Adrian is a future-focused strategist for some of the most ambitious orgs on the planet. He’s helped lead impact businesses, community-led innovation, & regenerative future design. He believes each of us plays a role in building a future that works for everyone. And if you do this, your org will thrive. He runs Incredible, an innovation, strategy, and design firm + startup studio.
At a given point in time, there are three horizons.
The 1st horizon – the one we’re in now – will die.
If you’re only serving today’s needs, your org will die with it.
The 2nd Horizon will take its place.
Eventually, it will fail.
Your job is to build the 3rd Horizon.
If you do this, your org will be ready to serve the inevitable future. If we get this right, we will step into a future world that works for everyone.
The 2nd Horizon will take its place.
Eventually, it will fail.
Your job is to build the 3rd Horizon.
If you do this, your org will be ready to serve the inevitable future. If we get this right, we will step into a future world that works for everyone.
How to build for the Third Horizon
There are “Pockets of the Future” hidden in the present. The water is murky, but it’s possible to find them — and build them.
Nick Haan of Singularity University says, “Companies and governments that don’t evolve to solve humanity’s grand challenges will be left behind.”
Tackling gnarly challenges – whether in your community or across the globe – will be essential to the promise we’ve told ourselves for 10,000 years: It will get better.
Leaders for the future will need these skills:
● Futuring,
● Exponential Innovation,
● Altruism,
● & Collaboration.
The first step you can take is an inventory of these skills. Ask yourself:
“How far is my org looking into the future?”
“What trends — born and unborn — are we spotting?”
“What tools are we using to innovate towards them?”
“How can purpose set us apart or help us do better work?”
“If this problem is gnarly enough, who else is working on it?”
“How might we expand & strengthen our ecosystem to solve this?”
If you’re in the business of making money, these questions will be essential in maintaining relevance – and capturing future market share.
If you’re in the business of solving social and environmental problems, these questions will help deepen your understanding of root problems and build coalitions and movements to solve them.
It’s not easy.
“If you talk about where all of the value will be created over the next 50 years, it’ll be in those hard things,” says Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of Social Capital.
Say hello to VUCA.
Volatility. Uncertainty. Complexity. & Ambiguity.
VUCA is here to stay. In fact, it is only speeding up.
If you want to thrive in a world where change is speeding up, you need to replace old thinking with new frameworks.
At Incredible, we’ve developed a process called Regenerative Innovation to design amidst uncertainty.
Regenerative Opportunities
Regenerative Innovation is being used to tackle some of the gnarliest problems in our communities and around the globe:
➜ Move People Out of Poverty
➜ Create Local & Global Resilience
➜ Shift Power
➜ Drawdown CO2
➜ Uplevel Education
➜ Tap into $4T Circular Economy
➜ Build peace
Just as important, Regenerative Innovation reframes perspectives, expands our locus of impact, & builds capacity in others to solve problems.
The Shift is Hitting the Fan.
A new future demands new stories.
If you believe the Stockholm Resilience Institute, 3 out of 9 levels of our biosphere – the systems of our planet that keep us alive – are beyond the Zone of Uncertainty. Three more are in or nearing the Zone of Uncertainty.
The Global Footprint Network measures how much of Earth we use. We use about 1.6 Earths every year. If we do this much longer, the Earth won’t be able to regenerate enough stuff for us to use. Who are you going to sell stuff to then?
Regenerative Innovation is our approach to writing new stories. Small communities, governments, and global companies can reconnect to the systems they’re nested in. They can determine what they want the future to look like and build toward it.
We Believe
We believe your org can thrive. We believe your customers and supply chain and team members can thrive. We believe it’s possible while the planet thrives too.
All we have to do is reimagine what’s possible.
Contact Adrian Reif at LinkedIn
