Shaping Tomorrow Together: Scott Smith and Susan Cox-Smith on the Dynamics of Futuring
Apr 2, 2024
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Expert futurists Scott Smith and Susan Cox-Smith discuss the shift from traditional forecasting to dynamic futuring. They highlight the importance of inclusive strategic frameworks, online communities driving innovation, and communal networks shaping responsive cultures. Emphasizing the active nature of 'future,' they advocate for broader participation in creating better futures for all.
Futures thinking should be integrated into organizational culture for adaptability and anticipation.
Engaged communities play a vital role in shaping responsive and anticipatory cultures for better futures.
Deep dives
Future Cultures and Leadership in Organizations
Building future-ready organizations through leadership is discussed in the podcast episode. Authors Scott Smith and Susan Cox Smith share their insights on the practice of futures and foresight. They emphasize the importance of integrating future thinking into the culture of organizations, highlighting the need for a shift in mindset towards futures as a critical skill.
Redefining Futureing and Strategic Foresight
The podcast explores the concept of futureing as an active behavior compared to traditional strategic foresight and scenario planning. Scott Smith and Susan Cox Smith aim to reset the baseline in the field of foresight by reframing the nature of future work. They focus on an engaged, applied approach to exploring, sensing, and communicating future possibilities.
Design Perspective in Future Cultures
Susan Cox Smith's design background brings a unique perspective to future cultures, making futures more accessible and engaging. By emphasizing empathy, curiosity, open-mindedness, and discomfort with uncertainty, individuals are encouraged to actively participate in futures thinking, without the need to become full-fledged futurists. The goal is to empower people to bring new considerations and skills to future discussions.
Community Engagement in Futureing Practices
The podcast highlights the role of communities in futureing practices, emphasizing the importance of collective sense-making and experiential futures. By creating rituals and spaces for collective exploration of the future, diverse communities can pre-test future scenarios and provoke discussions. Experiential futures serve as tangible artifacts that engage emotions and provoke responses, enabling diverse groups to envision and shape potential futures together.
In the Cohere podcast episode, hosts Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas, along with guests Scott Smith and Susan Cox-Smith, delve into the shift from traditional forecasting to the dynamic practice of futuring, as explored in their works How to Future and Future Cultures. They discuss the importance of evolving strategic frameworks to foster anticipation and adaptability, particularly in navigating complex crises. The conversation highlights the role of online communities in driving innovation and building future resilience. Through insights and case studies like the UNDP Future Trends and Signals System, they advocate for viewing "future" as an active process and emphasize the critical role of communal networks in shaping responsive and anticipatory cultures. "It's incredibly important for futures to be opened up to a wider group of people because you can't have better futures just for one." Susan Cox-Smith Mentioned in this episode: Links to relevant materials mentioned during the episode About our guest(s): Website: Books: Future Cultures: Author Bios and Contact Information: Call-to-Action(s): If you liked this episode, check out: and Subscribe to the Cohere Podcast For more reflections about the intersection of community and design, subscribe to the Cohere Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Leave a review of the Cohere Podcast Have you listened to the Cohere Podcast? We would love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review and let us know what you think about the show. Your feedback helps us improve and make the podcast even better. ADD EMAIL Share your thoughts about future guests / topics of exploration: ADD EMAIL Check out #BookDNA for a list of books, articles, and whitepapers featured on the Cohere Podcast
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