This is an evolving process, and as a constant learner, new bits are added all the time. One thing I do know: it is most definitely not linear. Iteration and experimentation are core to what I do. It's a way of checking, processing, and discovering something new and better, even if these steps are repeated many times over. Although it can be messy, it results in some things I am truly proud of. 

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I am a business strategist with a mind for the future. Beginning a challenge, I look for information from three innovation sources: business, consumer, and technology. How can these three elements come together to create something unique? With any future challenge, I also have to ask myself: what weak signals can I identify within social, technological, environmental, economic, or political (STEEP) realms?

I love to think visually. Digging into the meat of any challenge, I focus on how I cab bring new ideas to life visually. How can we make a simpler life hack? What are the rich intersections and opportunity spaces we can explore? How can I organize them conceptually? Let's push the envelope first, then tailor it down (if we must).

I am a pattern finder. I find joy in uncovering the connection, even multiple connections. How is this idea solving a core problem for the consumer? Is it introducing a new value or a new behavior - or both? Get rid of the extraneous, and let's focus on the reality of the core. For future-focused challenges, there are multiple patterns that may emerge - the fun is figuring out how we might address them. 

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The Futures Toolkit

Strategic foresight and futures work is both a mindset and a process. Like design thinking, a variety of tools are leveraged for specific goals within projects. Below are tools I use most often, however my kit is continually expanding.