Innovating with Discernment
Moving with power and possibility toward an exciting, sustainable and flourishing Far Horizon requires innovating with discernment in the now.
Fueling innovation for the Far Horizon: The discernment of creative endeavors that set the stage for accelerated movement toward the
Humans love to create patterns of behavior, and systems that reinforce these patterns of behavior, because they give the illusions of certainty and predictability. Leading into the future starts first by building a deep awareness of what these patterned systems are, and where they are failing to account for a new or emerging reality.
The critical question here is how is the current horizon being perpetuated, and what are the primary concerns with how it is being perpetuated?
Pattern/System Analysis. This is a retrospective deep dive into the patterns and systems that once served a specific reality. With a birds-eye view of what it takes to make your product or service happen, the goal of the analysis is to pinpoint the parts of your value chain and user experience that may be out of date with a new, emerging reality (for example, climate change disruption). It enables you to define what patterns to address to be more nimble with any new future vision, and where focused efforts might be needed for change.
Creating the care and feeding of the future: cultural transformations that allow for new patterns and systems to be adopted.
We tend to see ourselves as outside of systems, when in fact we are the systems. Each of our roles and contributions enable the old, entrenched patterned system to keep its equilibrium. An awareness of our individual roles and contributions to keep a patterned system alive is critically important to any desire to want to change it.
Roles and Contributions Awareness. Once a patterned system is made visible, the goal of this work is to help individuals understand their specific roles and contributions in the patterned system that has been made visible, and to understand their relationship to the whole. In addition, it is an education process in which individuals realize that their individual actions have the power to change the patterned system now visible.
Investing toward the Far Horizon: Rethinking how resources can fuel movement toward the Far Horizon.
Because we have become so accustomed to operating in silos and departments, we rarely understand the totality of the consequences of the patterned system, intended or otherwise, or the opportunities or leverage points where the patterned system can be changed.
Consequences Analysis. During this retrospective deep-dive, the goal is to understand the total costs of producing and enabling the current patterned system—to the planet, and to humanity. It is a look beyond the balance sheet, to understand the total “cost” of operating and to make explicitly visible the consequences of the system, especially those unintended . This awareness helps to build momentum and desire for change for something better, and with less dire consequences.
Opportunity Finding. Likewise, by understanding all the consequences of the patterned system, opportunities emerge for any future visions. The goal of this work is to do a final pass to bookmark those areas ripe for change.