We Cannot Flee the Future: Preparing for the 2030s Today [Part III]
AUTHOR’S ATTESTATION: This article was written entirely by Jeff De Cagna AIMP DAIG FRSA FASAE FNI.Dir, a human author, without using generative AI.
As of this article’s publication date (7/27/26), there are 1,254 days until Tuesday 1/1/30, the first day of the next decade.
Fifty Years Ago This Month
On July 12, 1976, Barbara Jordan delivered one of the most important speeches in American history. During her address to the Democratic National Convention in New York City, Representative Jordan shared the clarion call to future responsibility that has become the defining source of inspiration for my work as a foresight practitioner.
“For all of its uncertainty, we cannot flee the future.”
As we approach the 2030s, each of us must decide how we are going to answer the call to shape our collective futures for the better no matter how difficult that work will be. It is my sincere hope that association decision-makers and contributors will find value in this series of articles as they seek to steward their organizations into the next decade.
Focusing Attention on Adaptation
Even as The Turbulent Twenties approach their conclusion, we know that association decision-makers and contributors will continue to confront intense and unabated systemic upheaval in the 2030s. Among the threats facing our associations, our country, and our world today and going into the next decade are deep social deterioration, expanding technological surrender, worsening economic inequality/exploitation, the real-world possibility of environmental collapse, and escalating political chaos. These powerful forces of upheaval will combine to create far-reaching instability for associations and render every association community stakeholder more vulnerable going forward.
To steward their organizations through these unforgiving conditions, association stakeholders must reject the tech-centric narrative of transformation and the myriad risks and harms it creates in favor of undertaking the comprehensive and consistent adaptation of their organizations through deep human collaboration. The complex and wide-ranging nature of the problems at hand requires a high level of agency and focused attention using a holistic and learning-centered approach that can deliver a beneficial impact while carefully managing organizational risk exposure. Focusing attention on sustained adaptation is about reducing the sensation of vulnerability among current stakeholders while building greater confidence in the future for long-term successors.
The work of adaptation creates a powerful opportunity for associations to renew themselves, the fields they serve, and our community for the future. Pursuing adaptation as a form of organizational renewal will make it possible for associations to inject fresh energy and imagination into their work and imbue a greater sense of meaning and purpose into the design of stakeholder relationships that do not depend on membership. Through the focus on adaptation, associations can reject a long-standing deference to preserving the status quo and make a demonstrable commitment to acting capably within their critical roles as 21st-century societal institutions.
Realizing the full individual, collective, and organizational potential they can unleash through collaborative adaptation will require association decision-makers and contributors to view this challenging work as something fundamentally different from an orthodox change management approach grounded in so-called best practices. Operating in a world facing the serious threats described above (in addition to others) requires a clear-eyed perspective on the full dimensions of the cumulative impact these forces can plausibly deliver and the ability to frame shared and adaptive expectations for appropriate action. Designing next practices strengthens agency by rejecting orthodoxy, concentrates on achieving beneficial outcomes for advancing the irreplaceability of human contribution, and enables a robust and future-focused approach to adapting associations over the rest of this decade and into the next.
Look for Part IV in August
In Part IV of this series, which will be posted next month, I will discuss why association decision-makers and contributors, who will be working without a reliable map to find their way through multiple plausible futures, must build and use the capacity for anticipation. Thank you for reading and please stay safe.
About The Author
Jeff De Cagna AIMP DAIG FRSA FASAE FNI.Dir, executive advisor for Foresight First LLC in Reston, Virginia, is an AI critical thinker, association contrarian, foresight practitioner, governing designer, stakeholder and successor advocate, and stewardship catalyst. Jeff is the 32nd recipient of ASAE’s Academy of Leaders Award, the association’s highest individual honor given to consultants or industry partners in recognition of their support of ASAE and the association community.
Jeff can be reached at [email protected] and LinkedIn at jeffonlinkedin.com.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this column belong solely to the author.
Photo courtesy of VZ_Art/Shutterstock.com.