What Guiding Images Do | Hinesight....for Foresight

Aligned, in motion, and ready for action
— A. Hines

Guiding images tie the future to the present. They pull us into the future. They provide a stimulus for change. Previous, I wrote how about our goal as futurists is to get our clients “aligned and in motion.” Let’s update that phrase to “aligned, in motion, and ready for action. Perfect for what our guiding images of After Capitalism are intended to do.

The graphic notes our shorthand for referring to the 1^st horizon (H1) being described by the Baseline scenario of the current system; the 2^nd horizon (H2) as a zone of transition where new ideas “fight it out” to replace the declining Baseline; and the 3^rd horizon is where the transformation to a new system happen – where our three guiding images of After Capitalism are calling to us. Let’s look closer at the emergence of H3 from the vantage point of the present:

Today, looking out to H3, the guiding images get us aligned around transformation.
Today, looking at the H1, is the time to get in motion toward the guiding images by studying, monitoring, and doing little things like pilots and experiments that start to build momentum.
Today, looking out to H2 transition, is the time to begin laying plans and developing options for the action of the shift to the guiding images that takes place as they are “fighting it out” with other ideas about how to replace the decaying H1 Baseline.

The graphic shows how the Third Horizon pathway curve in the present “gets in motion” in H1, gets into action in H2 and is finally realized in H3. The guiding images connect the future to the present. They provide us a sense of direction in the present. But we don’t wait, but there are things we can be doing right now. As individuals, for example, if you believe in the Circular Commons, right now you can start composting. [I’m not suggesting that this is a simple matter of a few lifestyle adjustments, but rather just giving a simple example of how to get “in motion.”]

So, it is hoped that our three guiding images of After Capitalism might have a wide enough popular appeal to be North Star guides, pulling us into the future, getting us mobilized and ready for action. – Andy Hines

About Andy Hines

Dr. Andy Hines is Program Coordinator at the University of Houston’s Graduate Program in Foresight, bringing together the experience he earned as an organizational, consulting, and academic futurist. He is also speaking, workshopping, and consulting through his firm Hinesight.

Before that, he was Managing Director of Social Technologies/Innovaro, and served as an Adjunct Professor with the university since 2004. Hines enjoyed earlier careers as a consulting and organizational futurist. He was a partner with Coates & Jarratt, Inc., a think tank and consulting firm that specialized in the study of the future. He was also Futurist & Senior Ideation Leader at Dow Chemical with a mission of using futures tools and knowledge to turn ideas into new business opportunities. Before that, Hines established and ran the Global Trends Program for the Kellogg Company.

Hines is motivated by a professional hunger to make foresight practical and useful, and he believes that foresight can help deliver the insight that is so needed in today’s organizations and the world. His goal, he says, is to infect as many change agents as possible with this message. Thus, he has honed a skill set designed to make foresight more actionable in organizations.

In this pursuit, he has authored five books: Teaching about the Future: The Basics of Foresight Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012); ConsumerShift: How Changing Values Are Reshaping the Consumer Landscape (No Limits Publishing, 2011); Thinking About the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight (Social Technologies, 2007); 2025: Science and Technology Reshapes US and Global Society (Oak Hill, 1997); and Managing Your Future as an Association (ASAE, 1994) and has another in the hands of publishers: Teaching about the Future: The Basics of Foresight Education. He has also authored dozens of articles, speeches, and workshops, including the 2003 Emerald Literati Awards’ Outstanding Paper accolade for best article published in Foresight for “An Audit for Organizational Futurists” and the 2008 award for “Scenarios: The State of the Art.” He has appeared on several radio and television programs, PBS Houston, KRIV-26 News, and the CBS “Early Show.” He also co-founded and is former Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists.

About Andy Hines

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply