future mapping

We need to make intentional spaces for people to tell, share, or co-create these stories, spaces that are well facilitated and feel safe and inviting.

The problem (or at least one of the problems) is that the twin edicts to simultaneously optimize your team and life and to be flexible in light of an uncertain future are in opposition to each other. Optimization presumes a kind of certainty about the circumstances one is optimizing for, but that certainty is, more often than not, illusory.

Sociologist Elise Boulding calls this ‘temporal exhaustion’, arguing that ‘if one is mentally out of breath all the time from dealing with the present, there is no energy left for imagining the future.’

“The Emergent Future” instead challenges us to “ think transformationally, act transitionally ” to manifest futures-empowered landscapes of care, empathy, reconciliation, and love in our organizations, governments, and social entities, allowing us to align with much healthier expressions of our biological, psychological, and sacred experiences

TL:DR — It is impossible for organisations to “demonstrate their impact” if they work in complex environments. Asking them to do so requires them to create a fantasy version of the story of their work. This corruption of data makes doing genuine change work harder because it is difficult to learn and adapt from corrupted data.

inside-out & outside-in thinking combined, alongside strong brand strategy, are how brands get to rich new spaces for breakthrough innovation.