Learn Strategic Foresight with Dr Peter Bishop

Dr Peter Bishop

October 29th, 2020 | 1:30 to 2:30 PM + 30 Minute Informal Conversation

We know that no one can predict the future, but it seems that we do it almost all the time anyway. Discover how strategic foresight as an alternative. What to do about the future when you don’t know what is going to happen, with Dr. Peter Bishop.

One of the core competencies of being an effective leader is seeing things other people don’t see. This workshop presents two alternatives.

The first is systems thinking which allows us to see wholes and the interdependencies among their parts rather than just parts alone. We all know that “a system is more than the sum of its parts.” However, few of us really understand what that means. Nor do we know how to use that insight in leading change.

Another invisible element of our world is change. It seems strange to say that change is invisible when we are swimming in a world of change, not least from what we get from the media every hour. But have we ever really systematically understood how change occurs? And it’s even more challenging when it comes to change in the future. We know that no one can predict the future, but it seems that we do it almost all the time anyway.

Strategic foresight is the alternative – what to do about the future when you don’t know what is going to happen.

WHAT IS FUTURE FOCUSED LEADERSHIP SERIES?

The Future Focused Leadership series looks to develop the sustainable leadership skills essential to navigating through COVID-19 and beyond.

Each session in the series is interactive and intends to engage with a presentation by the speaker, interactive session and Q&A, followed by an informal period for conversations on the topic and networking with peers and experts.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• distinguish strategic foresight from traditional forecasting and planning;
• understand the different types of change and their implications for anticipating and influencing the future;
• distinguish between the expected and alternatives futures and the evidence for the appearance of each one;
• identify the role and use of the different assumptions that we and others make as one of the sources of alternative futures;

Dr Peter Bishop Bio

Dr. Bishop is the Founder and Executive Director of Teach the Future, an organization whose mission is to encourage and support educators who want to include futures thinking in their schools and organizations at all levels. Dr. Bishop is

Professor Emeritus of Strategic Foresight and former Director of the graduate program in Foresight at the University of Houston – the first-degree program in Future Studies in the world.

He has published two books on Strategic Foresight: Thinking about the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight and Teaching about the Future: The Basics of Foresight Education, both with co-author Andy Hines.