In 2023 we’ve seen seismic shifts in attitude responding to the many mega and macro events around the world. It’s possible we’ll look back and wonder what all the fuss was about when our worlds have tilted a bit more in 2024. The adage, if not now, when, used to be a great way of persuading innovation workshops to be bold and creative. The truth is that, whatever walk of life you look at, if not now, when is actually, if not now, soon. In fact, it’s might be more accurate to say that change will hit you, if not now, it’s already in the wind. The next decade is so primed to change everything we ..read more

How trawling for trends can identify risks and opportunities at the same time. The people my wife teaches ‘A’ Level to recently had a conversation about the current tranche of dystopian TV shows, exampled by Station 11. The class showed empathy at how a pandemic can change normal lives but couldn’t begin to imagine that anything would stop the internet. It didn’t compute. That the internet relies on electricity wasn’t a connection they’d made. That mobile phones ran on the same stuff also came as a surprise – in a moment of alarming realisation. The relative problem of the internet may not hav ..read more

You remember that old saying that consultants trot out when they’re there to help develop a long-range strategy: the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the next best time is now? It’s a great saying. It tells us where we’ve all gone wrong, and it instils a sense of utter hopelessness – all that time gone and no way back. The best time to plant a tree to sit under One of the people we watch, for good reason, is legend amongst wealth generators and head of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet. I was reminded recently in an article in The New European by Patience Wheatcroft that he put ..read more

Macro events and WTF moments Broadly speaking, the way we are conditioned in the UK is to be capitalistic and to dig in when things get difficult – build your own future and work through obstacles. Take the long view, as long as it’s easy to read. Being trained to be self-interested lets us off the hook whenever someone stands up and shouts “FFS why can’t you see what’s going on around you?” Present us with a picture we aren’t familiar with and we’ll distract ourselves with an easier story. Forest fires in Greece or Huw Edwards? Boat people in Europe or Phillip Schofield? Chelsea wiped out On ..read more

To all those gathered here, I give you Hal Hershfield and his new book ’Your Future self: How to make tomorrow better today’. Read this book When I started room44 as an agency back in 2014, the ambition was to help anyone in an established business the opportunity to envisage the changes their consumers, customers and markets would likely experience over time. It’s not a precise science and the very act of anticipating the end of something good is not completely intuitive for any of us. But, it happens to everyone. room44 adopted human centred design (design thinking) as our core MO and yet, b ..read more

Most Mondays we try to publish a short list of thought-provoking facts that bear some relevance to the time of year and current events. It’s not a science project, rather a list of things that catch our eye during the week from reading, viewing and absorbing by osmosis. If anything grabs your attention, please get in touch. It’ll be a pleasure to talk; innovate@room44.co.uk. Thoughts Music streams in the US broke one trillion streams this year, up 11.9 billion on 2021. Blackrock Natural future Tortoises living to 150 years old do so in the same youthful state as when they were 50.  Futu ..read more

Most Mondays we try to publish a short list of thought-provoking facts that bear some relevance to the time of year and current events. It’s not a science project, rather a list of things that catch our eye during the week from reading, viewing and absorbing by osmosis. Usually we publish on LinkedIn. From now on, we’ll publish here and will share widely. If anything grabs your attention, please get in touch. It’ll be a pleasure to talk; innovate@room44.co.uk. Monday thoughts 47% of Gen Z prefer to shop in stores versus online Courier Media Traffic can increase by more than 50%, from a new s ..read more

When I’m successful in persuading a previously closed mind of the value in looking to the future for inspiration and idea stimulus, it’s always a moment to celebrate. Having the energy and tenacity is our part of the deal: to keep looking forward, to keep seeing value in things that don’t immediately appear promising – to see the future that other people can’t yet see. Clients just have to turn up and be willing to drop their barriers to entry – the practical matters that mire a company in the here and now. It takes time. Clients need time to trust me and I need to keep the ..read more

The data you need to see aren’t always where you want them to be. There’s a value to inviting an outside party with an enquiring mind to look at your condition. Here’s an example. Cardiff’s housing market is sinking without trace – maybe. In The Guardian’s Audio Long Read podcast of 29th August (The century of climate migration: why we need to plan for the great upheaval), Gaia Vince presents many arguments in favour of the title of the article. It all makes perfect sense, to me. During this period of change, it’s high on the list of important things to understand that migration of populations ..read more

Everything that happens has a wider effect. We all know this. But, to confront it puts us in an uncomfortable place. There is a better way than to only dwell on the inevitable – Actionable, sustainable strategy. What we do is to help companies to envisage the short, medium and long term futures they will be working in and reveal hidden trends and explore new market opportunities so you can launch, diversify, and extend the lifecycle of your products.   Future-thinking. Future-proofing. It’s what we do because when things change, things change. The post When things change, things change ..read more