This document discusses the importance of futurestate thinking. It defines futurestate thinking as envisioning what a company or service could become 5 years in the future by thinking from an elevated perspective. This allows opportunities to be spotted for disruptive innovations and self-disruption. The document provides tips for effective futurestate thinking, such as starting with envisioning the future rather than analyzing the present, assuming all customer interactions will be digital, and imagining becoming an alternative to oneself.

1. Futurestate
thinking
Mark Wilson
Managing Partner & CEO, Wilson Fletcher
World Forum Disrupt / February 2020

2. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020 2
Hello.

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‘Futurestate’?
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4. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
Thinking about today is
easy…
✔ Data
✔ Performance
✔ Competitors
✔ Customers
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5. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
Thinking about
the future…
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TODAY
THE FUTURE
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TODAY
THE FUTURE
Product evolution
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives

9. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
TODAY
THE FUTURE
Futurestate thinking
9
Product evolution
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives

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TODAY
THE FUTURE
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives
Product evolution
Futurestate thinking

11. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020 11
TODAY
THE FUTURE
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives
Product evolution
Futurestate thinking

12. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
TODAY
THE FUTURE
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives
Product evolution
12
Futurestate thinking

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TODAY
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TODAY
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✔ Data
✔ Performance
✔ Competitors
✔ Customers
✔ Research

15. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
“Snow melts
first at the
periphery,
because that is
where it is most
exposed”
Andy Grove, CEO, Intel
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16. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
TODAY
THE FUTURE
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives
Product evolution
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The purpose of
futurestate thinking
is to envision what
your company or
service could
become [5] years
from now…

17. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
TODAY
THE FUTURE
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives
Product evolution
17
… by thinking
about
it from altitude

18. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
TODAY
THE FUTURE
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives
Product evolution
18
… so that you can
spot opportunities
for step-change
and self-disruption.

19. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
TODAY
THE FUTURE
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives
Product evolution
19
Futurestate thinking

20. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
TODAY
THE FUTURE
Step-change innovations
Disruptive alternatives
Product evolution
20
Futurestate
thinking

21. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
Thinking about today is
easy…
✔ Data
✔ Performance
✔ Competitors
✔ Customers
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22. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
What about the futurestate?
✘ Data
✘ Performance
✘ Competitors
✘ Customers
✘ Research
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23. Wilson Fletcher @ WFD / Feb 2020
What about the futurestate?
✘ Data - blindspots everywhere
✘ Performance - retrospective
✘ Competitors - self-reflective
✘ Customers - shortsighted
✘ Research - focuses on averages
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Future success will not
come from being logical,
obvious or average, or
basing future strategy on
historic data.
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You won’t find the future
in…
✘ Spreadsheets
✘ Canvases
✘ Your peers
✘ Your data
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Futurestate thinking
involves:
✔ Sparks, signals, forward indicators
✔ Creative, lateral thinking
✔ Adjacent influencers
✔ Potential customers
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Futurestate doing involves:
✔ Experiments
✔ Conversations
✔ Lateral design
✔ Agile methods
✔ Courage/wine
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A few tips on how to
think…
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Always start with the ‘to’.
Do not do any current state analysis until
after you have envisioned your future.
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Think digital-first.
Assume 100% of your future customer
interactions are digital.
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Think about them.
Ban any reference to how you do
anything today, or what you have today.
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Think without
constraints(ish).
If you see that someone else is doing something
like it, assume it can be done by you.
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Imagine that you have to
compete with everyone.
The expectations of your future customers will
be set by the best they experience of anything.
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Get your head into the
future ‘new normal’.
Assume ‘that will never happen’ or ‘people will
never do that’ has happened.
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Think about how to
become an alternative to
yourself.
What future you would make you obsolete?
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Remember…
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38. Thank you
Mark Wilson
Managing Partner & CEO, Wilson Fletcher
mark@wilsonfletcher.com