This book proposes that organizational policies are what ensure the institutionalization and sustainability of futures thinking in organizations. It presents several case studies from corporations and other institutions that describe effective use of foresight methods and internal policies to respond to rapid change. The case studies address changing trends in technology, globalization and/or workforce diversity, and the impact on the economic and political well-being of the organization. The editors also develop an organizational capability maturity model for futures thinking as well as providing questions for discussion that promote critical review of each case chapter. This book will inform scholars and organizational leaders how best to utilize foresight methodologies and organizational policies to sustain successful management strategies within futures thinking organizations. Chapter 9 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The case studies in this Volume 2 book support the premise that organizational policies are what ensure institutionalization and sustainability of futures thinking in corporations, non-profits, and educational institutions. Futures thinking here reflects a systems approach utilized by organizational leaders to observe and interpret signals of change or disruption, identify trigger points of impact, employ foresight methodologies to build scenarios of the future and plan action, and then ultimately translate/actualize the most viable scenarios into successful business outcomes. What is new in the field of futures thinking today is not the general source of change (i.e., technology, globalization, and workforce well-being), but the tumultuous level of disruption occurring due to three phenomena—explosive use of social media, shift in great wealth, and government instability. Scholars and practitioners alike will find the case studies in this book provide nuanced insights into such disruptions, as well as discussion of best practices to ensure successful business solutions.

Thinking about the Future distills the expertise of three dozen senior foresight professionals into a set of essential guidelines for carrying out successful strategic foresight. Presented in a highly scannable yet personable style, each guideline includes an explanation and rationale, key steps, a case example, and resources for further study.

This book provides students and line managers in organizations with the means to create better scenarios and to use them to create winning business strategies. The book covers scenarios such as: economic outlooks; political environments; acquisitions; downsizing, and more.

Leading futurist Bob Johansen shows how a new way of thinking, enhanced by new technologies, will help leaders break free of limiting labels and see new gradients of possibility in a chaotic world. The future will get even more perplexing over the next decade, and we are not ready. The dilemma is that we're restricted by rigid categorical thinking that freezes people and organizations in neatly defined boxes that often are inaccurate or obsolete. Categories lead us toward certainty but away from clarity, and categorical thinking moves us away from understanding the bigger picture. Sticking with this old way of thinking and seeing isn't just foolish, it's dangerous. Full-spectrum thinking is the ability to seek patterns and clarity outside, across, beyond, or maybe even without any boxes or categories while resisting false certainty and simplistic binary choices. It reveals our commonalities that are hidden in plain view. Bob Johansen lays out the core concepts of full-spectrum thinking and reveals the role that digital media—including gameful engagement, big-data analytics, visualization, blockchain, and machine learning—will play in facilitating and enhancing it. He offers examples of broader spectrums and new applications in a wide range of areas that will become possible first, then mandatory. This visionary book provides powerful ways to make sense of new opportunities and see the world as it really is.

Futures thinking and foresight is a powerful planning approach that can help Asia and the Pacific countries meet economic, political, social, and environmental and climate change challenges. This publication shows how the Asian Development Bank (ADB) piloted this approach to understand entry points to support transformational change in the region. It compiles lessons from an ADB initiative to apply futures and foresight tools in Armenia, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste. Futures terminology is introduced as are specific tools such as emerging issues analysis, scenario planning, and backcasting. It also describes how futures and foresight tools were applied in the countries.