity Organisation, an entity that brings together 20 member countries and their core government policy makers. The main focus of that project – how to make policy decisions that take into account emerging issues. This is, as the saying goes, ‘right in my wheelhouse’

Policy without future awareness is expecting the same kiond of unchanged future is likely. Future awareness without alignment to operational and policy decisions is just pie in the sky dreaming. Teaching these Government Ministers and Policy directors how to work through tieing both aspects together has seen plenty of ‘ah haaa’ moments and it’s been a dleight traveling to Tokyo, Manila, Bangkok and Colombo to work closely with these groups. The hosts were always generous, the multi country participants always engaged and the outcomes thus far have been surprisingly influential.

There’s more to come later this year too with Fiji hosting representatives from another 8 countries. Strategic Forsight is the pragmatic and applied approach to engaging with the emerging issues so that we can help shape the future towards the kind we want.

The Reality about Hybrid Work

Aug 8, 2021

There’s a significant disconnect with a number of articles on ‘Hybrid Workplaces’ and it’s really disappointing to see SO MANY large consultants pump out articles that ignore reality. So this is a short take to offer an additional perspective. 1) Hybrid workplaces have existed for centuries, they are not new, though the sudden interest is…

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Sports, Recreation and Active Living Start Ups Opportunity Funding

Aug 1, 2021

Hi everyone – though a focus on particular those of you in Victoria, Australia who have an idea related to sports, active living or recreation that they might like to convert into a business.   Sportstech & Active Living Pre-Accelerator program is being run by the Australian Sport Technologies Network (ASTN) and the Global Sports…

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Post-Covid Workforce Planning framework

May 23, 2021

Old normal, new normal, normal normal. As some businesses aim to rush back to ‘old normal’ they’re likely missing a key opportunity to define, perhaps for the first time, what a new normal should look like for themselves. This Workforce Planning framework should help   As a CEO or senior manager, here’s questions I’d want…

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India’s Covid Surge has a Fat Tail for Australian Companies

Apr 22, 2021

As Covid19 variants continue to emerge, the cause of which can be fairly placed at a lack of social distancing and slow vaccine rates that allow ‘mixing’ of viral strains in social settings, India is on the brink of a healthcare collapse and the implications for Australian companies, especially in the tech sector, are huge.…

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The near term future – 3 Months to 3 years

Mar 16, 2021

What does the future hold for Australia in the next 3 months, to 3 years? Travel, work, living…   Recording to the one hour session inc a Q&A Here’s the Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/pBJqFvN_yZVrktNsN2xWRE7heUTpr226GtyjJpiChG8yZA2D3qEHpACjm8TpMfxd.67Jj1DNSPserOvpZ  Passcode: 1DPi*.$Z

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Before I Was Me – thoughts on what aging might hold

Mar 12, 2021

Sometimes the words come to you readily and this small piece has me thinking about what I’d like to say at a time when maybe I’ve lost the cognitive ability to do so   Before I was Me Before I was Me I used to be fit, and even quite smart; We’d chat about love,…

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Waving Goodbye to Wedgewood’s Factory in HR

Mar 6, 2021

I was doing it well before then and there’s clips of me online going back as far as 2010 or so, railing against the idea of human resources as a label and the insistence by HR managers or CEOs that only people who work ‘in the office’ are going to be productive. It Is A…

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Why the Future of Vertical Farming is Two Decades Ahead of Expectations

Feb 2, 2021

Like lab grown meats, Vertical Farming is going to be part of the future of food. For now it might be best to compare them to small scale battery storage on the electrical grid that can help balance out spikes of demand in the system and provide an output directly where needed.   Eventually (like…

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A Shift in Perspectives – What Commercial Property Owners Are About to Experience that Many have Never Before

Jan 27, 2021

In rental and lease markets it’s fair to say that for the best part of three decades, the landlords have been the price setters. The rules around negative gearing in domestic supply enable sizeable portfolios. Demand in office spaces in central suburbs has been consistently tight. And now, finally, CFO’s have become aware of the…

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PPE Opportunities for Australian Manufacturers Emerging in the USA

Nov 28, 2020

With Australia having just about wrestled Covid19 to the ground (NSW remains a bit of an issue) there’s now surging demand for PPE in the USA. The Covid19 virus is tracking toward an exponential increase and PPE Manufacturers should start looking for supply opportunities Sadly in the USA over the past week, they are adding…

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