Yesterday I had the immense privilege of leading a workshop at FEEL: A Disruptive Futures Program by the Dubai Future Academy, a four-week international training program for future leaders exploring how to think differently about what’s next.
My brief: to talk transformation at the organizational level. How do we make any enterprise future ready?
Starting with the Why
My brief: to talk transformation at the organizational level. How do we make any enterprise future ready?
We began with what might sound like an obvious question: what’s the point?
Why focus on future readiness in a world so clouded by disruption that uncertainty often outweighs confidence?
This brilliant group of foresight leaders, spanning industries, disciplines, and geographies, surprised me. Despite their broad expertise, two-thirds rated their organizations as ‘explorers’ rather than ‘experienced’ when it comes to future readiness.
That’s not unusual. Our own Foresight 360 tool is a strategic maturity meter that measures how well foresight is embedded, and it often reveals the same story. In just four minutes, it gives leaders a sharp read on where their foresight capabilities stand and where they need to grow.
The Hard Part about Change
Perhaps the result shouldn’t surprise us. The hardest thing about change isn’t the change itself, it’s mobilizing the people who make it happen.
The group asked exactly the right questions:
What difference does it make when more people, more leaders, are involved?
And how do we get them engaged?
Hearts and minds, interest and alignment. These are fundamentals, and we don’t talk about them enough inside enterprise. Whose job is it, really, to get foresight done?
The more I see this firsthand inside corporations, the more I conclude that it can’t just be the job of the foresight team (which is usually pretty slim).
Beyond the Usual Suspects
When I asked the group who their sphere of influence extended to, the usual suspects came up: Innovation, Marketing, Communications. For this group, senior leadership was (at least sometimes) more plugged in than we usually see. But there was virtually no trace of what I’d call the unusual suspects, the ones we absolutely must involve if we want change to happen with meaningful and lasting impact.
I’m talking about stakeholders like R&D (ironically, often fully charged with change), Tech & Ventures, Acquisitions and Investor Relations, and perhaps most importantly, Human Resources. All change candidates. None officially tasked with foresight.
This matters. Because while foresight practitioners are naturally curious, more comfortable with change and disruption, and more willing to challenge received wisdom, the same can’t always be said across organizations as a whole.
Putting change authors (those who drive ideas, evidence, and value) at the table with change architects (those who actually have to make it happen) should be simple science. Or is it? No one in the room was putting this into practice, and many of our foresight-hungry clients are still at the explorer stage of making it a reality.
Reward and Recognition
We also talked recognition. Who notices when you do this well?
One participant shared an all-too-familiar story: foresight happening behind closed doors, entirely isolated. Voices of disruption often ignored, some even subject to bias or dismissal.
Those who had more positive stories to share on recognition, and thankfully there were several, tended to be those most closely linked to C-suite involvement. A key pillar of future readiness that more senior leaders are, thankfully, beginning to embrace.
Who’s the Point?
It’s always energizing to be in a room with such curious, open minds.
As I left, one question stayed with me:
When it comes to building future-ready organizations, it’s not What’s the point?
It’s Who’s the point?
Huge thanks to the brilliant team at the Dubai Future Academy and to everyone who joined for such a rich, inspiring discussion.
Here’s to creating organizations that don’t just anticipate the future but are ready to lead it.
