Engaging the Future: Leading in Turbulent Times

Where:

Tom Curren, John Kelly, Allison Conte

Participant panel discussion with Jeff Salzman and Terry Patten

• What is the “New Normal?”
• How Will We Adapt to It?
• Can We Find a Way to Thrive?

Engaging the Future is an exceptional opportunity to boldly explore the economic, social, and environmental breakdowns and breakthroughs that might occur over the next 10 years – and develop the courage, agility, and resiliency needed to address them.

Why engage the future? Isn’t it beyond my control?

We live in an adaptive world, learning from and adjusting to challenges and crises. The 2008 financial crisis, Katrina, and 9/11 continue to be the subject of analysis and reform. We are wiser for these experiences.

But the pace of new shocks to our economic, environmental, and social systems—combined with known but unaddressed systemic issues, and unknown or unintended consequences of our actions—could limit our capacity to respond and adapt in ways that help us to achieve individual, organizational, and societal goals.

Consider both the likelihood and impact over the next 10 years of:

• at least one natural disaster the magnitude of Katrina
• at least one financial crisis the magnitude of the 2008 credit collapse and subsequent recession
• one or more terrorist attacks that, unlike the Times Square truck bomb, might be successful

We don’t need to predict the specifics to consider that the level of challenge ahead may be unprecedented. Even exciting technological and medical breakthroughs have complex implications for our culture. This “new normal” may test our resiliency and stretch our resources. Without an augmented set of perspectives, capabilities and approaches, we might simply find ourselves “in over our heads.”

Workshop description
Engaging the Future is designed to enhance your ability to:

• Overcome denial and paralysis to engage the future with eyes wide open
• See the full range of challenges approaching and weigh their potential impact
• Access the ideas, practices, and resources that could help mitigate their effects
• Make the necessary personal, social, and business adaptations that will make possible a better future

Our mission, which we invite you to join, is to take a balanced view of the future and to create (within realistic constraints) a better version of what could happen than the “age of darkness” that some people understandably fear. We stand for the possibility that breakthroughs are as likely, and perhaps more powerful, than breakdowns.

In this scenario-based laboratory, we will work in teams to explore multiple perspectives on what might occur in the next 10 years. And we’ll take a deep look at the emotional, psychological and cultural patterns that can limit – or enhance – our ability to think and act with creativity and courage.

In this pragmatic process, you’ll learn specific tools and important skills to help you to increase agility and resiliency in your organization or in your community, and begin thinking about how to apply these approaches in your personal life.

In this workshop you will:

• Engage in a scenario process developed by leading experts, and co-create “stories from the future”
• Make sense of confusing trends
• Learn to work with complexity, paradox, and ambiguity
• Develop insight and foresight around unintended consequences of actions that you, your organization, and society might undertake
• Avoid the decision traps and biases that even the most senior executives make
• Shift from predicting-the-future to sensing-and-responding in a dynamic way
• Practice a new decision-making process that integrates multiple perspectives to create effective solutions to difficult issues
• Discover sources of personal efficacy, resiliency, and adaptability

The pilot program, designed to address the concerns of top executives, is open to the public in July 2010. The invitation to join us—a $2,000 value—is a special one-time offer to participate in this groundbreaking event.

3 days. $195
Venue: Boulder Integral, 2805 Broadway St. Boulder, CO 80304
July 9-11, 2010
Friday 8:30 am-7:00 pm
Saturday 8:30 am-7:30 pm
Sunday 8:30 am-4:00 pm