Marcella Bremer's Blog: Marcella Bremer's blog

Let’s anticipate possible futures so that we and our organizations can prepare and adapt. Research shows that future-prepared organizations are much more profitable than the average. Not only do they do better in the possible futures, but also in the present. Boost your own and your organization’s leadership, culture, change skills, future-preparedness, resilience and agility. […]

The world is more VUCA than before and the rate of technological change is accelerating. Is your organization ready for unexpected shocks and opportunities? Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) have an advantage compared to large corporations: they can be more flexible and agile, given their smaller size. At the same time, that is a disadvantage: […]

Uncertainty is on the rise. If organizations want to be prepared for possible futures, they need to deal with uncertainty. How do you develop your organization’s culture so you keep learning, innovating, and changing to be ready for anything? Let’s learn from Fluidigm, ASML, Match.com, and the wind energy industry. The world is more VUCA […]

According to the World Uncertainty Index, created by economists at Stanford and the International Monetary Fund, uncertainty has been rising steadily over recent decades. If we want to be prepared for possible futures, we need to be able to deal with uncertainty. How do you improve your uncertainty skills as a person and as an […]

Being prepared for possible futures is a feature of agile, future-fit organizations. If one of those possible future scenarios is the decline or collapse of the status quo (alongside other scenarios like business-as-usual, incremental/limits-and-discipline, or transformational change) – how do you prepare? As discussed in my earlier post, decline is a taboo in the narrative […]

In one hand, an oat latte. In the other, a phone with social feeds full of doom-scroll posts about the end of the world – Rob Harrison-Plastow describes what many professionals do in his article on Linkedin. “A quiet transformation is happening. It’s not the stereotype of survivalist preppers hoarding beans in bunkers. It’s middle-class […]

Our images of the possible futures play a huge role in what future becomes a reality – eventually. Many people dread the future privately as several surveys show. But at work, anything else than progress and (techno)optimism is a taboo. Yet, anticipating a possible decline or collapse of markets, industry sectors, governance, global trade, eco-systems, […]

Are you feeling overwhelmed? The pace of disruptive change is accelerating. How do we get out of the current “polycrisis” as it’s been labeled? Many feel powerless and worried. What do we need to work toward a future where we want to live and work? We need to have 1) inspiring images of where we […]

You’ve probably heard the joke before. “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” We might laugh, but in a way, our lack of imagination is sad – and dangerous. We can’t co-create a future we want to live in if we can’t imagine what that would look like. […]

At the start of a new year, we wish each other the best. We hope for the best. But do we work towards the best possible future? Humans and societies struggle with the gap between knowing and doing. Intentions are easier said than done. Actions take time, practice, and perseverance. But all actions start with […]