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In foresight, rules are made to be broken. Futurists are rule-breakers by nature. We do have some rules at Houston Foresight. For instance: 
- We do teach a core method, Framework Foresight, although it is designed to be modular and incorporate other techniques.
- We do have a set of 12 Steps for Futurists modeled on the self-help movement.
- And we have our Eight Rules of Houston Foresight Club modeled on Fight Club,
These, and other rules, are breakable. But we have one rule that we cannot break: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!
This sacred rule trumps all others. Everything we do is in service of the client at hand (and we define client broadly – humanity is often the client). Here’s our shorthand for the “typical” foresight audience:
- Bridge Builders are the frogs that can live on the land of corporate politics and the sea of futures work. These are our most valuable friends, out translators that can frame our message in a way that gets people interested and into action.
- True believers are the lemmings who will follow us enthusiastically. We need nourish our true believers and go into battle side-by-side with them. But we must be careful not to mistake their voice or views for that of the mainstream organization or we all go over the cliff together.
- Laggards are the vultures who will never like our message and probably not like us either. They are circling around and waiting for us to fail. We can’t convert them, the best we can do is use or frogs to work around them.
- Fence-sitters are the rats (very sweet pets, BTW) who will support our ideas if they “smell the cheese” or they will be first off our sinking ship. They are by far the biggest audience and primary target. They often don’t give a hoot about foresight, but want to know if our ideas and proposals will benefit them and/or the organization.
This post came up during project discussions with a client where we kept coming up with new process ideas, and we got a little concerned about breaking rules, and we decided, that as long as we keep our eye on the unbreakable rule of “Know Your Audience” we are okay. – Andy Hines
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