If your planning horizon is next quarter or next year, you'll always be stuck playing catch-up. Futures thinking pushes that horizon out a few years further—just far enough to prepare for the choices you'd otherwise be scrambling to make later.
IDEO's approach to futures thinking isn’t about dreaming up dystopian sci-fi worlds. It’s applied, near-term and a valuable complement to strategic work: if you figure out what's likely to matter soon, you’ll make stronger choices today.
Join us for a conversation with Jennifer Lo, Senior Director of Design Futures at IDEO and instructor of IDEO U's new course, Applied Futures Thinking. We'll talk about:
What futures thinking adds to strategy work, and what that looks like in practice
Real, low-lift ways to build the skill of futures thinking, and why it matters for leaders
How to use futuring to name hard business problems out loud, instead of avoiding them
Examples from healthcare: spotting the signals, trends, and drivers inside a complex, fast-changing industry
This conversation is for anyone who leads a team or organization, or is working toward it. Futures thinking will help you get sharper about what's happening in your industry and beyond, spot opportunities and risks early, and give yourself the runway to make choices that lead to real growth.
Join us live to ask questions and be part of the conversation alongside other creative leaders. This session will be released as a future episode of the Creative Confidence Podcast.
Can’t join live? RSVP and we’ll send you the recording, podcast, and recap.
Jennifer Lo is a futurist-in-residence and design strategist, dedicated to helping organizations and leaders anticipate change, navigate complexity, and build systems for a more resilient future. At IDEO, she leads large-scale innovation and transformation initiatives, applying strategic foresight, human-centered design, and organizational strategy to tackle the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow. With a passion for bridging futures thinking with real-world implementation, Jennifer helps teams move beyond speculation to create tangible, future-ready solutions. At UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Public Health, Jennifer designs and teaches courses on Strategic Foresight and Human-Centered Design.
Mina Seetharaman
Creative Confidence Podcast Host & Head of New Ventures, IDEO
Mina leads strategy for IDEO’s learning and media initiatives, including IDEO U. In this role, she is focused on finding new, customer-focused, tech-supported ways to deliver IDEO’s long-standing value proposition to our clients. Her specialty is helping iconic brands go through major transformations and be competitive leaders in their markets. She has led strategy and operations at respected media and content companies, including The New York Times, Gartner, The Economist, and OgilvyOne. She is experienced in launching new product offers, developing and leading teams, and driving cultural and operational change. She holds a degree in Journalism from New York University, speaks six languages, and is an amateur abstract expressionist painter.
