HBR IdeaCast How to Bring More Rigor to Your Long-Term Thinking
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Aug 19, 2025 Nick Foster, a seasoned futurist and designer with a background at Google X, Sony, and Dyson, shares his insights on enhancing long-term thinking in organizations. He emphasizes the importance of viewing the future through multiple lenses, rather than a single perspective, to foster better decision-making. The conversation critiques simplistic predictions and advocates for a nuanced, responsible approach to strategy. Foster also highlights the need for diverse perspectives to help traditional companies adapt and thrive amidst uncertainty.
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The Limits Of Could Futurism
- Could futurism paints an over-heroic, technocratic future that feels like advertising rather than lived reality.
- It rarely connects distant visions to near-term steps or mass adoption implications.
The Illusion Of Certainty From Data
- Should futurism treats the future as a single certain point derived from data and projections.
- That approach understates uncertainty and presents storytelling as objective truth.
Scenario Planning's Imagination Gap
- Might futurism uses scenario planning to map multiple plausible paths and their consequences.
- But organizations often lack imagination and miss fast, exponential shifts that sideline them.
