by I just celebrated my birthday and realized that almost half of my life now has been as a practicing futurist – 25 years if you count the two years in the program at UH. In the spirit of eating one’s own cooking, I am forecast that I will at some point be an old or aging futurist (am I there yet?)
In our Seminar class this semester, we are prepping the students for the post-program world. Part of that involves some personal strategic planning (BTW, we use alum Verne Wheelright’s excellent It’s Your Future: Make It a Good One). So, I thought about my personal vision for what kind of aging futurist I want to be and what kind I want to avoid. So, please invoke your sense of humor here, and recognize that I am by no means implying that I am not quite capable of the “don’ts” and I’m not bashing all aging futurists, many of whom are among my best friends!
Ten Do’s and Don’t for an Aging Futurist
| Don’t… | Do…. | |
| 1. | feel the need to sit in judgment, up on the throne, passing on wisdom to the young folks….and the young folks are literally everyone | remain a participant, a co-creator, and equal among equals |
| 2. | throw cold water on new ideas or proposals…or tell people that “I don’t want to throw cold water on that, but…..” (…you already have) | let the impulse pass – remember the adage: does it need to be said? does it need to be said now? does it need to be said by me? |
| 3. | put the “new people” in their place….publicly | what I can do to encourage new people to join, participate, speak out; and if they perhaps are “out of line,” take them aside and talk to them one-on-one |
| 4. | become jaded about the field | celebrate what had been accomplished rather than dwelling on shortcomings. Keep the fire burning! |
| 5. | deflate the energy and enthusiasm for a project or idea by pointing out how “this is nothing new” or “this was already done before,” often by pointing out a critical paper written 20 years ago (that probably was not read then either ) | build up ideas rather than tear them down; if there is relevant history, contribute what we can learn from it that aids the present case |
| 6. | be jealous when some “pop” work gains attention and poke holes in it | acknowledge the success of others and try to learn from it and why it was successful |
| 7. | be stingy with praise | never miss an opportunity to praise the work of colleagues |
| 8. | become overbearing such that any piece of foresight work that doesn’t mention climate change, the bottom of the pyramid, or other serious issues is immediately discredited | keep context in mind and don’t get so caught up in my issues that I start sounding like a one-note band |
| 9. | take yourself so seriously and lose your sense of humor (e.g., by getting offended at a piece like this) | remain continually capable of laughing at oneself |
| 10. | think all of the above is just related to aging | remember that all the above applies….now! |
Andy Hines
Good one Andy, but it just doesn’t apply to me… I’m not the aging futurist… right? 😉
I find that what helps as you age is to also be as weird as possible. The weirdos stay young at heart!
I like that — “stay weird.” We can build this list!
Only a small part of my professional work is in futures, but speaking as someone who is even older than you, I’d add that the passage of time makes me clearer about how to turn this great thinking we all take for granted into stuff that clients can use and that goes beyond strategy thinking. Either that, or people just feel obliged to be polite.
ha, on the polite comment. And ood point on bringing out the opportunity to leverage our wisdom!
Great guidelines for any time in life!