Overview

Class Central Tips

In this MOOC, you will learn how to better anticipate the future, and reinvent yourself and your activity accordingly. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to account for the broader context and the possible convergence of long-term trends, and thus be able to develop a long-term, consistent strategy and vision, beyond mere day-to-day tactics. Thanks to this approach and mindset, you will become more agile and more resilient in a highly complex and uncertain landscape. In this class, you will not only learn the academic and theoretical aspects of strategic foresight, uncertainty and planning. We will also discuss very practical examples, ranging from a discussion on choosing the best outfit for a walk in the countryside to building a vision and strategy for a corporation as a CEO. In practical assessments, you will apply this broad approach to sample examples as well as to your personal and professional challenges. So if you are an entrepreneur, this course will help you identify the new ideas, the new business model and/or the new products that will help you remain relevant in the future. If you are a manager or an executive, by taking this course, you will be able to test whether your current approach and allocation of resources are appropriate given tomorrow's possible challenges. More generally, all kinds of decision-makers who look to think more strategically about their position and seek to improve it will find this course useful to think about the future constructively.

Syllabus

Taking a Deep Dive Into the Future

This module will introduce you to the overall theme of the MOOC and to the significance of forward thinking. At the end of the module, you will be able to understand the objectives you should aim for when thinking about the future, to have a better grasp of the overall roadmap this requires especially in terms of anticipation and in terms of reinvention.

Drawing the Map of the Future

This module will introduce you to the basic tools you need to master in order to identify the forces shaping the future. In particular, you will familiarize yourself with the basics of horizon scanning, historical analysis, feedback, microeconomic analysis and cultural analysis. After completing this module, you will be able to understand the factors that can influence future scenarios and to define and describe these potential future scenarios.

Don't Let Risk and Uncertainty Impress You!

After having thought about the forces shaping the future, it is time to think about what is not fixed in the landscape, what is not pre-determined, what is unknown. This module introduces the concepts of uncertainty and risk. At the end of this module, you'll have a better grasp of the strategic implications of risk and uncertainty in terms of decisions in business and beyond. In particular, you'll consider how you can make yourself and your activity more flexible and agile, as well as more resilient.

Becoming a Game-Changer

It is about time we consider the implications this has for you -- because remember, a true leader is not only an effective analyst and manager but also an individual able to act upon information and able to make a true difference in the landscape. This module is designed to help you understand how you can act upon the analysis you've carried out using the tools and the approaches in modules 2 and 3. At the end of this module, you will not only understand how to transform your analysis into a concrete long-term strategy, but also how you may be able to shape the landscape to your advantage.