The Top 3 Questions and Answers for the Future
Well as I’ve discovered them! These three questions (and my normal answers) are based on what I get asked consistently when I’m presenting or facilitating a session about Strategic Planning, ‘the future of…’, and how societies might look five, ten or twenty years from now: Question One – ‘What is the most important thing to know about the future?’
My Answer: ‘That there will be one!‘ Now that might sound a bit obvious and please appreciate the answer for what it entails. The reality for most people is that they do NOT take the future into any real consideration and as such, make choices and take actions that will not help them to get the kind of life they would rather have.
Question Two – ‘What is the future of (enter subject here, i.e technology, company, industry sector, country, lifestyle…). My Answer: ‘That all things known right now, it is likely to seem very similar to what it is now, even IF it is fundamentally different than what it is right now.’ This answer reflects how we as a species generally approach the idea of change. Prior to the change we wail at the clouds, wring our hands and scream to the wind. And then the change happens, we experience a period of somewhat uncomfortable adjustment (or as more often happens, ‘no noticeable adjustment’) and get on with life. Usually, ‘five minutes’ later we are already experiencing the new normal. We are a far more flexible species than we give ourselves credit for, something many leaders seem to ignore.
Question Three – ‘Why are there no flying cars like you futurists promised years ago?’ My Answer: Because when there is a simpler solution, the simpler solution will alway win out. My answer here takes a not so gentle swipe at people who like to make things more complex than they need to be. So if you plan to design a future, look to include the least possible components that you truly need because you’ll likely maximise the chances of getting what you want. Sometimes what is needed are complex solutions to complex challenges. But RARELY are complex answers the best things for SIMPLE challenges.
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…
Read More >Some of Australia’s leading futurists gathered in Melbourne in March to provide a specialist Futures approach to addressing the Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra. The outcome of that Summit and the development that subsequently followed has led to the creation of the report ‘Australia 2020 Futurists Summit’ that has worked through each of the ten…
Read More >Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber will meet with eminent ABC radio presenter Jon Faine on Wednesday the 16th of April to discuss the outcomes of the Australia 2020 Futurists Summit and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra on the weekend With a focus on the future of Australia it would be only natural…
Read More >A group of leading Australian Futurists gathered over the weekend to consider the 10 core themes set to be tackled at Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra in April. Convened by Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber, the 2020 Australia Futurists Summit utilised some of the advanced facilitation and strategy development techniques as a…
Read More >As preparations continue for the Prime Minister Rudd’s ‘1000 heads’ ideas summit in Canberra in April, a group of Australia’s leading futurists are gathering in Melbourne this weekend for the ‘Australia 2020 Futurists Summit’. The futurists attending the summit work across Australia, in corporate, not for profit and Government agencies in a variety of fields…
Read More >A few thoughts on what steps could be taken to overcome the ‘treat everyone like a nail’ approach that Interest Rate rises seems to do. Check out the idea under the ‘Latest Focus’ section Interest Rate Rises are going to penalise too many people who don’t deserve to lose their homes
Read More >Marcus Barber offers his thoughts on How to Stop Japanese Whaling in its Tracks and suggests that raiding boats won’t do the job. Instead he suggests that the key to negotiating with the Japanese is to have the Japanese people do the work. And to encourage them to do so we must begin to talk…
Read More >If an ‘Inconvenient Truth’ raised the profile of global warming to the general population, it appears that a willingness by political leaders to take appropriate action to mitigate the possible ramifications is still very much lacking. It is such a pity. No one who holds the Global Warming scenario close to heart wants to be…
Read More >Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber will join Tim Cox on 774 ABC as part of the conversation hour next week Tim is filling in for Jon Faine whilst he takes a well deserved break and Marcus will join him for the conversation hour kicking off at 11am on Thursday the 13th of December, where they’ll discuss…
Read More >At the AustForesight 2007 Conference, Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber and fellow Futurist Steve Tighe presented their take on what is required to enable futurists to be seen as more relevant to the Corporate world. Drawing on their shared experience as facilitator and client, they detailed the journey of foresight and futures across the past 50…
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