August 2025

Through this network of trained futurists, we hope to make strategic foresight

part of the DNA of Northeast Wisconsin, driving our preferred

futures rather than simply reacting to what happens.

Future-focused organizations will participate in the Fall Strategic Foresight training cohort! Will you take this opportunity to build your trained foresight team at the workshop beginning in September?

Join Us for a Conversation with Jonathan Brill

When: Wednesday, August 27th from 4 pm to 6 pm

Where: Donald and Patricia Schneider Family Hall, St. Norbert College

As a follow up to the World Futures Day 2025 event, we offer an opportunity for a virtual conversation with futurist Jonathan Brill over a glass of wine. Learn more here

RSVP by August 23 to signals@envisionggb.org

This event is made possible through the generosity of Scott and Nancy Armbrust

AI and Workforce Changes: Are You Ready?

by Envision board member Randall Lawton

"We are seeing the faint lights of a train far off in the distance. The thing is, it’s a high-speed train, and we are standing on the tracks.” Ed D’Agostino, Publisher & COO of Mauldin Economics.

This article is an introduction to an alternate workforce future that is challenging to say the least. We have all been taking in similar information. In this scenario it seemingly is the 800 Pound Gorilla that we at Envision Greater Green Bay and as a society will have to deal with.

The World Economic Forum estimates that 39% of workers will have to change their core skills by 2030—five years from now!—specifically due to AI and automation.

“We’re accustomed to a more gradual pace of change. The transition from horse-drawn carriages to cars took several decades. Today’s labor force will face a bigger degree of change in the next half decade or less. Change is about to run us over. Society and government are not equipped to handle what’s coming. How will we address double-digit unemployment? How about a world where the divide between haves vs. have-nots becomes far worse than it is today? … But we have to ask ourselves how, as a society, do we manage this?”

The Future Isn't a Straight Line

Strategic Foresight and the Changing Face of Industry in Greater Green Bay  

by Envision board member Gratzia Villarroel, Ph.D.

We often assume tomorrow will be just a slightly updated version of today. But strategic foresight teaches us otherwise.

The future is rarely linear. It’s shaped by innovation, disruption, and bold decisions made before a crisis hits. Right now, in Greater Green Bay and across Wisconsin, we're witnessing powerful examples of how local leaders are embracing foresight to build resilient, future-ready organizations

Industry is Changing—Right Here in Wisconsin

In De Pere, EDL Packaging is building a new 45,000-square-foot facility focused on custom automation and employee wellness. With over 40 years in the region, EDL is evolving from traditional manufacturing toward smart systems built for speed, precision, and human-centered design.

In Monroe, Klondike Cheese Company has integrated robotic production lines to boost the output of its award-winning cheeses. But this is not automation replacing workers—it’s automation complementing them. Klondike still relies on Master Cheesemakers, proving that tradition and technology can thrive together.

In Green Bay, Green Bay Packaging completed Wisconsin’s first new paper mill in over 30 years. The $500+ million facility—fully operational since 2021—is among the most environmentally sustainable mills in the world, featuring net-zero water use and advanced automation. With continued expansion into Arizona, GBP is proving regional innovation can scale nationally.

What Happens When Automation Grows?

These companies aren’t just reacting to change—they’re anticipating it. This is strategic foresight in action.

And here’s the key insight: Automation doesn’t mean fewer jobs—it means different jobs. The future of work will rely on new mindsets, continuous retraining, and community resilience. We’re already seeing new roles emerge in:

-Automation & robotics

-Systems engineering

-Sustainability

-Data analytics

-Digital design

-Skilled trades with tech fluency

This shift is about more than machines. It’s about preparing people—across generations, languages, and sectors—for a workforce that doesn’t yet fully exist.

Envision Greater Green Bay is helping communities look ahead—identifying early signals of change and working with local leaders to co-create a future rooted in innovation, sustainability, and inclusion.

Strategic foresight allows us to ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and prepare for multiple possibilities. It empowers communities to build the future before it arrives—and to ensure that future works for everyone. Because thriving communities don’t wait for change. They shape it. Together.

In a world where the future isn’t a straight line, the smartest move we can make is to embrace uncertainty, invest in people, and lead with purpose.

-What assumptions about our region’s future are you ready to challenge?

-What roles should we start preparing for now?



Help Envision make Greater Green Bay a community of choice!  Donate today!

Resources from the Foresight Community

Institute for the Future's Director of Game Research and Development Jane McGonigal invites you to stretch your imagination muscles with a simple but powerful exercise: Picture yourself at a meal 10 years from now. This scientifically grounded challenge helps measure and strengthen four key imagination skills: vividness, immersion, emotional connection, and creative flexibility. Using quick assessment tools, you'll discover how well you can envision alternative futures and identify areas for growing your foresight abilities.

A new book called Leaders Make the Future concerns how to lead with both artificial intelligence and authentic humanity. Over the next decade, all leaders will be augmented with some form of generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI. For the best leaders, this will mean dramatic improvement. For mediocre leaders, this will mean persistent confusion, distraction, and pretense. With futureback thinking—looking ten years ahead, then planning backward from future to next to now—this third edition of Leaders Make the Future shows how people can improve their leadership skills while expanding their human perspective.

The founder of Khan Academy has established a new program, “Dialogues,” which connects youth aged 14 to 18 online so that they learn to have productive conversations on divisive topics, such as abortion, climate change, and immigration. The intention is not to debate topics or convince their peers, but rather build skills in listening to and sharing perspectives while maintaining respect.

What if future generations learned the skills to navigate difficult conversations and differing opinions, just like they learned the alphabet?

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• Yes, you are welcome to Donate to Envision.