This is what a future strategist looks like.

Look at this smiling face. This is what a future strategist looks like!

Today, I and twelve other participants from Sweden, Finland, Romania, Belgium, United Kingdom, Mexico, and the United States finally completed a course to become certified future strategists. I can easily say that this was the best course I have ever been involved in. And when I say that, you should believe me, because I have a bachelor’s degree in art, a bachelor’s degree in science, a master’s degree in science, and a doctoral degree in mechatronics. I have good insight into how good and bad courses feel.

When I left the place that I had visited every month for three days over the last four months, I felt accomplished and proud that I had taken a step away from my comfort zone, but also emotional and sad, knowing that I would not meet the participants and the facilitators again next month. On my way back home, I was thinking about this, trying to understand why I felt that way. Then I decided to answer the question we had been asked at the very beginning of the course: what is a future strategist, really? At the time, the participants and I gave different answers about what we thought a future strategist was. As a result, we drew the most beautiful mind map on a huge whiteboard.

Today, at the end of this journey, I would say something different, something more personal, as an answer to that question, because I had the chance to meet many future strategists along the way. The future strategist is the person who checks your socks and knows that the print is Andy Warhol’s artwork. The future strategist is the person who shares a list of book titles every time you meet. The future strategist is that young, energetic person who will change the world with you, and the wise one who already changed it, and you know how. The future strategist is the best presenter, the one who put a clip from Monty Python’s Life of Brian to explain why the scenario crosses he tried didn’t really work. The future strategist is the person who makes you cry when she presents possible scenarios for her country, and you know she is the hope for a better future. The future strategist is the one who knows what sustainability truly means and talks about cases you had never even heard of. She is the one who teaches you what social employment means, or he is the one who uses Lego figures to talk about the importance of vaccination. She is the healthcare specialist who can explain how the Chinese word for crisis includes not only danger but also opportunity. Or she is the one who is in the middle of a crisis herself, but working enthusiastically, taking responsibility so bravely. He is the one you will always remember when you drink a beer, and he is going to be the strategist behind the revolutionary ideas of the future beer industry. You know that she will make Stockholm better, one way or another, because she is not only an architect or city planner. She is also someone who cares about being different and encourages it. The future strategist is the person who dances tango, speaks more languages than I could even count, and has a huge heart. He is the one who will change the viewpoint of educators and help them teach better. She is the one who may not be good with flowers, but I know she is wonderful with people.

This is what a future strategist looks like. They are the best, and I am the luckiest person to have had the chance to meet and work with them. Now I not only know what to do and how to do it, I also know these wonderful people, with whom I can do things together. We are very well-prepared to shake what you know about the future. If you are in doubt about how to deal with a fast-changing world, try us!