A Vision for the Houston Foresight Program

I acknowledge that I feel like the guy who succeeded Steve Jobs – anyone remember who that was? Exactly! The good news is that I’ve been for nine years working alongside Peter at the Houston Foresight program.  I intend to build on the foundation that Peter Bishop and other faculty over the years have constructed.

When I think about what the program is all about and where it could go, the first thing that strikes me is how important the work is that we are doing here. The world needs more foresight, and it’s our job to help provide that. We need more trained professionals to help us spread foresight. So, I thank  students and alums for joining us in this important work! (And of course, clients, blog readers, and all of us involving in spreading foresight).

In my mind, the big vision is that foresight is a disseminated practice in widespread use.

The program vision is the UH Foresight is the premier training ground for professional futurists. Our graduates are recognized for their unrelenting focus on helping clients solve problems and work toward their preferred futures.

For students, from Day One we want you to be thinking about how you are going to use your educational experience in foresight. Be thinking about what works for you. What are you drawn to? A method? tool? A particular thinker? An Organization? Do you want to be consulting futurist? An insider or organizational futurist? Or a “futurizer,” where foresight is secondary to your profession, but you work to spread the foresight message? Learn what works for you. Each of you brings different skills, capabilities, and needs to the table, so it’s important to customize what you learn to what suits you going forward.

We want to build an experience for you that extends beyond just the classroom. This fall, for instance, we’re participating in an online game. We’re having a futures classic book club meeting at my house on an October Saturday morning. We have our Annual Spring Gathering of students, alumni, and friends and this is a great time for our virtual students to visit. We participate in the APF Gathering each spring and the WFS Assembly in the summer. And we’d like to do more.

We are looking to build up our research capability to provide students an opportunity to get hands-on project experience. There’s no better way to prepare for project work in the future than practice in the present. There are also opportunities to do interesting research on your own. Besides the Master’s project, there are independent study options, and many students have used their class projects as a foundation for building thought leadership on their topic. We encourage our students to speak and publish. Our students routinely speak at the APF and WFS conference. Our students have regularly won awards for their written projects for the APF Student Recognition Program.

So, for those of you thinking about it, come join us! For those already here, thanks for your time! Remember, we’ve got work to do, and it’s important! Andy Hines