Empower your organization with Strategic Foresight
Explore & Design Futures
Once you have a view on your potential futures you can create a bigger and bolder vision.
Navigate uncertainty & Anticipate Risk
Seeing 5, 10, and 20+ years into the future allows you to anticipate and mitigate risks not seen today.
Establish & Nurture Foresight
Strategic foresight encourages creativity and creates better business strategies for resiliency and growth.
Create Strategic Impact
Priming your organization for foresight thinking empowers employees to think bigger on how to change the world to be more equitable and resilient.
Foresight Development Framework
Chief Futurist Nikolas Badminton has worked with many CEOs, executive teams, and organizations to implement practical tools for igniting curiosity, exploring futures, and creating strategic foresight capabilities in their organizations. Nikolas’ proven Foresight Development Framework is a foundational approach that presents principles and critical tasks – scanning for signals, creating hypothetical scenarios, developing speculative fiction, and linking to strategic planning via backcasting. Nikolas and his team helps you establish foresight as a practice that augments existing strategic planning processes.
As Chief Futurist he runs a world-leading think tank at futurist.com and we can bring together incredible expertise to help you. Contact Nikolas to discuss the needs of your organization and to find out more.
Incredible Client Results
Corporate foresight establishment for a global aerospace and defense company
The Challenge
To prime the organization to use futures thinking and strategic foresight in developing propositions within global business units across aerospace, avionics, transportation, and security markets. Worked with globally-dispersed teams across a number of to train people in foresight methods, explore signals, trends and future scenarios in project and program management, defense R&D, executive planning for global expansion, product development and more.
Incredible Results
Trained over 100 executives and R&D researchers in foresight methods and established an internal foresight capability. Strengthened strategic planning and created shifts in how executives plan with a view out to further horizons thus helping create a longer, more resilient view of the business.
Long-range planning for a European food producer
The Challenge
The client operates vegetable and fruit growing operations across several European countries and needed to understand possible futures in the ever-changing agriculture and agri-food markets. The executive team wanted to learn foresight methods, explore signals, trends and scenarios in climate change effects, new food products and processing methods, logistics, business expansion, energy production and more.
Incredible Results
Provided more robust risk planning across their business and new pathways forward for considering existing product offerings, and exploration of the extension of their business and in which ways to expand geographically and organizationally.
United Nations (UNFCCC) Resilience Frontiers Program design
What: Worked closely with the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat’s Director of Adaption on creating a new strategic foresight program to brainstorm and design future solutions for climate resilience. Nikolas provided program guidance and opening keynote to 100 designers, government leaders, and foresight practitioners for a week-long design exercise. See more about this here.
Results: Program establishment and ongoing mentorship with foresight-focused groups working with the world-renowned United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Post-covid-19 planning for a trillion dollar technology company
What: Collaborated with a global tech leader’s security and resilience services executive team to provide a view on foresight practices and integration of new processes for longer-range planning within existing risk planning. And, ongoing research and advice on futures in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and keeping 114,000+ employees safe.
Results: Strengthened risk planning across product groups and security capabilities. Provided the ability to anticipate global events using the identification of weak and strong signals, and hypothetical scenario building.
Future product and service design for the No. 1 luxury car brand
What: Provided the executive with a speculative view of 2030 and the likely shifts in tastes and behaviors relating to Ultra-high Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs). Analysis discussed recommended strategic initiatives in relation to wealth movement, shifting populations, property ownership, global citizenship, luxury goods acquisition/collecting, and automotive needs (including self-driving cars, electric vehicles, and incredible concierge services).
Results: Informed ongoing product and service work that will help maintain and increase market position and advantage against other luxury car manufacturers and brands.
YVR 2037: Engaging travellers to shape the airport of the future
What: Worked with executive leadership to create public engagement for the 2037 Master Plan that looks to an incredible future, and ensures the best use of YVR’s land, drive growth in passenger, aircraft and cargo volumes. Nikolas wrote five short science fiction stories (read them here) and produced a video that used alongside media engagement to engage stakeholders and the communities YVR serves.
Results: Incredible local engagement through over a dozen stakeholder and community design sessions. This was incredible as only four were initially planned but demand was overwhelming due to the campaign. There was wide media engagement with 13+ impressions. Ideas about the future inspire community thinking.
