I had the pleasure this week of working with Michael Rogers from PracticalFuturist.com who was speaking at a conference for the company I am currently with. Michael is a self confessed Futurist albeit an accidental one! He did a very stimulating presentation which he had put together for us and presented to a to a group of 120 senior managers from around the world at a quarterly leadership meeting. For me it was good just spending some time with a kindred spirit!
Over dinner the night before the event Michael and `i sat down to right the world and we got talking about how we had got into the area of Futurism and what we had learned about the people who occupied this type of role around the world. Both Michael and i are, as Michael said, are accidental Futurists - we didn't train to be here, we didn't apply for a job - we just found ourselves here by accident.
This got me thinking about what makes a good Futurist? From the people I have met and had contact with I am estimating that there are around 80 - 100 true Futurist in the world today - OK what do I mean by true Futurists - well ones who can really do the job and not just talk about it!
So what characteristics does a Futurist need to have?
- A strong sense of curiosity - for me this is a must as I believe you need to be continually seeking out and questioning what is around us today.
- A good general business background or you could say experience - this again is a must. I have many 'academic' Futurists who know the theory but don't know how to do anything with it in a business context. Having this experience and strong business background gives you the context in which to operate.
- An expert field - One of the facets of a good Futurist in my experience is that they are an expert in some area - whether that be technology, or architecture, or psychology it doesn't really matter but what this gives them is 'wisdom' and the confidence and credibility to work at a senior level.
- Charisma - there is no getting away from it but there needs to be a level of charisma about a Futurist - he/she has to be someon that people want to listen to.
- Storyteller - this is where I start preaching! I believe that storytelling is a skill or craft every Futurist must excel at because he/she has to convince the audience that he is showing them a believable vision of the future. What stories do is allow the audience to short-circuit the understanding process and 'get-it' so much faster.
When I was looking for a speaker or this event I spoke to quite a few other Futurists to see if they were suitable - looking back they didn;t fit all this criteria - there were some good storytellers with plenty of charisma but no 'wisdom' or experience. There were others who had loads of experience but ne charisma or curiosity (signalled by old slide decks to me).
Thankfully Michael had all these characteristics and it proved to be a great choice for this event and I would certainly recommend him as a great speaker and Futurist.
What characteristics do YOU think a Futurist should have? I would be interested in your views
