As a futurist, I frequently speak to my audiences about the importance of humility when contemplating the future. In the same spirit of humility, I admit that there are many other outstanding futurists who do work similar to my own. Here are five fantastic foreign futurists (in alphabetical order) who have helped me see and think about the future from a less US-centric perspective. I follow them in order to improve my own skills as a futurist and I encourage you to do the same.
Azeem Azhar: Based in London, Azhar is an entrepreneur, strategist, advisor, speaker, and the curator of The Exponential View, a wonderful weekly newsletter that is a must-read for anyone interested in probing the future. Follow him @azeem and sign up for his “wondermissive” here.
Jim Carroll: A popular keynote speaker based Toronto, Jim delivers scores of keynotes around the world. He freely shares his expertise and insights on his website and provides daily “future-focused” inspiration on his instagram account (futuristjimcarroll). Follow him @jimcarroll
Ross Dawson: Hailing from Australia, Dawson has an insightful new newsletter entitled Keeping Ahead of the Future. He also has a podcast and a vlog and he regularly shares insights, articles, and research on Twitter. Follow him @rossdawson.
Peter Hinssen: A serial entrepreneur, co-founder of NEXX, and the author of “The Day After Tomorrow: How to Survive in Times of Radical Innovation” (an excellent new book about our exponentially changing world), the Belgium-based Hinssen also shares insightful articles on Nexxworks. Follow him @Hinssen.
Gerd Leonhard: More than any other futurist, the Switzerland-based Leonhard consistently posts his entire keynote presentations and speeches online. He is the author of Technology vs Humanity. Follow him @gleonhard.
P.S. I realize this list consists entirely of men–and men from the “western” world. Obviously, it is important to follow female futurists as well as futurists from other parts of the world. Fortunately, Ross Dawson has compiled an excellent list of both female futurists and other influential global futurists. If you have additional futurists whose insights you think I–and others–would benefit from, please share.
