Rethinking Strategy

INTRODUCTIONEMPOWERING YOUR ORGANISATION

Strategic agency is possible in a time of volatility and uncertainty

In December 2003 I pondered a question increasingly at the forefront of every business leader’s mind: How do you get ahead of trends? I had been working in the Consumer Insights department at global brewer Foster’s (Carlton & United Breweries) for just on 12 months, and from my close vantage point I could see the limitations of our heavy reliance on market trends to guide innovation and marketing. We were a myopic and reactionary company, obsessed with our competitors and often surprised by shifting industry dynamics. We needed to broaden our outlook and to develop our anticipatory capabilities.

From this simple question, my career took a dramatic detour as I commenced my journey into the field of futures studies. While researching the word foresight, I was fortunate enough to discover that Swinburne University in Melbourne had actually established the Australian Foresight Institute. This was a stroke of luck. One of the few places in the world to offer a Master of Strategic Foresight degree was literally just down the road.

Four months later I found myself sitting in class imagining naively that I was about to learn how to predict the future. While this hope was quickly dashed (‘What do you mean the future’s not predictable?’), I instantly recognised the organisational value of what I was learning. So much so that in May 2004 I wrote to the Managing Director at Foster’s, ...