The five futures glasses
During our many years of work and research in future management, we have identified no less than ten types of future. In order to develop a simple, and thus practicable model, we have summarized the ten futures into five types of future. Everyone possesses these five different types of looking into the future, we just make you aware of them. We have called the five necessary thinking modes the "five futures glasses".
Each of the five futures glasses has its own specific characteristics, principles and thinking modes, as you can see on the side "Process Model". If you only talk about one “future” you are making a big mistake by literally putting all five glasses on your nose at the same time. It is obvious that you won’t see a clear picture of the future by doing so.
You will recognize that the five futures glasses exactly correspond to the five key future management questions.
Futures Glasses | Key Future Management Questions |
|---|---|
| Blue futures glasses (assumption analysis) | How will our market, work and life environments change in the next five to ten years? |
| Red futures glasses (surprise analysis) | How should we prepare for possible surprising events and developments in the future? |
| Green futures glasses (opportunity development) | Which threats and opportunities for new markets, products, strategies, processes and structures will arise from these changes? |
| Yellow futures glasses (vision development) | What does our company need to look like in five to ten years time in the sense of a strategic vision? |
| Violet futures glasses (strategy development) | How do we need to design our strategy to realize the strategic vision? |
If you are looking for an easy way to remember the five futures glasses, then read the allegory of the windjammer captain's five futures glasses.
If you want to understand the five futures glasses in detail, then take a look at the tabular overview.