Exchanging ideas about organizational foresight

I’m looking forward to talking about ConsumerShift to the member organizations of the Learning Forum’s Foresight Council on Friday March 16th in Austin. It’s always fun to talk about values, but I’m particularly pleased to see the emergence of this new forum for organizations to get together and “talk foresight.” I’m a big believer in the value of organizational foresight – no surprise there – but I think we’re just scratching the surface of its practice in that setting. I recognize that every organization practices foresight, but so few are doing it on a systematic basis and taking advantage of the concepts and tools of professional foresight. When I was working as an organizational futurist a decade ago, I always found it tremendously valuable to exchange “war stories” with my counterparts in other organizations. To exchange ideas on what worked and what didn’t, what happened when I tried this….etc. Valuable stuff. Not only does this strengthen the prospects for the participating organizations, it also lays the groundwork for the spread into new organizations. As we know people don’t spend their entire careers with one organization, so when they move on to the next, they bring their foresight experience with them, and thus a new organization is exposed. And on it goes…..we hope!

For more information about the Learning Forum, please visit www.thelearningforum.org

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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