Too often we look exclusively at the future when we want to identify the trends shaping our lives. But some Growth Stories trace their origins to the past. Futurologists need to be historians too....

1. Back to the Future
10 Trend Insights from History

2. Growth
Stories
Bringing you a flavour of business
growth trends...in just 5 minutes
A Futures Coaching initiative
www.futurescoaching.com

3. where to look?
Most people who seek trends look forward
– sometimes to science fiction writers
But some trends come to us from the past

4. face-to-face
The future of human communication is video
Already it takes
over half of the
internet bandwidth
Why? Human beings are innately hardwired
for face-to-face communications

5. it's all Chinese
The West refers to Chinese medicine as 'alternative'
The fact is, whether we look at its emphasis on (chi)
energy, its holistic, preventative approach or its
personalised treatments...
...it is absolutely aligned
with modern socio-cultural
trends
It is orthodox 'Western'
medicine which is
increasingly alternative
to society

6. giving it all away
Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are seen as revolutionaries
They are giving away their personal fortunes -
as are others in the 'Giving Pledge' movement
But this is not new
In some North American
Indian tribes, leaders gained
enormous prestige by
giving away all that
they owned in so called
'Potlatch' festivals

7. old age brains
Our ancestors all turned whenever
they heard a noise in the bushes
Today we do the same – the economic crisis
has everyone facing in the same direction...
but dangerous social, political
and technological changes
– coming from another direction -
go ignored

8. patients like me
Forget about Shamans, in the past most sickness
remedies came from word-of-mouth recommendations
A key trend in healthcare today is peer-to-peer self-help
sites, by-passing the medical professions

9. built to last
Traditional craftsmanship
is back in a big way
– look at the success of
Louis Vuitton who never
compromises on quality
Modernist designer
Philippe Stark aims for
comfort and longevity
in all his pieces

10. segments
A strong case can be made that humans
have not evolved very much emotionally
over the past two Millenia
So, a great starting point for marketers
looking to segment customers is
Galen's four temperaments:
sanguine (pleasure-seeking and sociable), choleric (ambitious and leader-like),
melancholic (introverted and thoughtful), and phlegmatic (relaxed and quiet)

11. global agora
The Medieval marketplace allowed everyone (in the
village) to see everything on offer (from the farmers
and traders)
The internet simply revives the same characteristics

12. . ...b oo m!
xp lo siv e
e
The four great inventions of the
Chinese are said to be:
papermaking, printing, the compass
and gunpowder
Who would bet against Chinese
innovation, making a big impact on
the 21st Century?

13. What is Futures Coaching upto
during March 2012?
¨Pitching to work on the future of human communications
Analysing social change amongst Filipino and Indonesian
women and impacts on health marketing
Running deep-dive consumer research on social media
Presenting to a retail property audience on consumer
futures & impact on retail
Developing future-facing insights to revolutionise branch
formats for a retail bank
Blogging on Asian trends and growth strategies

14. Working with Future Coaching

Conference speeches on major trends - accelerating
management awareness

Workshopping trends – evaluating impacts on
businesses or brands; future-proofing existing offers

Brainstorming sessions – innovating to harness growth

Reports on the future of sectors or industries –
jumping ahead of the curve; achieving thought
leadership; building in longevity

Training for consumer insight teams – boosting
internal futuring capabilities

15. LONDON • PARIS
Website: www.futurescoaching.com
Blog: http://futurescoaching.typepad.com
Email: chris@futurescoaching.com