As we see so much change this year, it’s important to consider the experts who can help us understand and prepare for the future. A number of thinkers stand out and are worth exploration for their insights in particular areas of focus:
1 – Business: When it comes to futurist speakers, there are few who bring the big picture together for leaders like Jonathan Brill. As the former Global Futurist at Hewlett-Packard and a lifelong innovator, he boasts 325 products brought to market. In addition to his role as a Senior Innovation Fellow at Harvard’s China New Growth Institute, Jonathan’s book Rogue Waves: Future-Proof Your Business to Survive and Profit from Radical Change was a bestseller in China, solidifying his position as one of the world’s leading experts in shaping the future. I particularly like how the book points to specific actions and achievable mindsets that organizations and leaders can use to take advantage of the future, no matter what happens next. You can check out a video summary of the techniques here.
Futurists connect the dots in new ways, and their methods can be translated to other contexts.
2 – AI: Ray Kurzweil is a true visionary in the field of AI, with his groundbreaking inventions forever changing the way we interact with technology. He is also a futurist and philosopher, offering a glimpse into the future of technology and its effects on humanity. While Kurzweil’s name is likely familiar to many readers, his relevance has only grown over the years. This video provides an overview of his vision of what’s to come.
3 – Biotech: In the field of biotech, Andrew Hessel leads the charge in understanding the revolutionary impact of synthetic biology on human life. He is a cell biologist, futurist, entrepreneur, and global authority on synthetic engineering. He is the co-founder and co-executive director of Genome Project-write and co-author of The Genesis Machine.
4 – Geopolitics: The world order is re-organizing in its greatest way since the Cold War, if not WWII. Parag Khanna is the author of a trilogy of books on the future of the world order, as well as several other volumes on technology and its impact on society. With deep insight into the geopolitical landscape, he offers a unique perspective on how global trends and shifting power dynamics will shape the future.
5 – Healthcare: AI, demographics, and economic change are upending health and medicine. Daniel Kraft is a Stanford and Harvard-trained physician-scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, and innovator who explains the trends and how they converge. He is the Chair of the XPRIZE Pandemic & Health Alliance Task Force and has over 25 years of experience in clinical practice, biomedical research, and healthcare innovation. Watch his analysis of how the practice of medicine is already being revolutionized, and how much more is coming quite soon.
Futurists are valuable not only for their predictions, but for their analysis of current trends and their methods for deriving concrete implications from inherently uncertain environments. Watching a few of them should broaden horizons and lead to new ways of considering ambiguous but provocative signals of change.