Future Ready
Clients
Nik made a huge impact for us to get the conversation about foresight going in North America but also the world. He helped us on 3 different projects successfully, sometimes with extremely short deadlines. He is very productive, inventive and strategic and shows a great deal of initiative and attention to detail and listens to what people have to say. Nik is always upbeat, with a great attitude & possesses all the skill sets that you would want in a highly productive team member. I can't say enough good things about Nik and his team.
Nikolas worked to help us to look out 10 to 20+ years to see the possible futures for aviation, airports, energy, and retail that may shape our future operations and passenger relationships. He also brought the evidence of possible futures back to today and made insightful recommendations to create deeper passenger experiences and commercial opportunities. Nikolas brought great value to our organization and I recommend him to others looking to broaden their strategic planning and design capabilities with foresight and futures thinking.
As the City of Dublin, Ohio, USA embarks on a community-wide effort to envision and plan for an exceptional future, Nikolas provided a global and forward-thinking perspective that really helped jump-start our public input process. The possibilities he shared were well informed and rooted in research. His presentation was exactly what we needed to help spark innovative thinking and drive an ongoing community conversation.
Futurist Consulting FAQ
Nikolas is the Chief Futurist for the Futurist Think Tank at futurist.com, a Fellow of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (The RSA), and works with trillion-dollar companies, central banks, governments, startups and those willing to challenge our poverty of imagination, awaken curiosity and create incredible futures.
He has worked with hundreds of world-leading companies, including NASA, Google, Microsoft, United Nations, United Way, Bayer, Corteva, Bank of Canada, American Express, AT&T, Thales International, Rolls Royce, Heineken, Procter & Gamble, Government of Canada, UK Home Office, Government of Cayman Islands, IDEO, and many more.
Nikolas has been a mainstay in the media for the past decade talking about our futures. He’s appeared in the ‘Smart Drugs’ documentary, was an advisor to the ‘Age of AI’ series with Robert Downley Jr and appears in the upcoming series ‘The Secrets of Big Data’ on Discovery. He appears regularly on SIRIUSXM, and on CTV’s Future Friday. His essential research has also been featured by the BBC, VICE, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Techcrunch, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Forbes, Sputnik, Venturebeat, and Global News. He also produces and interviews incredible thinkers on the renowned Exponential Minds Podcast.
In Fall 2022 Nikolas’ new book will be released – ‘Facing Our Futures’ provides executives and organizations with the foundations for futures design and the tools to imagine new futures, create bolder visions, anticipate unforeseen risks, and strengthen strategic planning. Nikolas’ thinking can also be seen in the opening chapter of ‘The Future Starts Now’. Both are published by Bloomsbury Business.
Contact us to discuss your project needs.
Over many years we have brought together some of the world’s best and brightest strategic foresight practitioners, researchers, science fiction authors, architects, designers and thinks in the Futurist Think Tank.
We challenge our collective poverty of imagination and awaken curiosity about our futures.
We disrupt the culture of short-term thinking by celebrating play, creative thinking and brave actions to challenge our failing industrial complex.
We develop resilient and future-ready mindsets that can imagine a multitude of possible futures that positively affect the lives of over eight billion people on this Spaceship Earth.
Contact us to discuss your project needs.
Nikolas Badminton FRSA is a world-renowned futurist speaker, researcher and consultant. He is the Chief Futurist at Futurist.com, Consultant, Author, Media Producer, and Executive Advisor. He has delivered futurist keynotes to and worked with executives and the C-suite at over 300 of the world’s most impactful organizations and governments.
Nikolas and the Futurist Think Tank help executives learn strategic foresight practices that shape the visions that shape impactful organizations, trillion-dollar companies, startups, progressive governments, and multi-billion dollar investment funds.
Nikolas’ keynotes are always customized for what you need and ignite your audience’s thinking to shift midgets from WHAT IS TO WHAT IF… The result is the ability to be curious, explore possibilities, and imagine incredible futures for all.
Contact us to discuss your research and keynote needs.
