Last Thursday I attended a trend briefing from The Future Laboratory thanks to being a subscriber to their essential LS:N Global service. This concentrated afternoon session was centered around the concept of the "Age of the Long Near". It focused on three key areas:

Whole-system Thinking
The Optimized Self
The Immortal Brand

It's not the purpose of this blog to go into detail on the topics (although I'm happy to sit down and talk about them if you have a moment) beyond a couple of very lasting thoughts which emerged out of the 'toolkit' (more of that later);

Build for purpose not for short term
Think beta, not finished
Plan for re-invention, not just change
Target mindsets, not demographics

It's no surprise that these all fitted the overarching narrative of the day - that of the long term - critically it all boiled down to the essential requirement to take a step back from the day-to-day and to think beyond the immediate horizon. That's challenging in any organisation / enterprise but it has to be done. Blaming a lack of resources for a behavior that is potentially not income generating and is somewhere over the horizon is a poor excuse and I would argue that just the mere act of thinking beyond the here-and-now helps elevate performance NOW. It's also incredibly difficult to deliver the right things today without a strong sense of vision about the future.

Here the Future Laboratory help keep some focus - as lofty as some of their insights are they structure each major one into DRIVERS > IMPACTS > CONSEQUENCES > FUTURES and, most importantly, finish with that 'toolkit'. Apply the toolkit to your business and thinking and you are half way there.

Of course there is a wider force at play that these insight sessions deliver. They get you thinking. External stimulation is critical to deliver that spark of creativity - it is brain food pure and simple.