Moving Organizations into the Future

FutureGame Scenario 1: Momentum

More of the Same, Steady Progress, Business as Usual, Evolutionary Change

Image: 250,000 ton ocean tanker cruising through the water at 20 miles per hour and which takes eight miles to turn and twelve to stop. See Movie.

Driving factors/forcing functions: Technology continues to optimize, economic growth continues, expectations continue to rise.

Description: The future looks like today, only bigger. This future scenario suggests a world where the present is pushed out into the future. The future is the present, writ large. Just as it takes over eight miles to turn a fully loaded oil tanker, the mass and momentum behind the current world trends will bring us to a world very similar to our own.
There’s more people, more production of the goods and services people need and use. The global economy continues to grow and globalization continues to spread. Corporations continue to globalize, world markets continue to become more open, and trade continues to increase. Unemployment and underemployment problems continue. Technology improves incrementally through optimization and increases in efficiency. Some environmental problems show incremental improvements, but most remain major issues that are unresolved in terms of any consensus about necessary actions. Global warming is still being debated. Current trends of increasing wealth continue; the rich get richer, the poor get richer, and the gap between the two continues to widen. Most people in the developed world are increasingly cut off from any sense of community that helped hold previous generations together. Most governments are stable, the status quo remains in power and there are few radical governmental changeovers in the world. International relations continue to improve in most parts of the world although there continue to be regional conflicts, civil wars and acts of terrorism. Causalities from armed conflicts continue throughout the world. Organized crime continues unabated. Education continues to be the major determinant of future success and monetary wealth. Tourists, business people, students and others continue to travel throughout the world. The Internet continues to grow and global telecommunications expands as more and more schools, corporations and individuals become regular users. Competition and innovation do not produce anything that upsets the status quo.

Statistical indicators/warning signals: steady incremental growth in the stock market, income per capita, life expectancy, average educational level.

Indicative quotes:
“What’s good for General Motors is good for the United States, and vice versa”
—Charles E. Wilson, former GM president

“The 7% average annual per capita income growth rate of East Asia in the 1970s and 1980s is the most sustained and widespread development miracle of the 20th century, perhaps all history.”
—United Nations Development Programme

“Tomorrow is today, only bigger.”
—Medard Gabel

“The future is already here. It just isn’t distributed yet.
—William Gibson

Possible Future Headlines:
Stock Market Hits 15,000
Wal-Mart Annual Sales Larger Than 180 Country's GNP
Africa Mired in Recession
China Now Second Largest Economy

FutureGame Scenario 1: Momentum

FutureGame Scenario 2: Brake/Break-down

FutureGame Scenario 3: Breakthrough

FutureGame Scenario 4: What Do You Want?

Schedule The FutureGame

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