{"id":12728,"date":"2024-04-30T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T06:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/?p=12728"},"modified":"2026-06-23T09:54:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:54:57","slug":"why-the-boards-duty-of-foresight-remains-a-radical-idea-ten-years-later-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/why-the-boards-duty-of-foresight-remains-a-radical-idea-ten-years-later-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Board\u2019s Duty of Foresight Remains a Radical Idea Ten Years Later: Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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AUTHOR’S ATTESTATION: This article was written entirely by Jeff De Cagna AIMP FRSA FASAE, a human author, without using generative AI.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In Part I<\/strong><\/a>, in addition to an overview of its origin story, I shared why I believe the board\u2019s duty of foresight was a radical idea when it first emerged in 2014. In this Part II column, I want to share additional thoughts on why the board\u2019s duty of foresight, even after ten years, remains a radical idea today.<\/p>\n

Getting to The Next Definition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For more than eight years (2014-2022), I wrote and presented frequently on the board\u2019s duty of foresight using the same definition of the term: the duty of foresight is a shared commitment that association boards make to learn as much as possible with the future. <\/em>Since the duty of foresight was a direct challenge to association community orthodoxy on boards and governing, I felt strongly that providing a consistent and stable definition was essential to persuading boards and CEOs to pursue this emerging approach. From the outset, the focus on the duty of foresight has been on the vital role that association boards must play as committed champions for the adoption of next practices, both inside their organizations and across the various connected human systems for which they have responsibility.<\/p>\n

In 2018, in collaboration with my Association Adviser<\/em> colleagues, I released an eBook, Foresight Is The Future of Governing<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, which was centered on the board\u2019s duty of foresight and extended the challenge to association boards to \u201cuse foresight to reinvent governing and themselves.\u201d Just a little less than one year later, \u201cThe Duty of Foresight: Five Years Later,” <\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>was published in this space and included the following warning to our community:<\/p>\n

\u2026we are less than six months from the start of 2020 and the beginning of the 21st century\u2019s third <\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n
decade. These next 120 months, which I am calling The Turbulent Twenties, will be a period of <\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n
accelerating and relentless disruption that will create profound societal upheaval and irrevocably <\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n
transform our world, for better or worse.<\/em><\/strong><\/h6>\n

We all know what happened next. <\/strong>After more than two years of human and societal pain and suffering, I began to think deeply about an update to the definition of the board\u2019s duty of foresight that would take into consideration the enduring impact of the pandemic and its myriad consequences. In my September 2022 column, \u201cThe Next Definition of the Board\u2019s Duty of Foresight,\u201d<\/strong><\/a> I offered the most significant shift in my thinking about the term since its origination more than eight years earlier.<\/p>\n

Why the Duty of Foresight Remains a Radical Idea in 2024<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My intention in updating the duty of foresight\u2019s definition in 2022 was to ensure that it remains fit for purpose, not only for the rest of this decade, but also as we begin to prepare for The<\/strong><\/a> Threatening<\/strong><\/a> Thirties<\/strong><\/a> which, as of this column\u2019s publication date, will begin in just 2,072 days.<\/em><\/strong> Even though the duty of foresight is now on its second iteration and has ten years of history behind it, there are three more reasons why I will continue to advocate for it as a radical idea in 2024 and beyond:<\/p>\n