June 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 cohort!

Will you take this opportunity to build and strengthen your trained team?

Workshops will begin in September.

Local Drivers of Change Book - Free to you

Those practicing strategic foresight use signals and drivers to organize the observations which enable us to envision the future. In our 50-page booklet, Drivers of Change That Will Shape the Future of Greater Green Bay 2025-2040, Envision Greater Green Bay is offering a free PDF download of some results of the work our five Signals Teams conducted during 2023-24, namely, the drivers and some related signals that we believe will have significant impact on our community’s future.

If your organization is doing strategic planning of any sort, and you’re conducting an environmental scan of the Greater Green Bay area’s future, this booklet can be a great tool.  

Drivers are broad long-term movements that are likely to have a significant impact on our future. A driver is a thematic cluster of related signals, trends, issues, plans, projections, events, laws or regulations, etc. that are driving or shaping change.

Examples of some universal drivers affecting the world today: aging populations, cybersecurity threats growing, and climate change investments increasing. Examples of local drivers: Latino population growing, and competition for talent (labor) increasing. See the booklet for lots more examples, including detailed commentary and links to more key resources.

Insight honors our board member

Insight magazine announced that Foresight Network and Envision board member Gratzia Villarroel, PhD will be one of eight Women of Influence to be honored at its July 29 event. Gratzia, former associate professor of political science and Director of International Studies at St. Norbert College, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. She has been a member of the Envision board since 2020, and helped lead Casa Alba Melanie through a groundbreaking strategic foresight process mentored by Envision. 

Randall Lawton reviews 

Rogue Waves by Jonathan Brill

Brill’s book and methods are built on many of the strategic Foresight foundations familiar to us, but he removes the academic & bureaucratic processes and replaces them with practical and accessible methods that most organizations can use and afford.  These are built around the strategic position of the organization, but with an orientation toward transforming to survive—a handbook for surviving and profiting from radical change. Continue reading here 

Resources from the Foresight Community

In a new wide-ranging article on his blog futurist Thomas Frey asks a new fundamental question about war: Can we adapt quickly enough to prevent the wars of tomorrow? Or will our most advanced technologies simply make conflict quieter, deadlier, and far more insidious? “Today, war is no longer just about territorial conquest or armies clashing in open fields. It is about shaping perceptions, crippling infrastructure, and fighting battles that most people cannot see.” Some of his recommendations:

“To bridge these gaps, we must turn to innovation in diplomacy. New solutions are urgently needed to regulate emerging forms of conflict and prevent constant, low-grade wars from becoming the norm. This includes:

• AI-driven mediation tools that can analyze conflicts, predict escalation, and recommend strategies for de-escalation in real-time.
• New coalitions that transcend borders, bringing together nations, corporations, and non-state actors to collaboratively regulate cyberwarfare, AI-based conflicts, and decentralized threats.
• Expanded legal frameworks to govern digital warfare and hold rogue actors accountable, ensuring global rules evolve alongside technology.

Institute for the Future's (IFTF) strategic map of foresight transformation has become the most-viewed resource on the World Economic Forum's Strategic Intelligence Platform, outperforming even hot topics like AI. Unveiled at Davos 2025, the map charts how foresight itself is being transformed by AI-augmented tools, environmental imperatives, and democratized futures thinking. The map's viral success suggests leaders aren't just seeking predictions — they're hungry to understand how the very process of thinking about the future is evolving.  Read about the making of the breakout foresight map here

Disasters have grown more frequent, severe, complex, and expensive over the past 25 years. In response, FEMA has released its Strategic Foresight 2050 Report. It presents five key themes for emergency planners, developed through systematic framing, scanning, forecasting, workshopping, and reporting. This roadmap helps FEMA and local communities make better decisions today by anticipating challenges through 2050.

·         Theme 1: Disasters can create opportunities to rebuild stronger, capitalize on new ideas and new technologies, reinvest in planning and infrastructure, and increase the resilience and self-reliance of communities.

·         Theme 2: In the emergency landscape of tomorrow, emergency managers are called to differentiate between opportunities for increased federal leadership and opportunities for increased local, private, and non-governmental power.

·         Theme 3: Emerging technologies provide new tools, enhancing access to information, increasing efficiencies, and empowering communities. While advancement will supercharge our capacity, not all problems will have technological solutions.

·         Theme 4: Increasing scarcity in discretionary funding and traditional workforce availability will require a multi-pronged approach to developing necessary skillsets and capacities.

·         Theme 5: Managing tomorrow’s emergencies will require fostering connectedness and self-sufficiency at the local scale, while also identifying when and how to deliver targeted federal support. 

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