Why hire a futurist? In two words, creativity and innovation. The purpose of a futurist is not simply to help companies, corporations and organizations understand where the future is headed (although this is part of the job), the more important role of a futurist to help create the future. The emphasis is on the word create.
There are a number of ways to do but it all begins with using our understanding of future trends to spark creativity in order to drive innovation. Let me provide three quick examples. First, your organization can embrace intellectual diversity as a means to spot new opportunities—or dangerous threats—before others.
Another simple trick is to view the future from a different perspective. (This can also be viewed as unlearning your old perspective). If you and your organization do this not only can problems be turned into opportunities but powerful new connections between seemingly unrelated ideas can be created. The resulting new ideas can then drive new innovations.
Finally, I personally engage in the power of story-telling and use metaphors (such as this one on nanotechnology) to help open vistas from which creativity and innovative can spring.
