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We all think about the future. But futurists do it in a more structured way. In this conversation with Dr. Wendy Slusser of UCLA’s Livewell podcast, we explored questions of what it’s like to be a futurist. The podcast is available on the Livewell website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
It is awesome to see the growing interest in the future and futurists. It is happening. If you are interested, welcome, and come on in.
Let me note, however, a bit of a challenge to professional futurists. A byproduct of this growing interest is people are are eager to identify as futurists. There is nothing to stop anyone from declaring themselves a futurist, and some do it after reading a few books, watching videos, or taking a short course. Or an expert in a field decides to talk about its future and proclaims themselves a futurist. Irritating, you can probably understand, to those who have slogged their way through a degree, apprenticeship, and perhaps years of practice to earn their place. True, but….
… my position is “what a great ‘problem’ to have!” We have more interest than we can absorb. Yippee! The old-timers will remember “steath futures” in which we hid our identity as futurists because we were thought of a weirdo fortune tellers. Now, everyone wants to be a futurist. Terrific, wonderful, fabulous. Bring it on! Our task is to “bring ’em in” to the fold. Educate ’em, train ’em up. Use that enthusiasm to build more support for the work we do.
This episode with Wendy goes over some of the basics: how do people get involved in futures? What’s it like being an organizational futurist? How do we apply it? I believe these are very useful questions to put out there and discuss. They help to de-mystify our work and encourage more people to join us. My thanks to Wendy and her team for giving us this opportunity to spread the word! Andy Hines
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