Learning from Tomorrow: Using Strategic Foresight to Prepare for the Next Big Disruption

By Bart Édes

COVID-19 wrecked the plans and strategies of organizations everywhere, while injecting greater uncertainty into a world already undergoing disruptive social and technological change. Strategic Foresight can help us navigate through the recovery and beyond. Strategic Foresight is a systematic, intelligence-gathering, vision-building process that helps us manage uncertainty by discerning plausible alternative futures and applying the insights to present-day planning. It is ideally suited to a world upended by the pandemic and rapid transformations in the way we live, work and interact. Using approachable language and a multitude of examples, Learning from Tomorrow shows how Strategic Foresight broadens our perspectives, exposes opportunities and risks, and opens our minds to innovation in a post-pandemic world. It is essential reading for organizational leaders and those responsible for developing strategies, scenarios, policies and plans.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
• Release date: Mar 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781789047646

Bart Édes

An experienced communicator with thirty years of experience leading and motivating teams, catalyzing organizational change, managing knowledge assets, formulating policies and strategies, and implementing technical assistance projects, Bart has spent his career working in North America, Central & Eastern Europe, and Asia & the Pacific. Areas of expertise and interest include international development, inclusive business/ESG, social policies, public governance and policy making, international trade, migration, emerging technologies, megatrend and risk analysis, foresight, partnership development, and communications and media relations. Primary regional focus: Developing Asia. He lives in Montreal, Canada.

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What people are saying about

Learning from Tomorrow

Using Strategic Foresight to Prepare for the Next Big Disruption

The COVID-19 crisis has accentuated the need for public and private organizations to embrace a futurist mindset in a period of increasing uncertainty and transformational change. Learning from Tomorrow clearly explains how strategic foresight can help you forge resilient plans and strategies capable of managing alternative plausible futures in a post-pandemic world.

Anne Kabagambe, former Executive Director, World Bank Group

Learning from Tomorrow does an exceptional job of demystifying strategic foresight and making it approachable both for people new to foresight and to existing practitioners. The book is well researched with a tight narrative, and I’ll definitely be buying some copies to help spread the importance of foresight in government through my organization.

Bhreigh Gillis, Design Strategist, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario

This book provides an accessible entry to the practice of strategic foresight. Key concepts are explained and the book provides examples of how some of the key tools in the foresight toolkit have been applied across the world, both in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and prior. The many scenarios surveyed shows how useful foresight is in this period of uncertainty — and how open the future is. The book should inspire readers to explore the practice of strategic foresight further and provides us with many avenues to do so.

Siv Helen Hesjedal, Chief Knowledge and Operations Officer, Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Consultative Council (South Africa)

Science tells us that anthropogenic threats to the environment and biodiversity are increasing and have serious – and in some cases irreversible — implications for the wellbeing of people, nature and the planet. Strategic foresight can help us assess how trends are evolving, enabling us to take action now to prepare for a wide range of future scenarios. Learning from Tomorrow strengthens our capacity to plan wisely and effectively. Every environmental leader should make this a must read for 2021. Scott Edwards, Executive Director, Conservation Strategy Fund

Navigating the complexity of social transformation under emerging threats such as climate change is challenging for today’s governments and systems. Learning from Tomorrow offers a timely and highly relevant contribution to foresight and anticipatory governance by demonstrating how foresight facilitates robust, long-term planning in the midst of uncertainty. This is certainly a book that will change the way you think tomorrow, and unlock a new thinking of today.

Dr. Rathana Peou Norbert-Munns, Scenarios Coordinator, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security

Even though foresight has become a modern buzzword, it is veiled in mystery to many. Bart Édes fills this concept with life and convincingly shows why it should become an essential element of policy work and in other contexts. Learning from Tomorrow is essential reading for everyone who is interested in foresight and, even more, in its practical application.

Marek Prityi, Chief State Advisor, Ministry of Environment, Slovak Republic

RESETTING OUR FUTURE

Learning from Tomorrow

Using Strategic Foresight to Prepare for the Next Big Disruption

RESETTING OUR FUTURE

Learning from Tomorrow

Using Strategic Foresight to Prepare for the Next Big Disruption

Bart W. Édes

Winchester, UK

Washington, USA

First published by Changemakers Books, 2021

Changemakers Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., No. 3 East Street,

Alresford, Hampshire SO24 9EE, UK

[e-mail]

www.johnhuntpublishing.com

www.changemakers-books.com

For distributor details and how to order please visit the ‘Ordering’ section on our website.

© Bart W. Édes 2020

ISBN: 978 1 78904 763 9

978 1 78904 764 6 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021930487

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers.

The rights of Bart W. Édes as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design: Stuart Davies

UK: Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

Printed in North America by CPI GPS partners

We operate a distinctive and ethical publishing philosophy in all areas of our business, from our global network of authors to production and worldwide distribution.

Contents

Cover

Half Title

Title

Copyright

Contents

Foreword by Thomas Lovejoy

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: What Is Foresight and What Does it Do?

Chapter 2: Putting Foresight to Work in Your Organization

Chapter 3: International Examples of Foresight in Practice

Chapter 4: Scenarios for the Post-Pandemic World

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Resources

References

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Guide

Cover

Half Title

Title

Copyright

Contents

Start of Content

References

Bibliography

The Resetting Our Future Series

At this critical moment of history, with a pandemic raging, we have the rare opportunity for a Great Reset – to choose a different future. This series provides a platform for pragmatic thought leaders to share their vision for change based on their deep expertise. For communities and nations struggling to cope with the crisis, these books will provide a burst of hope and energy to help us take the first difficult steps towards a better future.

– Tim Ward, publisher, Changemakers Books

What if Solving the Climate Crisis Is Simple?

Tom Bowman, President of Bowman Change, Inc., and writing-team lead for the U.S. ACE National Strategic Planning Framework

Zero Waste Living, the 80/20 Way

The Busy Person’s Guide to a Lighter Footprint

Stephanie Miller, Founder of Zero Waste in DC, and former

Director, IFC Climate Business Department

A Chicken Can’t Lay a Duck Egg

How COVID-19 Can Solve the Climate Crisis

Graeme Maxton, (former Secretary-General of the Club of Rome), and Bernice Maxton-Lee (former Director, Jane Goodall Institute)

A Global Playbook for the Next Pandemic

Anne Kabagambe, former World Bank Executive Director

Power Switch

How We Can Reverse Extreme Inequality

Paul O’Brien,