Thus, I set off alone on this journey to bring the
power of strategic foresight into the international
development assistance community, by organizing
workshops for management and doing my work
in this way. It did not take then – I admit. But now,
almost fifteen years later, I am vindicated as I see
the International financial institutions beginning
to support a few scenario exercises and we see
that the UN is proposing that foresight training
be adopted for all national planning agencies. In
fact the agencies in the UN are employing a few
futurists here and there.
I did not plan to start The Futures Forum. In fact,
I assumed that given my profile, I would quickly
find work in a Futures Think Tank or consulting
firm. After all, I thought, such organizations would
be actively looking for diversity in order to better
identify the diverse futures; and thus, someone
with my profile (woman, black, engineer, 30 years
of development planning across all sectors, and
a proven creative i.e. playwright and performance
poet) would be in high demand. However, job
postings were few and far between. Worse, I could
not even get an informational interview. I have put
it down to ‘blindsight’.
The Futures consulting industry is mostly white
and male – much like other consulting industries,
benign bias is the norm. So, rather than keep on
beating my head on a wall, I decided to do what
I have always done, when faced with a barrier
– roll up my sleeve and get cracking to break
down the walls. I started The Futures Forum to
provide a platform and access to people of diverse
backgrounds especially scientists and engineers
– women and minorities – whose voices don’t
usually get heard. I was the only Black woman in
all my engineering classes at University of Buffalo
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and Purdue University. I was the first Black woman
engineer hired at the Bank where I worked. I know
that making change is not easy. But, I have never
been able to retreat in the face of opposition,
when it comes to things I am passionate about.
I am passionate about global challenges. I am
passionate and helping to crew Spaceship Earth
to #Thrival2030. If Bob Marley’s song ‘One Love’
can be a global anthem, then my views can
be a global call to change. When I began the
work (unassigned and unwanted) of promoting
economic inclusion of people of African Descent
in Latin America – it was not the status quo.
When I wrote and published that racism and racial
discrimination in the Americas were a primary
reason for endemic poverty – it was not a popular
stance. I believed then and now that while I
may not able to write like Stiglitz and Sachs, my
worldview with respect to global development
challenges is equally valid. I see the global
challenges as systems of systems challenges
that are often under-resolved owing to the fact
that most decision-makers in the leadership of
the development assistance industry are not
systems thinkers. I truly believed then and now
that development assistance would be improved
by application of what I call evolutionary leadership
– of which foresight is a critical skill.
So despite the initial lack of enthusiasm by the
gatekeepers of the ‘Futurati’ that is the leadership
of the Futures community, I persisted and still
persist. Early on, I borrowed the mantra –of
Zora Neale Hurston who when asked about
discrimination said, “It astonishes me. How
can any deny themselves the pleasure of my
company? It’s beyond me.”
M AY 2 0 1 8
My persistence has paid off. It resulted in Tim
Mack inviting me to join the Board of the World
Futures Review Journal and to be the Special
Guest Editor on a theme near and dear to my
heart, i.e. Agenda 2030 and Our Shared Future
– which has now led to an enduring working
relationship with the former editor – Lane
Jennings. He is my muse for writing Future Poetry
and is a sounding board for many of my various
project ideas. I also sit on the Editorial Board of
the Journal of Futures Studies. But truly, there is a
lot to do, we have a long way to go, and given my
age, I am in a hurry. 2030 is around the corner and
2040 coming up closely behind.
Why the trends project with
women futurists?
One notices that there are not too many women
who style themselves as futurists. So over the
years, I have made it a mission to capture what
women are thinking and doing to shape the future.
Our podcast interviews diverse change makers
and leaders that are at the forefront of change,
but who don’t often get quoted or noted. The
trends project is an outshoot of my angst against
the status quo. Every year when company X, Y
or Z proclaims trends of one sort or another, it is
a rarity to find women futurists quoted. So rather
than complain (a useless exercise) I decided to
get busy and invited women futurists I knew to
send in their ideas on Trends to Watch in 2018.
It was fun work. And, now that I have launched
the concept, I realize that it is the first of its kind,
and I am beginning to feel given the response that
this just might be something worth doing again.
Even though I have not done any studies to see
how women’s views sta ck up against the men’s
views – I think it is good that leaders in companies
HUMAN FUTURES
and organizations that use these documents for
planning purposes, now have a documented
review of what women are watching.
I am committed to the idea that in order to make
our shared future work for more people, leaders
need diverse perspectives on the emerging future.
There are people who are concerned about the
lack of diversity, in the ‘futurati’. The invitations
I have received to speak to the US Air Force or
the American Association for the Advancement
of Science or World Steel Association are
confirmation that The Futures Forum is needed. I
believe it is better to light a candle, than curse the
darkness. It is my hope that by doing work that I
believe in, I will find the clan of people who are also
committed to creating our shared futures through
more diverse perspectives -- one scenario, one
story at a time.
.
Providentia’s Prospectus: https://issuu.com/
thefuturesforum/docs/providentias_prospectus.
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