It is my privilege to introduce Futurist Dave Wild, I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of one of Dave’s sessions and found it inspiring and really helpful. We are so excited to host Dave Wild at our event Beyond Digital in which Dave will help us all to understand what is next.
In the lead up to our event I took the time to discuss Dave’s background and asked a few questions to help understand more about the Future thinking and approach Dave brings.
Dave, for many years you have been a business consultant working with Organisations on their Strategy, vision, mission and marketing – tell me when did you make the step into a futurist? And why?
- I officially changed my title to “Futurist” five years ago. As a strategist I’d always been future-focused, however the catalyst for the title change was a couple of factors. Clients had commented that what made my approach different to others was that I was highly focused on the new. A colleague had suggested that I should change my title to Futurist. At first I resisted, as the idea made me uncomfortable – until I realised that being uncomfortable was an important signal of an innovation opportunity – so I lent in and made the change… and have never looked back since… which Futurists tend not to do so much anyway 😉
What lessons have you learnt along the way?
- One of the key lessons I’ve learnt is the importance of leveraging the past to better understand the future. To step out of the present to understand change in a broader sense.
- For example will wearables such as smartwatches become mainstream or are they a passing fad? It can seem difficult to predict, until you examine the wider shift that’s played out over hundreds of years… Are human beings prepared to wear data on their bodies? Just ask anyone wearing a watch that question. From sundials to grandfather clocks to pocket watches, across time we’ve continued to make the form factor for tracking time more convenient.
- Is time the most important piece of data to keep sight of? Possibly… but then again quite possibly not… there’s certainly many other pieces of information that are just important to our wellbeing. I’ve also learnt that despite what most other Futurists claim, the world is not fast-moving.
What notable companies have you seen that have changed their direction? What can others learn from this?
- From a Futurist perspective I personally think that more important than notable companies that have changed their direction, is an understanding of the benefit of hindsight. Too many Futurists and other commentators like to point out the lessons of the past, implying that they should have been more obvious at the time.
- However the way our brains work, complex future decisions often seem obvious when looking back. Think of it like a tree – which decision-making is, with each choice leading to further branches of choices. If standing at the base of the tree it’s difficult to decide which is the correct branch to ultimately climb out onto, as the options can be in the hundreds if not more. However once out on a particular branch, everything leads back to a single trunk of a starting point – making the path back simple.
- So for famous examples of changes that should have been made, too often people like to cite examples such as Kodak missing the shift to digital photography. While missing the underlying complexity of the fact that they invented much of the underlying technology but then faced complex business decisions and the human politics of having to cannibalise an existing profitable film business.
I love this quote of your’s Dave – Don’t just imagine a brilliant future. Start creating it… Can you please tell us what will people expect to get out of the 25th of July?
- Beyond Digital is a look at what is next? What trends will affect us, how will Technology continue to change and impact our lives and business? What does the future hold? The event highlights how people and businesses can be Future ready and embrace Future thinking.
- It will be interactive and thought provoking, I will use techniques and tools to get people engaged and thinking differently. I am really looking forward to it.
Join us @ Mercedes Me at on Collins street, 25th July from 6pm onwards to hear it all from Dave himself.
- 25th July 2018
- Mercedes Me, 525 Collins Street, Melbourne
- 6:00-8:45pm
- Nibbles on arrival
- Drinks at bar prices
Tickets;