Creating Better Futures

Creating Better Futures
Author: James A. Ogilvy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2002-04-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 019976087X

As a founder and managing director of Global Business Network, James Ogilvy helped develop the technique of scenario planning, which has become an integral part of strategic thinking in both business and government. Now Ogilvy shows how we can use this cutting-edge method for social change in our own neighborhoods. In Creating Better Futures, Ogilvy presents a profound new vision of how the world is changing--and how it can be changed for the better. Ogilvy argues that self-defined communities, rather than individuals or governments, have become the primary agents for social change. Towns, professional associations, and interest groups of all kinds help shape the future in all the ways that matter most, from schools and hospitals to urban development. The key to improvement is scenario planning--a process that draws on groups of people, both lay and expert, to draft narratives that spell out possible futures, some to avoid, some inspiring hope. Scenario planning has revolutionized both public and private planning, leading to everything from the diverse product lines that have revived the auto industry, to a timely decision by the state of Colorado to avoid pouring millions into an oil-shale industry that never materialized. But never before has anyone proposed that it be taken up by society as a whole. Drawing on years of experience in both academia and the private sector, where he developed both a keen sense of how businesses work best and an abiding passion for changing the world, James Ogilvy provides the tools we need to create better communities: better health, better education, better lives.

Creating Better Futures

Creating Better Futures
Author: James A. Ogilvy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2002-04-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199923841

As a founder and managing director of Global Business Network, James Ogilvy helped develop the technique of scenario planning, which has become an integral part of strategic thinking in both business and government. Now Ogilvy shows how we can use this cutting-edge method for social change in our own neighborhoods. In Creating Better Futures, Ogilvy presents a profound new vision of how the world is changing--and how it can be changed for the better. Ogilvy argues that self-defined communities, rather than individuals or governments, have become the primary agents for social change. Towns, professional associations, and interest groups of all kinds help shape the future in all the ways that matter most, from schools and hospitals to urban development. The key to improvement is scenario planning--a process that draws on groups of people, both lay and expert, to draft narratives that spell out possible futures, some to avoid, some inspiring hope. Scenario planning has revolutionized both public and private planning, leading to everything from the diverse product lines that have revived the auto industry, to a timely decision by the state of Colorado to avoid pouring millions into an oil-shale industry that never materialized. But never before has anyone proposed that it be taken up by society as a whole. Drawing on years of experience in both academia and the private sector, where he developed both a keen sense of how businesses work best and an abiding passion for changing the world, James Ogilvy provides the tools we need to create better communities: better health, better education, better lives.

Prototyping Across the Disciplines

Prototyping Across the Disciplines
Author: Jennifer Roberts-Smith
Publisher: Intellect (UK)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021
Genre: Industrial design
ISBN: 9781789381801

Fields of study progress not by understanding more about what already exists, although that is a useful step, but by making guesses about possible better futures. The guesses consist of small forays into those futures, using strategies that are variously called learning through making, research through design, or more simply: prototyping. While traditionally associated primarily with industrial design, and more recently with software development, prototyping is now used as an important tool in areas ranging from materials engineering to landscape architecture to the digital humanities. This book collects current theories and methods of prototyping across a dozen disciplines and illustrates them through case studies of actual projects, whether in industry or the classroom. Prototyping Across the Disciplines provides context, a theoretical framework, and a set of methodologies for interdisciplinary collaboration in design. Each chapter offers a different disciplinary perspective on prototyping and provides a case study as a point of comparison for identifying commonalities and divergences in current practices. In examining the central role of prototyping in design research, this edited collection demonstrates theoretical and methodological transferability across disciplines not typically thought to be related, including post-human design, theatre, tabletop game design, landscape architecture, and arts entrepreneurship.

The Work of the Future

The Work of the Future
Author: David H. Autor
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2022-06-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0262367742

Why the United States lags behind other industrialized countries in sharing the benefits of innovation with workers and how we can remedy the problem. The United States has too many low-quality, low-wage jobs. Every country has its share, but those in the United States are especially poorly paid and often without benefits. Meanwhile, overall productivity increases steadily and new technology has transformed large parts of the economy, enhancing the skills and paychecks of higher paid knowledge workers. What’s wrong with this picture? Why have so many workers benefited so little from decades of growth? The Work of the Future shows that technology is neither the problem nor the solution. We can build better jobs if we create institutions that leverage technological innovation and also support workers though long cycles of technological transformation. Building on findings from the multiyear MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, the book argues that we must foster institutional innovations that complement technological change. Skills programs that emphasize work-based and hybrid learning (in person and online), for example, empower workers to become and remain productive in a continuously evolving workplace. Industries fueled by new technology that augments workers can supply good jobs, and federal investment in R&D can help make these industries worker-friendly. We must act to ensure that the labor market of the future offers benefits, opportunity, and a measure of economic security to all.

Create the Future + The Innovation Handbook

Create the Future + The Innovation Handbook
Author: Jeremy Gutsche
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2020-03-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 173243915X

Learn to Innovate and Make Real Change In our era of disruption and possibility, there are so many great opportunities within your grasp; however, most smart and successful people miss out. Unfortunately, your capabilities are limited by the seven traps of path dependency, which cause you to repeat past decisions. These traps can limit you from seeing the potential of what could be. If you could overcome these traps, what could you accomplish? How much more successful could you be? Create the Future teaches you how to think disruptively, providing specific steps to create real innovation and change. This book combines Jeremy's high energy, provocative thinking with tactics that have been battle-tested through thousands of his team's projects advising leading innovators like Disney, Starbucks, Amex, IBM, Adidas, Google, and NASA. On top of all that, this is a double-sided book, paired with The Innovation Handbook, a revised edition of Jeremy's award-winning book, Exploiting Chaos.

