Pondering the futures

We think about the future every day, yet rarely pause to examine what we mean when we say “the future.” This keynote invites audiences into a deeper, more honest relationship with the not-yet. Instead of treating the future as a prediction problem, Pondering the Futures explores how our assumptions, emotions and meanings quietly shape the choices we make today.

The session is built around seven “stances” toward the future: ignoring, clarifying, seeing, expecting, feeling, knowing and narrating. Each reflects a familiar way in which people and organizations relate to what lies ahead. Clarifying highlights how easily “the future” becomes conflated with progress, innovation or technology and how redefining the concept opens space for richer conversations. By noticing these stances, and the limits each one carries, we create room for a more deliberate engagement with uncertainty.

Participants learn how futures literacy helps us recognize the future as open, multiple and influenceable. We examine why we tend to default to a single storyline, how short-term pressures narrow our imagination, and why complexity often feels overwhelming. Through relatable examples and accessible methods, the keynote shows how to slow down automatic responses and cultivate possibility, ambiguity and reflection.

Rather than offering forecasts or reassuring answers, this keynote provides language and perspective to work more thoughtfully with uncertainty. Attendees leave with sharper questions, expanded awareness of their own future stances and practical ways to bring plurality, curiosity and reflection into strategic conversations. Pondering the Futures invites audiences not to control the future, but to relate to it more consciously and to make better decisions because of it.