Final Discussions

TheSchreiber, D.A. primary motivationmotivation to write this book stemmed from the desire to delve into the complexities of futures thinkingfutures thinking and the relationshipsrelationships among myriad concepts and principles related to the process. This chapter reviews this effort, and summarizes discussions related to the roles of foresight (e.g., scenario-building) and organizational policy (i.e., to ensure accountability), as well as, the relationship between these concepts and successful future-oriented leadership in the field. Finally, review of the literature and findings from the case chapters presented in this book, resulted in the following three conclusions: (1) organizational policy represents the formal mechanism needed to translate data and foresight into sustainable action; (2) foresight methods and scenario-building reflect processes enhanced by increased skill in observation and interpretation of signals of change (and this skill encompasses understanding the source of the signal and type of related disruption most likely to impact the organization); and (3) the greater the alignment of organizational structure and function to processes and characteristics related to futures thinking, the higher the organizational capability maturity level for futures thinking (e.g., flattened organizational structures facilitate and support shared decision-making for flexible distribution of resources; and open access to information enhances the scenario-building of preferred and probable future outcomes).