The future is creatable and can be planned for. Our image of the future has an effect on the present because it tells us what to get ready for and what we need to be doing now in order to create a preferred future. Glen Hiemstra, founder and owner of Futurist.com, speaker, consultant and author of the book Turning the Future into Revenue, discusses the important concept of long range future planning.
Glen was influenced by Alvin Toffler and Edward Lindaman and he discusses their work and their importance in the development of the study of the future. He also examines the three stage process necessary for foresight and evaluates current thinking about strategic planning, particularly in the business world. Glen rejects the notion that planning is obsolete because the world is changing too fast. He gives examples of businesses he has worked with and how they have applied long range planning in a practical way.
This program is also available in video. You can click on the player below or download the video file (QuickTime/MP4, 204MB).
Glen Hiemstra is the founder and owner of Futurist.com. An internationally respected futurist, he has advised professional, business, and governmental organizations for two decades. In August 2006 John Wiley & Sons published Glen’s most recent book Turning the Future into Revenue. Previously he co-authored Strategic Leadership: Achieving Your Preferred Future.
Glen is a writer, keynote speaker and consultant who focuses on emerging trends and long range vision. An expert in preferred future planning, Glen has worked on projects that range from science and technology, to economics, demographics and transportation, energy and the environment, and media and telecommunications. Glen goes beyond simple trend analysis to explore the opportunity that we have to shape the future. Over the years he has worked with many leading companies and government agencies, including Microsoft, Boeing, Adobe, Ernst & Young, PaineWebber, ShareBuilder, Ambrosetti (Italy), Club of Amsterdam, Northern Telecom, Hewlett Packard, Novo Nordisk, APAX Partners, Costa Rica Hotel Association, John Deere, Novartis, Atlanta Vision 2060, and many others.
Mr. Hiemstra has also served as a technical advisor for television programs set in the distant future. He has worked with Steven Bochco Productions and others. He is often a source for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, US News & World Report, The Futurist, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and more. Glen has strategic relationships with the Club of Amsterdam and Ambrosetti.
In a first career, Glen was an award-winning professor and has served as a Visiting Scholar at the Human Interface Technology Lab at the University of Washington, which works on virtual and augmented reality technology. He is on the Board of Advisors of EcoMedia.
Mr. Hiemstra was educated at Whitworth College, the University of Oregon, and the University of Washington. He lives in Kirkland, Washington with his wife Tracie. They have three adult children.
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