PREDICTING GLOBAL TRENDS - predicting the future to create advantage today

minimising future risk

creating sustainable advantage

creating opportunity

Welcome to the website of James Stuart - leading edge independent futurist and strategist, developing sustainability, developing new product development in a fast changing world, identifying opportunities and threats to create sustainable advantage - together with direct links to some of THE most influential thinkers and developers of our dynamic age.

"Would you walk across a busy road with your eyes closed?

The thing is … most organisations talk about strategy. Most organisations have a strategy. This is usually for between 3-5 years, or on occasion up to 10 years. And yet very few have a view of the wider world and of the deep changes taking place. Such organisations have an almost tunneled-visioned view of the world. They almost sub-consciously believe they exist in isolation. They tend to think they can walk across a busy road with their eyes closed and still reach the other side unscathed.

How wrong can they be?

They do not exist in isolation. No one and no thing exists in isolation. The world we live in is a complex dynamic, interactive environment. There are deep changes taking place – and indeed, the pace of change is increasing. The world of yesterday was different to the world of today. The world of tomorrow will be VERY different to the world we know today. The changes taking place will affect every country, every company, every consumer, every market, every supplier. This is information organisations need.

How can anyone create a valid strategy with so little view of the major changes that will impact the organisation? It’s like taking a photograph of a person and pretending their whole life is encapsulated within this single frame. It is just not realistic. So much information is lost.

Having a view of the wider world is a business essential.

An organisation must be relevant if it is to survive and flourish. Therefore it needs to know what is and what will be relevant. This is where we come in. We show what will be relevant and how organisations can tailor their goods and services, their outlook, to be continuously relevant in our ever changing world. We engage in strategic development. We engage in future insight. We engage in new product development.

What are we? We are the gateway to a new future. We are that crucial factor that will deliver sustainable commercial advantage.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. An important part in all of this is the role of innovation. In a world full of change there needs to be more innovation. There needs to be more relevant innovation. And importantly, companies need access to this innovation. Through a network of global contacts including some of the brightest brains, I have access to many of the things about to reach the market - and many of the things under the surface. This is innovation companies need to have access to. At the moment many companies are searching for innovative products. We can provide that all important service to do the searching for them."

Would you like to find out more?