Design for a Better Future

Design for a Better Future
Author: John Body
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2019-04-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1351672576

The world we live in is increasingly complex. It throws up complex problems. This book is about tackling them. At ThinkPlace, we’ve pioneered the application of design thinking to complex challenges like climate change, family violence and global malnutrition. We work globally with governments, organisations and communities using a methodology – the Design SystemTM outlined in this book – that has been developed over more than a decade. We bring together different voices and help them to create better futures. If you’re one of those voices, or would like to be, this book is for you. It’s part roadmap, part instruction manual, but mostly it’s a clarion call for a new way of doing things: tackling the world’s biggest problems in a way that brings people together and produces positive, lasting change.

A Small Farm Future

A Small Farm Future
Author: Chris Smaje
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2020-10-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1603589031

A modern classic of the new agrarianism "Chris Smaje...shows that the choice is clear. Either we have a small farm future, or we face collapse and extinction."—Vandana Shiva "Every young person should read this book."—Richard Heinberg In a groundbreaking debut, farmer and social scientist Chris Smaje argues that organizing society around small-scale farming offers the soundest, sanest and most reasonable response to climate change and other crises of civilisation—and will yield humanity’s best chance at survival. Drawing on a vast range of sources from across a multitude of disciplines, A Small Farm Future analyses the complex forces that make societal change inevitable; explains how low-carbon, locally self-reliant agrarian communities can empower us to successfully confront these changes head on; and explores the pathways for delivering this vision politically. Challenging both conventional wisdom and utopian blueprints, A Small Farm Future offers rigorous original analysis of wicked problems and hidden opportunities in a way that illuminates the path toward functional local economies, effective self-provisioning, agricultural diversity and a shared earth. Perfect for readers of both Wendell Berry and Thomas Piketty, A Small Farm Future is a refreshing, new outlook on a way forward for society—and a vital resource for activists, students, policy makers, and anyone looking to enact change.

Colleges That Create Futures

Colleges That Create Futures
Author: Princeton Review
Publisher: Princeton Review
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2016-05-10
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0804126399

KICK-START YOUR CAREER WITH THE RIGHT ON-CAMPUS EXPERIENCE! When it comes to getting the most out of college, the experiences you have outside the classroom are just as important as what you study. Colleges That Create Futures looks beyond the usual “best of” college lists to highlight 50 schools that empower students to discover practical, real-world applications for their talents and interests. The schools in this book feature distinctive research, internship, and hands-on learning programs—all the info you need to help find a college where you can parlay your passion into a successful post-college career. Inside, You'll Find: • In-depth profiles covering career services, internship support, student group activity, alumni satisfaction, noteworthy facilities and programs, and more • Candid assessments of each school’s academics from students, current faculty, and alumni • Unique hands-on learning opportunities for students across majors • Testimonials on career prep from alumni in business, education, law, and much more *************************** What makes Colleges That Create Futures important? You've seen the headlines—lately the news has been full of horror stories about how the college educational system has failed many recent grads who leave school with huge debt, no job prospects, and no experience in the working world. Colleges That Create Futures identifies schools that don't fall into this trap but instead prepare students for successful careers! How are the colleges selected? Schools are selected based on survey results on career services, grad school matriculation, internship support, student group and government activity, alumni activity and salaries, and noteworthy facilities and programs.

Leaders Make the Future

Leaders Make the Future
Author: Bob Johansen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2015-12-17
Genre:
ISBN: 9781458767813

We are in a time of accelerating disruptive change. In a VUCA world - one characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity - traditional leadership skills won't be enough, noted futurist Bob Johansen argues. Drawing on the latest forecasts from the Institute for the Future - the first futures think tank ever to outlive its forecasts - this powerful book explores the external forces that are shaking the foundations of leadership and unveils ten critical new leadership skills. How adroit are you at dilemma flipping - turning problems that can't be solved into opportunities? Can you develop bio - empathy - the ability to learn from and apply the principles of nature in your leadership? Are you able to practice immersive learning - dive into very different - from - you physical and online worlds and learn from them? Johansen provides role models, tools, and advice to help you develop these and seven other future leadership skills. In addition, Johansen deals with two new forces that are shaping the future. The first is the ''digital natives'' - people fifteen years and younger who have grown up in a digital world. The second is cloud - based supercomputing, which will enable extraordinarily rich new forms of connection, collaboration, and commerce. In this thoroughly updated and expanded second edition, Johansen is joined by the prestigious Center for Creative Leadership. CCL's contributions help readers understand the new leadership skills by linking them to existing skills, and they provide analytics and exercises so readers can more fully develop these new skills.

Future Savvy

Future Savvy
Author: Adam Gordon
Publisher: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2008-09-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0814412866

In order to succeed in their industries, decision-makers today need to anticipate the future outcomes not only in their own industry but also in society and technology as well. The better their view of the future, the better their decisions--and the bigger their profits–will be. Future Savvy is a hands-on, how-to book on evaluating the business, social, and technology forecasts that appear in everyday communications such as newspapers and business magazines, as well as in specialized sources like government and think-tank forecasts, consultant reports, and stock-market guides. Futures analyst Adam Gordon has spent his career deciphering changes and trends in a variety of industries. Now, he shows business leaders how to gain a clearer view of the future, as well as: • Recognize potential trends and outcomes more effectively • Discount poor and biased forecasts more confidently • Anticipate relevant opportunities and potential threats earlier