Getting to the future requires a strategy. The monthly discussion of the Strategy Management Practices and Issues Group (SMPIG) will examine two points of view on this subject.
Event Details
The best chance of surviving in the future depends on an ability to adapt. At the individual level, the fallibility of human judgment wired into our brain makes this difficult but not impossible. In fact new experiences rewire our brain regularly and that's what scenario planning, when done well offers. Of course this proves challenging at the organizational level where the social realities operating within the organization or in your industry can cloud our better judgment and limit new experiences.
Scenario planning proves very effective when we not only imagine a future but literally step into it. Learning represents the gaining of experience in a different context than we know. The simulation of something new increases the likelihood we can change in the face of familiar signs supporting this vision appear. The problem with future scenarios as Paul Schoemaker points out, is that we need deep insights into the future to conceptualize and create these experiences, and disseminating them proves quite challenging if not expensive. Whether you follow the Peter Schwartz model or probabilistic approaches made famous by RAND that many Big Data fans embrace, or the intensive R&D approach exemplified by Xerox Parc—getting to the future requires a strategy.
For September we will take a look at two points of view on this subject and use the case of Cereal as a focal point. What course would you recommend to your CEO? Getting out front on your strategy when both the questions and answers are unknown.
Seating is limited so please be sure to register and read the articles below and come prepared with your questions.
ARTICLES
An interview with popular management guru—Scott Adams, the founder of Dilbert who discussed his new book.
http://rationality.org/2014/02/10/a-conversation-with-scott-adams/
Growth outside the rules
http://dupress.com/articles/5d-growth-sourcing-growth-outside-rules/
Contrasting views of the Cereal market
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Markets/Boomers-or-bust-Is-the-10bn-US-breakfast-cereal-market-in-a-state-of-terminal-decline
http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/news_home/Business_News/2013/03/Kelloggs_Core_Four.aspx?ID={0BFF7707-6BB8-4E90-838D-E64302D6AD97}&cck=1
Registration
Register Online
Please read articles in advance.
Deadline: 9/18/2014