Autonomous Transformation

CHAPTER 7Developing the Skill of Envisioning

Envisioning the future is not a talent or gift, but a skill that can be developed. Those who are particularly skilled at envisioning the future are often attributed with the gift of vision and genius, like modern‐day oracles.

As someone who has spent decades developing the skill of envisioning the future, both individually and in collaboration with others, and who so deeply enjoys the process that colleagues and friends have coined the state of mind that I venture into (“Brianstorming”), I can say firsthand that the process is deeply personal, vulnerable, and can be developed like any other skill.

Envisioning is deeply personal in the sense that it necessitates the personal experiences and synaptic connections of an individual in order for the result to have relevance in the context of the individual, organization, industry, and/or market for which the envisioning is developed. You cannot pay someone else, regardless of their degree of skill in the process of envisioning, to adequately envision your future or the future of your organization. Organizational leaders must develop the process of envisioning the future, both individually and collaboratively, if their organization is going to reach, retain, or expand a market leadership position and create lasting value. From a social systemic viewpoint, this process of envisioning the future, as opposed to having it envisioned for them by external advisors, also serves as a foundation ...