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The characteristics of a foresightful organization

A long time ago, I remember seeing a Glamour magazine spread showing fashion do’s and don’ts. (The people in the “don’t” pictures had a black bar obscuring their eyes, so they wouldn’t face too much shame, presumably). The table below offers some do’s and don’ts too. It shows what to be and what not to be, presuming you want to be a “foresightful” organization.

Foresightful
Not foresightful
Acts
Continuous change
Early
Open
Experiments
Expects alternative futures
Creative
Visions
Innovates
Outside the box
Global
Passion
Excited
Revolutionizes
Expects upheaval
Disrupts
Successful
Wins
Reacts
Forced change
Late
Protective
Imitates
Counts on a single future
Imitative
Assumptions
Adapts
In the box
Parochial
Concern
Afraid
Evolves
Expects business as usual
Behaves
Surviving
Loses

I urge you to think this through, and see what’s true in the organizations you are a part of. It’s possible to improve the situation, and even to transform it. Much of what I write about here at Foresight Culture, is about how to change things from the non-foresightful to the foresightful side. And we at Leading Futurists LLC are ready to help. We can work with you to make your organization more focused on the future. You might consider a workshop or Futures Day, for example, to get that started. We can help.

[For the curious and the skeptical, “foresightful” really is an English word.]

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