Let me first say that was an honor and privilege to do this interview with Bill! I’m so glad to see your wonderful comments, and I’m happy to see it resonate with your work and passions. At KedgeForward, we make sure that the basic assumptions, internal biases (the ones we all have due to surroundings, associations, and knowledge arenas), and action logics of the experts we are collaborating with are called into question so that they have the opportunity to expand their thinking and strategy beyond where they currently are, creating much more robust, adaptive, and transformational outcomes. If we simply attempt to develop strategy for our dilemmas and needs based on our current understanding – and with short-term fixes – then we will only end up in frustration, failure, and breakdown. Aren’t we seeing this very situation being play out in the way we are attempting to correct our national (and global) political and economic woes? The old thinking and strategies are inadequate to meet the changing landscape of the 21st Century!

And, yes, building a “creativity atmosphere” or learning environment is vital to long-term success, seizing “opportunity markets” and “blue ocean” spaces of uncontested innovation strategies (that can position any organization, city, or social initiative as a leader with competitive advantage for the decades to come). New directions require new thinking, leading to the building of new frameworks and strategies. If we simply wait for the future to come to us – in this age of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity – them we will find ourselves very much out of sync with the world around us. The results of such an outcome are bleak indeed.

So glad to see an education initiative in Redmond! We at KedgeForward are currently working on an education framework that details the major trends and complex emerging issues on the horizon around a major shift in the way we will soon be teaching, what students will need to learn in this age of rapid change, and how they will expect to learn in terms of technology and social innovation. (This is an area of focus for KedgeForward, as well as local and global food economies, emerging cityscapes and development, publishing futures, faith communities, the power of story in developing long-term successful strategies, etc.) Wishing you much success!

Warmly,

Frank Spencer
Partner/Lead Foresight Professional
KedgeForward

It seems like we have a lot of mutual friends in common, I am suprised we haven’t connected earlier! LOL

Mike M. is endorsing my book and I think we are still trying to find ways to partner. also trying to get a hold of brian mclaren about a project that rewrites the declaration of human rights. and i am also a fellow editor with Jeff Goins over at http://www.wrecked.org among others you have done work with. I am wondering about the possibility of writing over here at PDL? And see if we can find other ways to partner? I like the site by the way! Looking forward to connecting, you up for a Skype?

I am in the UK, but from California. My wife and I do human rights work. And hope to have the book out soon, warning, i am heretic! LOL

G

This type of enviroment requires us to provide the resources and the motivation for people to move out of the current boxes into a space that produces new dimensions. We need to think about what that would look like and begin moving toward that vision.

We potentially face another round of recycled agendas in the political arena. It is my sincere belief that we need to invest in processes like the one offered here and more importantly, bring new people, preferrably young and engaged, into the conversation and on to the stage. Energy for the future!

A typical run at redefining our community will be futile in my opinion, without a radical approach. As the article states we will….”fail miserably due to the fact that they (ideas) are being added to a foundation of thinking that is unchanged, holds to group bias about logic and actions, and operates from major blind-spots that will frustrate any attempt at transformation or breakthrough growth.”

Shades of the difficulty of implementing the Redmond Education Vision!

Let’s call them in!