Inside the Futurist’s Mind: Using the Three Horizons Framework

In this short video, I walk through how futurists and strategists use the Three Horizons to:

Make sense of near-term continuity (Horizon 1) while the current system slowly declines
Spot and shape disruptive ideas in the transition zone (Horizon 2)
Scan for weak signals of transformative change in the long-term (Horizon 3)

You’ll see how all three horizons exist at the same time, and why change is often slower than it looks—right up until it isn’t.

If you work in strategy, innovation, policy, or foresight, this video will help you:

Organize complex futures conversations into clear time frames
Communicate long-term change to clients and stakeholders
Track signals, transitions, and potential “systems of the future” more systematically

For fans of After Capitalism, I show how I used Three Horizons to frame the path to the three guiding images of the future.

Watch to the end to learn how to use the Three Horizons in your own futures work—and why it has become one of my all-time favorite tools for organizing and communicating about the future. — 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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