A Strong Strategy Considers Multiple Futures: Jennifer Lo

Most strategic plans are built for one version of the future: the one your team thinks is most likely. That works until conditions change, and then the plan needs rewriting. Futures thinking adds a step before strategic planning: looking at several plausible futures, so the strategy you choose has room to adapt.

In this episode, host Mina Seetharaman talks with Jennifer Lo, Senior Director of Design Futures at IDEO, about what futures thinking is, how it strengthens strategy, and how any leader can build a signals practice.

Jennifer has 20 years of experience in design strategy and innovation leadership. She was a managing director for innovation and strategy at Kaiser Permanente, and she teaches strategic foresight and human-centered design at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Public Health and at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business. She is also the instructor of IDEO U’s Applied Futures Thinking course. This conversation was recorded live in front of a virtual audience, and you’ll hear their questions along the way.

If you lead a team or an organization, or you’re working toward it, this conversation will give you tangible ways to introduce futuring into your practice.

Related Resources

Jennifer Lo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-lo-28654b3/

Applied Futures Thinking online course from IDEO U: https://www.ideou.com/products/applied-futures-thinking-course

Earlier episode, How to Think Like a Futurist with Jennifer Lo: https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/6913728a7728b8766cfdfc2a

How to Think Like a Futurist: A Leader’s Guide to Strategic Foresight and Better Decision Making: https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/how-to-think-like-a-futurist

Building an enduring futuring system, by Jennifer Lo: https://www.ideo.com/journal/building-an-enduring-futuring-system

The “used future” trap, by Jennifer Lo: https://www.ideo.com/journal/the-used-future-trap

Why futurists start with a backward glance, by Jennifer Lo: https://www.ideo.com/journal/why-futurists-start-with-a-backward-glance