We don’t need to say this or that will happen in the future (we’ll leave that to the predictors and soothsayers). When …
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More Preferred Futures?
I think we're seeing a shift in client demand "back" to preferred futures. And dare I say visioning. I did a piece a …
Lets Get Loopy
A few months ago I shared some research that explored pathways to transformation and asked y’all to speculate on whether …
Cool Jazzy Foresight
I believe in good marketing as much as the next person. Maybe more so. We constantly implore our students at Houston …
The Comfort Trap in Foresight
We specialize in introducing foresight to people and organizations to foresight at the University of Houston Foresight …
Why Foresight?
I’m sure every futurist has been asked this question. Maybe lots of times. We may have developed a stock answer. We may …
Introducing TIPPOs: Trends, Issues, Plans, Projections and Obstacles
We at Houston Foresight are always tweaking our core Framework Foresight process. The short version of the process is …
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What Is a Preferred Future?
Oh wow, a definitions discussion … how exciting. Bear with me. I think there is some juicy stuff here! We futurists all …
Mapping Archetypes and After Capitalism
More from our “Mapping Archetype Scenarios Across the Three Horizons” research. Today, we look at how to apply it. …
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Futurists Carrying the Fire
There is no doubt that the work of the futurist can be frustrating. We see opportunities or threats ahead but our advice …
Keeping Our Eyes on the Futurist Ball
Futurists suggest change … and most people/clients would rather not. Sometimes I think it is helpful to get back to …
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Is Collapse the Most Common Pathway to Transformation?
I promised more from our "Mapping Archetype Scenarios across the Three Horizons" research. Let’s geek out a little bit. …
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Mapping archetype scenarios across the three horizons
I am so happy to be able to provide free access to our just published article in Futures: Mapping archetype scenarios …
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Introducing Foresight: A Community of Practice Approach
It’s been great to see the rise of Communities of Practice in the Foresight field. They are popping up both within …
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Scanning, Paywalls, AI, and After Capitalism
It's a somewhat bitter irony that just as many organizations are finally committing to developing a community of …
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Polycrisis Analysis
I'm usually not very timely here in terms of commenting on hot-off-the-press type of events, but I'm going to do it …
Why Futurists Fail … in their forecasts
Last week we talked about some typical resistances to information about change we see on the client or public side. Lest …
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Sources of Resistance to Information about Change
Last night we had a class in World Futures on wildcards in which we reviewed Oliver Markley’s wonderful piece that …
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Stretching our Scanning: Snowball Scanning
I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately to “help us stretch our scanning.” It’s something we’ve been thinking …
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Futurists as the voice of reason
Is there a new role emerging for futurists? For many years, I’ve used the slide depicted in the figure to suggest …
Check out the Open Foresight Hub! (Drivers included)
The Open Foresight Hub is an exciting new development for all we futures information hounds. It’s a wiki devoted to …
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On the Road Again
I’m about to rack up some frequent flyer miles carrying the foresight message. I have been cutting back on speaking the …
A Technique for Guiding Images of the Future
I'm pleased that “A Technique for Guiding Images: Imagining the Future After Capitalism” has been accepted for …
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What should futurists be able to do?
There are many possible answers to this question, and I think in a healthy foresight ecosystem there can and should be …
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Your Horizon Scanning Library?
How do you collect and organize your horizon scanning? At Houston Foresight, we have some particular needs (see the …
Foresight’s Last Mile Challenge
One of the biggest changes I’ve seen in foresight practice in more than three decades of work is the shift to more …
Red Pill Futures
"All I'm offering is the truth" -- Morpheus in The Matrix But he offered so much more -- an image of a future in …
Foresight Requires Patience
I recently had a conversation with an organizational futurist who had an opportunity to pitch foresight to a higher-up. …
The hard questions are not data questions
As we think about the future After Capitalism, one tempting approach is to pursue AI, Big Data, and the like to find the …
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Houston Archetype Technique Updated
Not new, but updated ... as promised in a previous post. To recap, for several years we and our audiences at the …
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