“If operations are the body, strategy is the brain then Foresight is the awareness and consciousness of an organization. We need to embrace foresight and challenge our collective poverty of imagination to create long-term profit and resiliency.” Nikolas Badminton
Nikolas Badminton and The Futurist Think Tank provides coaching to C-suite executives on augmenting corporate strategic planning and risk analysis with foresight capabilities.
In addition, monthly and quarterly signals and trends reports can be provided with active coaching on the implications of what we are seeing shape our futures. Coaching can also be provided for incoming Futurist-in-Residence and Chief Futures Officers (CFuO).
Contact us to discuss your executive coaching needs.
“If operations are the body, strategy is the brain then Foresight is the awareness and consciousness of an organization. We need to embrace foresight and challenge our collective poverty of imagination to create long-term profit and resiliency.” Nikolas Badminton
The Futurist Think Tank provides Strategic foresight services as a planning-oriented discipline related to work undertaken with trained futurists to provide value to progressive organizations and executives.
We structure our projects around the needs of our clients and undertake a number of key activities:
- Discussion of global megatrends, secondary research and scanning for signals.
- Identifying disruptive industry trends.
- Seeking challenges and seeing unforeseen risks.
- Building WHAT IF… futures scenarios.
- Writing speculative fiction and designing experiential futures.
- Backcasting and risk anticipation.
It’s been found that organizations that build anticipatory capabilities, strategic foresight practices, and future-proof their business have been found to outperform the average by a 33% higher profitability and a 200% higher growth. Those organizations that do not can face performance discounts of 37% to 108%.
Our clients become resident futurists in organizations and go on to establish world-leading capabilities that give them the edge over competitors.
Contact us to discuss your project needs.
“If operations are the body, strategy is the brain then Foresight is the awareness and consciousness of an organization. We need to embrace foresight and challenge our collective poverty of imagination to create long-term profit and resiliency.” Nikolas Badminton
Nikolas Badminton and the Futurist Think Tank provides Foresight Training to clients looking to learn more about the discipline of foresight.
The training empowers teams to look for global megatrends, run secondary research and scan for signals, identify disruptive industry trends, seek challenges and unforeseen risks, build WHAT IF… futures scenarios, speculative fiction, experiential futures, backcasting, and risk anticipation.
In addition, teams can learn more about the tools and techniques used in foresight
- Positive-Dystopian Framework (our proprietary method).
- Causal Layered Analysis (CLA).
- Building WHAT IF… futures scenarios.
- Writing speculative fiction and designing experiential futures.
- Backcasting and risk anticipation.
- and, other strategic foresight methods.
Contact us to discuss your training needs.
Nikolas Badminton and the Futurist Think Tank provides Foresight Development Workshops to complement the Futurist Keynotes and Foresight 101 Training. These use the proven Foresight Development Framework and help teams focus on the priorities and challenges they have today and imagine the futures ahead of them and their industry.
Our in-person and virtual workshops engage client teams deeply in the work of strategic foresight and our teams guide them expertly through
- Discussing global megatrends, secondary research and scanning for signals.
- Identifying disruptive industry trends.
- Seeking challenges and seeing unforeseen risks.
- Building WHAT IF… futures scenarios.
- Writing speculative fiction and designing experiential futures.
- Backcasting and risk anticipation.
Contact us to discuss your workshop needs.
Nikolas Badminton and the team at the FUTURIST THINK TANK have developed an interactive experience where you can interact with the keynote and learn about building complex futures stories from the signals, trends and scenarios we explore together across a number of areas that we identify as important for you and your audience.
Areas of exploration can include global megatrends, evolution and transformation in your industry, algorithms and data growth, security and privacy, circularity and sustainability (ESG), and more. We adjust for your industry and organization.
This interactive game is played throughout the keynote and can teach you how to
- Understand signals and trends that will shape the future of your industry
- Explore scenarios that define technological, human and wildcard futures
- Shift your mindset from what is to WHAT IF… and develop over 200 stories that can be used as a starting point for exploring the future of your organization and strategic planning.
- Create fun, engagement and discussion on important topics within your audience
And, following the keynote you will have a deeper understanding of how your organization considers possible futures – is it tech-driven , humanity-focused or hoping that they’ll survive the changes coming your way?
Contact us to discuss your event and how ‘The Futures Game’ will ignite thinking.