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On Thursday, May 17, Art of the Future is
offering a full day workshop on Structural Dynamics. Using a step-by-
step approach, participants will learn how to apply this powerful
decision-making method to any strategic issue in their workplace,
community or personal lives. The workshop will be held at
Northeastern's splendid Henderson House located near the Mass Pike in
Weston, MA.
Structural Dynamics integrates the rigor of
systems thinking with the creativity of scenario planning. Versions of
this workshop have been well-received by the World Future Society and
the Society for Organizational Learning. For more information on
Structural Dynamics click on the link below.
To register, send email to
info@artofthefuture.com. Space is limited to 24 participants.
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| The Future
of (Almost) Anything |
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Welcome to Art of the Future’s new blog! It
is ambitious—to say the least—to blog about the future of everything.
But, as systems thinkers, we know that everything affects everything
else. Having a fascination with virtually everything is a key
ingredient to being a futurist. Our friend, colleague and collaborator,
Michael Marien, models what it is to be a general futurist. For twenty
eight years Michael has edited Future Survey for the World Future
Society. Using Marien’s twenty to twenty-one categories categories to
classify the interrelated domains of future studies, Michael has set a
very, very high standards. Anyone who thinks of the earth and
humanity’s place in it from a whole systems perspective and/or has a
particular focus on any of its myriad components owes it to him or
herself to become familiar with the Future Survey’s huge body of
reviews of works covering a truly vast range of topics.
Here are the domains followed by Future
Survey : World Futures, World Economy/Development, Regions/Nations,
Security, Energy, Environment, Resources, Food/Agriculture, Society,
Politics/Governance, Economy/Business, Work, Cities, Transportation,
Crime/Justice, Health, Education, Communications, Science/Technology,
Methods to Shape the Future and Children.
This blog will probably reflect our bias
toward issues concerning the future of work and the workplace, the
nature of community, the leadership of human systems and methodologies
for studying the future. Other subjects, such as global warming and
other environmental issues, security , religion, transportation,
education, etc. will be addressed primarily as a result of their having
a relationship to our core interests. This will be a very eclectic
blog. We’ll read things, hear things, talk to people and write about
them here. Our aspiration is to spend about 30 minutes/day blogging
although there will certainly be occasions where we’ll do more or less.
We intend to write in a way that generates discussion that can take us
anywhere.
So, Hello Blogosphere! Art of the Future is
joining the conversation!
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Know the
Knowledge Worker
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A commitment to creating a Life Sustaining
Environment is a central feature of Art of the Future’s mission. Work
that enriches the individual and, therefore, the organization depends
on the integration of purpose, place and policies to create an
environment that vitally sustains each person. Work should be life
affirming rather than life draining.
To engage with others who share this vision,
we recently met with Peter Miscovich, a senior consultant with Deloitte
in New York City. Deloitte is doing some fascinating and important work
in this area. Peter’s recent article, “The New Knowledge Workplace,”
explores a number of important dimensions. Echoing Drucker, he reminds
us that knowledge workers “own” their organization’s means of
production. They have power in the employment relationship. If they
choose to leave, they take with them a great deal of the organization’s
tacit knowledge base.
Peter’s article and other pieces by Deloitte
team members lay out the importance of social networks and human
resource strategies to the attraction and retention of knowledge
workers. Creative people with insight and training want to interact
with each other; they need to be recognized for their contribution to
organizational success and learning.
Of particular interest to us is the emphasis
Peter places on the physical features of the workplace itself. The way
in which people, place and work processes are brought together has an
enormous consequence for the knowledge worker’s engagement. There is no
one right way to excite the commitment of the network of talent who
create a sustainable future for an organization, but there sure are a
lot of wrong ones! The people who provide an organization with its
competitive advantage, its ability to see over the horizon, need a
particular combination of stimulus and silence, fun and focus.
Our own research presented in 2006 to the
Corporate Real Estate Network (CoreNet) resonates with Deloitte’s: work
environments that are truly attuned to the needs of their creative
employees incorporate distinctive design ingredients that come both
from concepts about what makes for a magnetic workplace and paying
close attention to what actually works.
For more information on Life Sustaining
Environments... |
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