We've booked our keynote speaker and reserved the KI Center for our second annual World Futures Day celebration. Mark your calendar for March 1, 2023, and be prepared to be inspired by futurist Thomas Frey. He's Google's top-rated futurist speaker and IBM's most award-winning engineer, and he's spending World Futures Day with us in Green Bay! He's been the keynote speaker for NASA, Disney, IBM, Federal Reserve Bank, TED, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Visa, Frito-Lay, Toshiba, Dow Chemical, Caterpillar, PepsiCo, Deloitte and Touche, Hunter Douglas, Amgen, Capital One, National Association of Federal Credit Unions, Korean Broadcast System, Bell Canada, American Chemical Society, Times of India, Leaders in Dubai, and more. You don't want to miss this. Watch our website for unfolding details.

Signals tell us the Green Bay area's population is bound to be significantly larger (400,000?) by 2035. How should that expansion progress? What leadership practices will lead us to the best possible future? That's exactly why Envision Greater Green Bay exists - to ensure we successfully answer those two questions. We are espousing Strategic Foresight techniques as the structured approach to achieve that. Read more.

The supply of affordable housing has not kept pace with the needs of homeowners and renters. Zoning and permitting are factors that limit and delay new construction. Two recent signals point to future improvements in the supply of affordable housing. The NIMBY (Not in my backyard) nature of residential zoning is problematic; now we are seeing the value of BIMBY. Read more.

As our January 2022 Strategic Foresight students were enrolling, I was surprised to see four leaders from Resurrection Catholic Parish sign up. Unlike may parishes, steeped in tradition and trying to maintain the present, this team was hoping to create a future for their church community. Eight months later, I wondered how their journey was progressing and what signals they were attuned to. They invited me for a long chat about their progress and their future plans. Read their story here. 

Envision Greater Green Bay has trained nearly 100 local leaders in strategic foresight from more than 50 organizations, and that number will grow by 25-30 people annually. In a few years, Northeast Wisconsin could reach a tipping point in strategic foresight. No longer will futuring be a discipline for just some organizations: It will be a required skill for anyone responsible for securing their organization’s preferred future. Read more.

Executive Director Steve McCarthy has begun bringing together small groups of local leaders trained in strategic foresight. Steve will support their mutual communication, update them on new foresight tools and resources, and connect them to Signals Teams of interest to them. Garry Golden will periodically join the groups virtually as well. Steve is starting with one group and will expand to others later in the fall and into 2023

an opportunity recommended by Nan Nelson

The Future of Health. What emerging technologies are shaping the future of medicine? And what changes need to be made to tackle today's most pressing health issues? Hear unscripted insights from visionaries at the forefront of medical innovation as they answer these questions and more. Join the Wall St. Journal online, Sept. 14 at 11:30 a.m. CT for this important event. Register here.

two recommendations from Randall Lawton

"The pandemic has created a shift in the way executives think and what their priorities are... The pandemic didn't suddenly produce a need for strategic foresight and Futures Intelligence (FI). It's always been a need, albeit untapped by many... The pandemic was only one example of why having a team dedicated to Futures Intelligence is more important now than ever... Read or listen to the full article here.

"Better to be ready than right." Ready is engaging the leaders in scenario creation and consensus, and right is believing you know the future, which you do not. Read the full article here: Five Signs your Organization Needs Futures and Foresight.