Sohail Inayatullah, a political scientist and the inaugural UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies, shares his expertise in envisioning alternative futures. He discusses innovative methodologies like the Futures Triangle and Causal Layered Analysis to navigate uncertainties. The conversation delves into urban planning's shortcomings, the need for inclusive storytelling, and how inner alignment can drive social change. Inayatullah emphasizes the importance of collaboration to uplift communities and encourage transformative approaches to contemporary challenges.
Sohail Inayatullah emphasizes the importance of futures thinking, specifically the Futures Triangle, in understanding potential outcomes based on current realities and changes.
The podcast highlights the need to rethink rigid narratives and cultivate hope and agency to foster innovative problem-solving for future challenges.
Deep dives
The Foundation of Futures Thinking
Futures thinking revolves around understanding and mapping potential outcomes based on current realities and the dynamics of change. A significant aspect is the Futures Triangle, which consists of three variables: the pushes of the present, the weights of the past, and the pulls of a preferred future. This framework allows individuals and organizations to visualize and analyze various factors that influence future scenarios, including technological advancements, demographic shifts, and socio-political changes. By employing such methodologies, futures thinking encourages proactive adaptation rather than reactive responses to unforeseen events.
Methodologies for Exploring Futures
Sohail Enayatola outlines several key methodologies that aid in futures studies, among which the Future's Triangle stands out. The triangle helps evaluate the present pressures, historical weights, and desired future outcomes to create comprehensive narratives about what lies ahead. Additionally, the S-curve method is utilized to analyze emerging issues that could disrupt conventional forecasting methods, such as population changes or growing health trends, like veganism. These approaches enable varied stakeholders, from corporate leaders to young learners, to engage deeply with complex challenges and embrace innovative possibilities.
Changing Mindsets and Perspectives
A crucial takeaway from the discussion is the need for individuals and organizations to reconsider entrenched narratives that may limit growth and adaptability. By employing narratives to structure change, such as shifting from a rigid ladder metaphor to a fluid dance metaphor, individuals gain new insights into agility and responsiveness in their fields. This transformational process requires recognizing fears and discomforts associated with future scenarios while fostering an empathetic environment for diverse stakeholders. Consequently, the exploration of better metaphors can lead to more effective problem-solving and a shared vision for future progress.
Hope and Agency in Futures
The conversation emphasizes the importance of fostering hope, agency, and vision amidst uncertainties in today's world. Enayatola challenges traditional approaches by encouraging participants to reflect on their fears, personal narratives, and collective aspirations rather than providing a preset roadmap to the future. By addressing both personal and organizational stories that contribute to feelings of anxiety, the discussion fosters a sense of shared agency in shaping preferred futures. Ultimately, mutual understanding and collaboration drive the potential for innovative outcomes as society navigates pressing challenges.
This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features the political scientist and university professor Sohail Inayatullah, who is the inaugural UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies at the Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability & Humanity, and instructs at the Metafuture think tank.
He helps individuals and organisations create alternative and preferred futures, theorises how the future is constructed, and develops futures methodologies.
Editor in Chief of the Journal of Futures Studies, he's also contributed to the Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Future, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and the Oxford Encyclopedia of Peace.
In this fascinating interview, he explains his renowned approach to 'Futures Thinking' and whilst doing so discusses the Futures Triangle, S-Curves, Causal Layered Analysis, and the Six Pillars approach...
The conversation also includes references to those such as Dator, Marx, and Hegel, whilst linking to issues such as Spiritual Cities, Poverty v Abundance, Wants vs Needs, Used & Disowned Futures, and Population Dynamics.
So...I hope you enjoy listening to Sohail as much as I did!
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