The Keyhole of the Present

An excerpt from The Guide to Natural® Foresight Framework:

Long before the current craze around unconscious bias modeling, foresight professionals were using futures thinking as a critical element in breaking through assumptions and biases to create organizational, cultural, and workforce development and change.

When we approach unconscious bias modeling from the landscape of today, we tend to automatically and subconsciously filter any new information through the lens of our present perspectives. The hidden biases and assumptions of our guiding narrative will overpower any change or innovation we desire to make, and new ideas or initiatives will be met with frustration and failure. This is similar to peering into a room through only the keyhole. If you rely on that limited purview, you are likely to miss most of the data.

Alternatively, when we are given the tools to think about the future in an immersive, transformative, and provocative fashion, we are able to break through the walls of the past built up through our present-day perceptions. Approaching change from the lens of alternative futures frees us to think far beyond our present obstacles, granting us the perspective of unseen opportunities we can gain rather than known commodities we can lose. However, a new way of thinking first requires a fresh way of seeing or measuring the world around us.

Access a full and complimentary copy of “The Guide to the Nature Foresight® Framework” here.