What future can you bank on? Futurist Cecily Sommers knows that making predictions is a
fool’s game, however understanding and anticipating change is required practice for any
organization wanting to play smart.
She also knows that these are challenging times for organizations in all sectors, and that holding
onto advantage is a slippery proposition at best. It is indeed tough out there: just as an
increasing interconnected global economy requires a broader perspective, competing pressures
from near‐term priorities and shortened planning horizons cloud the picture. Issuing a
challenge to eliminate shortsightedness, Cecily shows how a winning strategy is one that
applies foresight to market forces, champions proprietary opportunities, and invents a future
that can be chosen and planned for.
2.
AT STAKE:
Your Future in a Need-it-Now World
We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to live the rest of our
lives there.
— Charles F. Kettering, Inventor
What future can you bank on? Futurist Cecily Sommers knows that making predictions is a
fool’s game, however understanding and anticipating change is required practice for any
organization wanting to play smart.
She also knows that these are challenging times for organizations in all sectors, and that holding
onto advantage is a slippery proposition at best. It is indeed tough out there: just as an
increasing interconnected global economy requires a broader perspective, competing pressures
from near‐term priorities and shortened planning horizons cloud the picture. Issuing a
challenge to eliminate shortsightedness, Cecily shows how a winning strategy is one that
applies foresight to market forces, champions proprietary opportunities, and invents a future
that can be chosen and planned for.
In this provocative and illuminating presentation, Cecily demonstrates the models and
processes by which you can become your very own futurist. Participants will leave not only
understanding how change shapes markets and society, but how to manage long‐term thinking
and innovation in an environment that demands delivery today. The audience will learn
• How the brain, business, and government are wired for short‐term gains, and
strategies for getting around it.
• The Four Forces of Change that are constant and predictable
• Three dramatic disruptions on the horizon missing from strategic conversations
• How to put a stake in a proprietary territory that is yours to invent and own.
Finally, Cecily wraps it up with practical instructions for maintaining an innovation portfolio that
plans on the far and future, while delivering on the near and now.
Cecily is represented by Tom Neilssen of BrightSight Group
Please direct inquiries to tom@brightsightgroup.com
2 Cecily Sommers, Speaker Profile
At Stake: Your Future in a Need‐it‐Now World