Life as a Futurist with Rebecca Ryan

Life + Leadership

Are you curious about how current trends might impact the future? If so, you may be a futurist. In fact, we can all apply strategic foresight to plan for what’s ahead, exploring the current tends in our own lives to think through how the future could unfold—and then building a plan around the things we can control.

Today, we’re joined by Rebecca Ryan, the futurist and economist behind NEXT Generation Consulting, Inc, a forecasting firm dedicated to leaving the world a better place for future generations. She also serves as the Resident Futurist at the Alliance for Innovation, Senior Advisor at the Governing Institute, and Board Chair & Faculty at the Institute for Zen Leadership. A thought leader in the realm of strategic foresight, Rebecca is the creator of Futurist Camp and the author of ReGeneration: A Manifesto for America’s Next Leaders.

Rebecca starts by defining what it means to be a futurist and sharing an exercise for becoming the futurist of your own career and life. She explains why technology is making us less human and challenges listeners to a weeklong digital detox. Rebecca also offers her take on the future of truth in a time when belief trumps reason, and she weighs in on what’s in store for the middle class in the years to come. Listen in for Rebecca’s insight around the current period of Winter we are experiencing in America and learn what YOU can do to advocate for others and call Spring forward!

Themes explored in this week’s episode:

• What it means to be a futurist and how the recession inspired Rebecca to dive into the deep end of the foresight pool
• The powerful glass and rubber balls analogy for guiding your priorities
• The multistep process for becoming the futurist of your own career and life
• How to live in the present as a futurist
• Why Rebecca believes technology is making us less human + her Digital Detox Challenge for Life & Leadership listeners
• Rebecca’s take on the future of truth and the current assault on science, journalism and the intelligence community
• The premise that America is in a period of Winter and what we can do to call Spring forward
• Rebecca’s insight on the future of the middle class
• The value in thinking through what a direct competitor might do to take your place

Resources from this episode:

• Connect with Rebecca at rebeccaryan.com
• Watch Rebecca’s TED Talk Create a Better World for More People
• Follow @rebeccaryanfuturist on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• Help Rebecca workshop ideas through her blog on Medium
• Check out Rebecca’s Futurist Camp
• Access ReGeneration: A Manifesto for America’s Next Leaders
• Read Rebecca’s post ‘I Screwed Up My Last Book’
• Learn more about the University of Houston’s Foresight Program
• Study the work of Richard Florida and Peter Bishop
• Revisit Jason Lauritsen on Life & Leadership S2EP03
• Find out if you have futurist traits with the Gallup Strengths Finder
• Join the World Future Society or the Association of Professional Futurists
• View Rebecca’s webcast on applying foresight to your own life
• Review NATO’s 2018 Strategic Foresight Analysis Report
• Explore Tristan Harris’ work with the Center for Humane Technology
• Read Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
• Discover Laurie Anderson’s artwork

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