Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
MindPrep 307: Intercept Your Future
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Reader, Can you predict the future? NO ….. Can you anticipate the future? YES Can you eliminate surprises? NO ….. Can you reduce the impact? YES The past few issues of MindPrep Reflections have ended with suggestions about a “forthcoming” workshop focused on intercepting the future. Here are my thoughts. This workshop will explore tools and techniques you can use to better prepare your company and yourself for the inevitable surprises of “the future.” It is not intended to develop “futurists;” it’s designed to give participants a practical set of tools and techniques to help them think about and intercept their future. It’s for decision makers and those who influence decision makers. It’s designed to be “theory light and application heavy” so come prepared to spend 90 – 120 minutes anticipating YOUR future. Answer Four QuestionsThe workshop focuses on exploring ways to answer four fundamental questions about the future of every organization. What’s going on?Answering this question requires the willingness and ability to scan the larger environment and confront reality. We will “think across time,” scan the horizon for clues and trends, and explore the larger environment of industry and society which surrounds us. We will look for dangers underlying current assumptions. You will document key trends and clues of impending change for your organization. Where is the future taking us?Answering this question requires building hypotheses (i.e., guesses) about probable, plausible and possible future scenarios and then assessing these scenarios against key success criteria. These scenarios will focus on your organization’s business model and the role of your external and internal stakeholders. You will frame three hypothetical future business models and how they might be different from today’s reality. Can we intercept the future?The first two questions provide information that is only valuable if the information helps the leadership team “place bets” (i.e., make decisions) that anticipate and impact future challenges. Answering and acting upon this question lies at the heart of not being taken by surprise. The key is to make decisions today that will positively affect future conditions. You will start a list of things that should change, things that can change, and things that you will change as you move into your future. How are we doing?The changes identified in the previous question will inevitably result in a portfolio of projects for you and your organization. You will assess the criteria associated with successful projects and the quality of the impending decisions. So, what’s the plan?This will be a virtual in-person workshop, run quarterly, starting in September. However, I’d like to run a pilot later this summer. The fee for the pilot is $49.00, which will be fully refundable if, for any reason, you’re not satisfied. Let me know if you’re interested or have questions. Oh, also let me know if you think 90 or 120 minutes is preferred. Cheers, Bill |
Bill @ MindPrep
Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
Reader, Intercept the Future A few weeks ago (MindPrep 308) I introduced this cycle and provided some comments about the first stage of intercepting the future – scanning. I promised to jump into the second phase but was sidetracked about my IdeaQuake musings. Nonetheless, I’m back on track and have a few comments about the need to guess where the future is taking us. I say “a few comments” because the work associated with guessing about the future is hard work and we don’t have time for that...
Reader, The last issue MindPrep Reflections dealt with the work of scanning the larger environment and I told you that I would address the need to build hypotheses (i.e., guess) in the next issue. However, I started thinking about what I was seeing in today’s business and political environments, and, for some strange reason, I started thinking about earthquakes. That lead me to think about the relationship between earthquakes and “IdeaQuakes.” Bear with me as I explain my thought process....
Reader The last issue of MindPrep Reflections introduced the general framework for an upcoming workshop focused on “intercepting the future,” which is built around answering four fundamental questions. They are: What’s going on? >>> Scan the larger environment. Where is the future taking us? >>> Guess and build hypotheses. Can we intercept the future? >>> Decide on bets about the future. How are we doing? >>> Act and adapt. Answering the first question requires that you actively scan the...