Lone Star College High Tech Conference Explores the Future of Work

It’s been my experience (and others, I’m sure) that community colleges are often at the leading edge of change. They need to be innovative to survive. So, I’m not surprised that Lone Star-Montgomery CC is hosting a one day event to explore Texas’ High Technology ecosystem, as well as related trends and issues to prepare the organization and students for the emerging future.

I am very pleased to be able to contribute a keynote on “A Dozen Surprises about the Future of Work” which will help set the stage for the rest of the day by suggesting some structural and other changes taking place in how we work, where we work, and who’ll be doing the work. The point of talking about surprises, of course, is to prepare the audience so they are not surprises. So if I’m successful, my “surprises” wouldn’t be surprising — the audience will see these emerging changes coming. As futurists, one of our goals is to demystify the future – it doesn’t have to be a scary place. By thinking about how work will change, and then by exploring the specific changes going on in the high tech arena for the rest of the day, participants should come away feeling confident about the future. They’ll know what’s coming and have time to prepare!

And here’s some really good news. The event is FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Pre-register by emailing tonya.m.britton@lonestar.edu for information. Also visit the symposium’s facebook page: Star Tech Symposium_Lone Star College-Montgomery. Hope to see you there! Andy Hines

About Andy Hines

Dr. Andy Hines is Program Coordinator at the University of Houston’s Graduate Program in Foresight, bringing together the experience he earned as an organizational, consulting, and academic futurist. He is also speaking, workshopping, and consulting through his firm Hinesight.

Before that, he was Managing Director of Social Technologies/Innovaro, and served as an Adjunct Professor with the university since 2004. Hines enjoyed earlier careers as a consulting and organizational futurist. He was a partner with Coates & Jarratt, Inc., a think tank and consulting firm that specialized in the study of the future. He was also Futurist & Senior Ideation Leader at Dow Chemical with a mission of using futures tools and knowledge to turn ideas into new business opportunities. Before that, Hines established and ran the Global Trends Program for the Kellogg Company.

Hines is motivated by a professional hunger to make foresight practical and useful, and he believes that foresight can help deliver the insight that is so needed in today’s organizations and the world. His goal, he says, is to infect as many change agents as possible with this message. Thus, he has honed a skill set designed to make foresight more actionable in organizations.

In this pursuit, he has authored five books: Teaching about the Future: The Basics of Foresight Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012); ConsumerShift: How Changing Values Are Reshaping the Consumer Landscape (No Limits Publishing, 2011); Thinking About the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight (Social Technologies, 2007); 2025: Science and Technology Reshapes US and Global Society (Oak Hill, 1997); and Managing Your Future as an Association (ASAE, 1994) and has another in the hands of publishers: Teaching about the Future: The Basics of Foresight Education. He has also authored dozens of articles, speeches, and workshops, including the 2003 Emerald Literati Awards’ Outstanding Paper accolade for best article published in Foresight for “An Audit for Organizational Futurists” and the 2008 award for “Scenarios: The State of the Art.” He has appeared on several radio and television programs, PBS Houston, KRIV-26 News, and the CBS “Early Show.” He also co-founded and is former Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists.

About Andy Hines

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