A Futurist is an Octopod

I once asked a corporation’s HR director for the history behind a serious conflict of egos I witnessed in Session 1: “I’m all over it”, he said. What does that mean? What does it mean to be all over something when you’re sitting in the wings eating mints?

Foresight is primarily about seeing the future with new eyes. As Foresight practitioners, we have our antennae up, tasting the environment for weak signals that give us a portal into the creativity of the humans in the room. Our ultimate aim is not to tell you where, what or who you should do. It’s about deep listening and exchange of ideas. It’s about experiencing an all-of-us moment of stillness wrapped in respect and honour — that’s where the most amazing ideas pop up. The answers to your questions about the future are always already in your roots. And I’ve learnt to trust emergence.

I once placed a large Wheelie bin at the registration desk. The lid was open and on it a large sign said PLACE EGOS HERE. Most people laughed but some executives and would-be’s looked uncomfortable. At the end of the conference I wheeled it into the middle of the room and invited people to come and collect their egos before leaving. The CEO walked up and shut the lid. “We don’t need them in XYZ any more. We are more powerful in the all-of-us realm.”

To my mind, the only way to be “all over” something is to tap into the deep soil and enrich all of the roots.