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A practical guide for everyday futuring in a complex world
Many organizations—whether they are big brands, governments, institutions, or startups—struggle to proactively shape their tomorrows, let alone envision new or ground-breaking possibilities. Leadership focuses too much on fixed outcomes, and not agility to anticipate and proactively approach emerging futures. As a result, organizations, teams and individuals find the future deeply challenging because they don’t have the necessary sensing and sense-making skills or the tools to identify and navigate toward their preferred future. Nor do they have the means of experimenting with other possible pathways early enough to make a difference.
HOW TO FUTURE builds on over a decade of experience translating the approaches of foresight—envisioning possible futures through a structured process—into a flexible, design- and innovation-friendly approach which can be used for forging better futures. This book doesn’t predict the future—it provides tools and practices that enable better understanding of possible futures and their impacts, and how to prototype ideas that engage others in these futures. It also describes how to tie these ideas to strategy, think about impact, and cultivate habits of everyday futuring.
HOW TO FUTURE provides accessible, agile approaches which can be scaled up or down to illuminate new futures for big organizations, or clarify complexity for a few colleagues around a table.
Contents
✦ 00 Introduction: Why “Future,” and Why Now? ✦ 01 Different Futuring for Different Needs: Finding the Right Approach for the Challenge ✦ 02 Getting Started: Scoping and Framing Future Explorations ✦ 03 Sensing and Scanning: Finding Signals of the Future Now ✦ 04 Sensemaking and Mapping: Turning Data and Insights into Patterns and Themes ✦ 05 Scenario Development: Combining Patterns and Themes to Tell Strategic Stories ✦ 06 Storytelling and Prototyping: Creating Ways for Others to Engage with Your Future Stories ✦ 07 Assessing Effectiveness: Developing Metrics for Progress ✦ 08 What to Do Next: Building a Futuring Culture ✦ 09 Conclusion: Making Critical Transitions ✦ 10 Further Reading: Resources for Going Deeper.
What the experts are saying
“The future is rarely singular, and even more rarely stable. And there are few voices I would rather have in my head, to keep me company into all those futures than Scott Smith and Madeline Ashby. Drawing on more than two decades of expertise and experience, this book is an exemplary way-finding tool, full of helpful instructions and sign-posts that will be unfailing useful no matter where you find yourself. And the book is also an incantation: summon the future, they write, but do it with intentionality, a sense of purpose, and a strong moral compass!”
—Distinguished Professor Genevieve Bell, Director of the 3A Institute, Australian National University and Senior Fellow, Intel Corporation
Hear more
Scott Smith spoke to Spencer Bailey and Andrew Zuckerman from At a Distance about futuring as an ongoing behavior. Listen below.
THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU, if you want to:
Learn how to understand the future and use futuring and practical foresight in an organisation or team,
Teach futuring or foresight to a new audience or team, or train a new department,
Understand how to find and frame trends, map the future, build scenarios, and prototype possibility, or
Build a futuring or foresight culture.
HOW TO FUTURE was written to be used by businesses, government, educational and cultural institutions, non-profits, charities and NGOs, small groups and individuals.
About the authors
Scott Smith is founder and managing partner of Changeist, a respected futures consultancy, as well as a business writer, educator and strategist. He has over 25 years’ experience in applied foresight and advises complex organisations on managing risks and uncertainty. Scott has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, WIRED, Qz and The Atlantic. He is based in The Netherlands.
Madeline Ashby is a consulting futurist, expert and adviser on technology, culture, politics and strategic foresight, based in Toronto. She is a regular contributor to Slate and writes for MIT Technology Review. She is based in Toronto.
Find out more ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Pre-Order the Companion Book
“The future is a verb, not a noun. Our minds may reach the ends of their tethers, but we’ll never stop futuring.”
Contact Us
To find out more about how HOW TO FUTURE can help you or your organization, get in touch and we will follow up shortly. For workshops, or for media/speaking requests, please see the relevant pages at the links above.