NEW COURSE

Hello,

Most strategy work assumes the next few years will look something like the last few. When that turns out to be wrong (surprise!), plans that felt solid six months ago start to feel shaky.

As conditions change, you’re left scrambling to adjust without knowing where to aim. So you keep executing the old plan, because it’s the only one you’ve got.

Sound familiar?

At IDEO, we practice futures thinking to avoid that trap of reactivity.

In Applied Futures Thinking, you’ll learn to look a few years beyond your current strategy horizon, identify possible futures and their implications for you, and use that information to make stronger, more informed decisions.

No one can predict the future. But you can prepare for it. We’ll teach you how.

Course overview

5-week online cohort course

Starts November 5th

Taught by IDEO’s Futurist-in-Residence, Jennifer Lo

Early bird price: $1,295 (save $200)

After five weeks, you’ll be able to

• Define a preferred future for your organization out of many possibilities.

• Recognize early signals of change and larger industry trends and forces.

• Lead strategic conversations about the future grounded in evidence.

• Connect the dots from your aspirations to actions you can take today.

What you'll learn

Lesson 1: Introduction

Learn how the tools and techniques of futuring help you look further ahead and build flexible strategies that enable your organization to adapt as the world changes.

Lesson 2: The Fundamentals of Futuring

Explore signals, trends, and drivers—the fundamental building blocks of futuring—and learn how they work together to help you anticipate multiple plausible futures.

Lesson 3: The Futures Triangle

Discover a simple yet powerful strategy tool for gaining a holistic view of your organization through three lenses: the past, present, and future.

Lesson 4: Stories of the Future

Make the future something people can see, feel, and act on, using storytelling to bring it to life and backcasting to chart a path toward it.

Lesson 5: Conclusion

Carry futures thinking forward as a strategic leadership practice, grounded in diverse perspectives, optimism, and the agency to help shape what comes next.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to lead your team into the future with a clear point of view and a strategy built with the future already in mind.

The course starts on November 5th. See you there?

— The IDEO U Team