The Eagle over New York – Tools for decoding the future

Eight weeks ago we saw several eagles from our window here in Manhattan, then later that day I noticed that the squirrel in our park was more aggressive than normal, then six weeks ago I read an article in New York Times that a coyote, already was a familiar sight in Central Park, took in the late-night scene at 24th and 12th in Chelsea. A seal sunbathed on the sand in Great Kills Park, on Staten Island. Opossums staked their turf in Brooklyn. And a dolphin may have gone for a swim in Newtown Creek.

At this moment I realized that the new normal is not what we imagine! 

In these turbulent times, one key factor is to learn how to decode the future. As we do not have a crystal ball, we need to learn how to understand what is impacting us, and how to observe the behavior among people (and in this case also animals and the nature), especially behavior change. Three handy tools for that is the PESTLED analysis, Scenario Planning, and Acting as an Anthropologist. 

Here are three practical tools:

The learnings then go into ideation to get tangible, nonlinear ideation (not the simplified like vote for the best idea). You ideate to find solutions and/or the insights which then open up for input from many angels and initial patterns from where you can forming a hypothesis and the start experiment. After a few iterations, you will have a faster and more accurate result that can be implemented with higher speed, less capital, and that drives sustainable growth and profit. Like to know more? Read this post

Remember, we are on a journey, and as things happen, we learn; the essential capability is to learn and re-learn.