{"id":12886,"date":"2024-09-24T07:00:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T07:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/?p=12886"},"modified":"2024-09-24T12:43:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T12:43:45","slug":"six-important-ideas-about-foresight-for-association-decision-makers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/six-important-ideas-about-foresight-for-association-decision-makers\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Important Ideas about Foresight for Association Decision-Makers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

As of this article\u2019s publication date (9\/24\/24), there are 1924 days<\/strong> remaining in The Turbulent Twenties, and 99 days<\/strong> until this decade\u2019s midpoint on January 1, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

Throughout 2024, I have been marking the ten-year milestone of the board\u2019s duty of foresight, a still<\/strong><\/a>–radical<\/strong><\/a> idea that got its start with my Associations Now<\/em><\/strong> article<\/strong><\/a> in the summer of 2014. This month is also the two-year anniversary of the column in which I offered an updated \u201cnext definition<\/strong><\/a>\u201d of the duty of foresight that calls on association boards to \u201cstand up for their successors\u2019 futures.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the outset, my intention in marking this milestone year has not been to \u201ccelebrate\u201d the duty of foresight or myself. Instead, with the arrival of the second 60 months of The Turbulent Twenties drawing closer every day, I see a crucial inflection point and an opportunity to deliver a renewed and urgent invitation to association boards to choose the duty of foresight<\/strong><\/a>, and for all association decision-makers to serve as foresight champions inside their organizations and for our community. It is my fervent hope that this column can contribute to advancing that conversation.<\/p>\n

Six Important Ideas about Foresight<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While there are more detailed and complicated definitions of foresight in use today, I prefer a simpler and more focused framing: foresight is an intentional process of learning with the future.<\/em><\/strong> In the work of foresight, we combine data, information, and imagination to spark and propel divergent thinking forward into defined time horizons to anticipate and explore one or more future worlds. Through a process of deep and active questioning, we develop compelling ideas and insights that can be applied today to make better decisions and facilitate our ongoing learning with the future as it unfolds.<\/p>\n

Building on this foundational explanation of foresight, I want to share six additional important ideas for all association community voluntary decision-makers, staff partners, and other contributors to consider as they approach the work of foresight in the months and years ahead.<\/p>\n