Published by:
Triarchy Press
Axminster, England
info@triarchypress.net
www.triarchypress.net
Copyright Patricia Lustig, 2015
The right of Patricia Lustig to be identified as the athor of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
All rights reserved
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Print ISBN: 978-1-909470-66-8
ePub ISBN: 978-1-909470-67-5
Further resources for each chapter can be found at: bit.ly/tpSF44
A common boardroom feeling is that never before have we needed more hindsight sooner. Couple that with the increasingly common feeling that the tried and tested approaches to strategy formulation are no longer enough. They still work as far as they go but they need to be supplemented with additional tools for looking ahead further than has become the norm, and with more intellectual rigour. This book shows us a way of doing that.
Sir David Brown, Engineer and Industrialist
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Strategic Foresight is not some kind of mystical ability! It is simply the most important set of skills and tools in any leaders tool set. Tricia Lustig writes about these on the basis of her 35 years of experience in organisations from different sectors, and of all sizes.
Puzzled about things such as paradigms, systems thinking, horizon scanning, and stakeholder engagement? Want to know how to identify exactly where there is energy for change in your organisation, and then how to harness that energy to make change happen? Wonder whether it is possible to develop and implement a strategic plan in view of the discontinuities, vulnerabilities and volatility that is around us? To survive and even flourish in the vastly tangled terrain in which we all live now, here is a simply-written guide.
Prabhu Guptara, Chairman, Relational Thinking Network, Geneva
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Strategic Foresightpaves the way to prepare your organization for the future. Every business, government, education, and nonprofit leader should read this book.
Herb Rubenstein, Lecturer in Strategic Management, UC Denver
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If you are the type of leader that finds conventional books on forecasting, planning and development to be more than a little boring, here is a book on strategic foresight that may be just like mind candy for you to read in large part because of the artful way that Patricia Lustig weaves together a narrative that is rich in war story anecdotes, both about others, and about her own rich experiences in different sectors of several cultures. It is definitely about finding and following your bliss in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) operating environments that all leaders today must increasingly cope with.
Oliver Markley, Professor Emeritus and former Chair, Graduate Program in Studies of the Future, University of Houston-Clear Lake
Charting the future course of an organisation is increasingly problematic in a world where the normal, uncertainty and unthinkable change are synonymous. Tricia Lustigs advocacy of strategic foresight and her elegantly simple explanations of how to turn theory into practice is the voice of a wise navigator who has deep experience and intimacy with the corporate soul.
Michael McAllum, Founder & Futures Architect, Global Foresight Network
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Increasing demand, rising customer expectations, the speed of technological change and pressure on budgets all combine to present a significant challenge for the Public Sector. If we are to meet the demands society places on us then we need to learn to think and act very differently, whilst preserving the values so crucial to the delivery of excellent public service.
Strategic Foresightoffers a coherent framework to help strategic leaders think differently providing practical processes, tools and techniques to help leaders seize the initiative and shape the future of their organisations. Helping them to imagine possible futures and learn from them, to develop robust, stress-tested strategies, improve their decision-making and the ability to deliver change. For strategic leaders in the Public Sector looking to meet the challenges of tomorrow++, the practice of strategic foresight strikes me as one of the most important, relevant and necessary practices that they can have and develop today.
Chris Bradley, Senior Commercial Manager, Surrey County Council
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Strategic Foresight: Learning from the Futureinforms the reader to action. Written by business veteran Tricia Lustig, this book does not tell the future, but shows the reader how to develop strategy to thrive in the future.
...the author starts with basic concepts and guides the reader to tools which aid in understanding and help develop perspectives that others might miss using traditional forecasting methods.
This book is an excellent how-to manual that not only helps the reader assess the present environment, and develop strategy, but also to understand the knock-on effects of trends and weak signals and then communicate them into an organization to change it make it strategically ready for the what the world is throwing at it.
From basic terminology, to emergent behaviors, from gathering information to putting a strategy in place, this book covers strategic foresight in a practical, easy to read, and actionable manner suitable for the C suite to front-line management.
Jim Breaux, MSF, APF Director
Tricia writes from her experience of using strategic foresight effectively in organisations and unlike many people who write about a methodology or perspective, she is very clear when it is not appropriate - if you judge the conditions are right then she will guide you through using strategic foresight to steer through todays choppy waters.
Gill Ringland, CEO and Fellow, SAMI Consulting and Chairman, Knowledge Insights
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In the opening line of his 1953 novel,The Go-Between, L P Hartley wrote The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. So too it will be for the future. We cannot know what will happen but we can prepare ourselves for success by developing the ability to recognise the future as it unfolds in the present: the only place we can make decisions and take action. In this short and easy to read book Tricia Lustig gives the reader tools to exercise what she refers to as their foresight muscles and illustrates each with her personal experiences as a strategist and foresight thinker. Building on shared knowledge and insights leaders should be able to address the fundamental risk management questions: What might happen? How will I know it is happening? What will I do if it happens? What can I do now to put myself in a better position to exploit the future NOW?
