Course Content
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Reenvisioning The Future
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Introduction to Reenvisioning The Future
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Lesson: At an Inflection Point
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Lesson: The Role of New and Exponential Technology
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Lesson: What are the Plausible Future Scenarios?
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Lesson: Envisioning a Better Future
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Lesson: The Business Opportunity
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Workbook: Envisioning a future that we want
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Resources for Optional Deepdive
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Quiz
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Introduction to Reenvisioning The Future
Welcome to the third module of the Better Business Acceleration Program: Reenvisioning the Future.
As you have already seen, a thriving business community rests on the fundaments of healthy societies and a healthy planet. The imminent threat to this very fundament is now hopefully clear to you.
To put the challenge of the Sustainability Revolution in a business lingo that you may be more comfortable with, your business and industry may already be at an inflection point, as described by renowned business strategist Rita Gunther McGrath in her book Seeing Around Corners.
An inflection point is a moment in time where a certain change in your business environment will mean dramatic change to your business. As such it represents both opportunities and threats. And the Sustainability Revolution indeed brings both disruption and a wide range of opportunities.
You could of course argue that the industrial revolutions and increased use of technology are what got us into these problems in the first place. New technology is of course neither good nor bad. It all depends on how it is used. Technology actually carries the potential to help us solve the wicked problems that we have caught ourselves in - and could help us live and prosper within the planetary boundaries. The potential for business in this context is enormous, and well worth exploring for any company aiming to reinvent themselves and co-create healthy futures.
In this module, we will explore what a strategic inflection point may mean to your business. We will look into the role of innovation, and that of new and exponential technologies to solve some of the world’s wicked problems, and the estimated business opportunities that it holds.
Only treating the ongoing climate and biodiversity crisis as a threat will bring fear and block our brains from thinking creatively. If we can instead see the underlying opportunities, we are likelier come up with creative and impactful solutions.
We will also take some time to reimagine the future 30 years from now (at around 2050). Because, before we can build a future world that we want to live in, we have to imagine it. This starts with a clear vision of the future.
Understanding that we all contribute to this future as it unfolds is a first step. Actively envisioning the future we want, and then actively co-creating it comes next.
A vivid vision of a promising future can indeed provide the hope needed to help us step out of our comfort zones and dare to make a difference.
I know this for sure: If we don’t even try, there is no opportunity for success.
So, let’s get started!