Navigating from Ignoring the future to Embracing the future
Listen to this post:
The second mindshift of being an Inventor is Navigating from Ignoring the future to Embracing the future. You are embracing the future when you are considering and designing for the needs of people beyond the present. Inventors who embrace the future are aware of short term, immediate needs but do not forsake the implications of actions on the long term. They intentionally explore future signals inside and outside the field and actively forecast and predict the long term impacts of decisions. Inventors who embrace the future focus on the potential and see the future as an exciting opportunity to explore who we can become.
Examples:
Designing potential and preferred futures based on current trends and signals
Profile of a Learner (Graduate, Teacher, etc.) that looks forward in time
Seeing designing for the future as an opportunity
Outcomes that focus on the development of uniquely human characteristics
Non Examples:
Ignoring trends and signals outside of education when designing organizational visions
Outcomes that serve the present (or even past) better than they serve the future
Seeing the future as something that happens to us and is largely out of our control
Outcomes that focus on competing with advancing computing power
Questions I might ask myself:
What does it mean to ignore the future? What does it look like, sound like, or feel like to ignore the future?
What does it mean to embrace the future? What does it look like, sound like, or feel like to embrace the future?
In what ways do schools perpetuate the past?
Why might I and others struggle to let go of past practices?
In what ways is the future exciting? In what ways is the future scary? For myself? Students? Schools? Communities?
How might I plan in a way to prepare for the future when we can’t know what it will hold?
So often we make reactionary decisions without taking time to consider the long term impact. This is often referred to as playing the short game. Conversely, we can forsake the immediate needs of others to arrive at a very intentional future. This is often referred to as playing the long game. Holding the short and the long term, the present and the future, in tension with one another is critical to being an Inventor. To be an Inventor is to design for both while also being open to iterating and reconsidering when the signals tell us it might be wise to do so.
