What Is Natural Foresight®?

January 1, 2015

We are operating in an increasingly complex environment, where linear and mechanistic processes do not work.

To overcome this issue, The Futures School™ leverages a process that mimics natural growth curves. We call this framework Natural Foresight®. By presenting the critical skill set of Strategic Foresight through approaches that echo those found in product development and business planning, foresight can be more readily adopted. But Natural Foresight® goes one step further, employing an organic approach that mimics the powerful growth cycles found in nature.

The Futures School™ incorporates all four phases of the Natural Foresight® model into its programs.


  • Discover Phase of NFF


    Discover: Context and Background

    We must look past our present-day models and ideas in order to recognize disruptors on the horizon of business and society.


  • Explore Phase NFF Icon


    Explore: Futures Intelligence

    When we scan the external environment, we create a glimpse into the future – much clearer than we could get from any crystal ball.


  • Map phase NFF Icon


    Map: World Building

    Scenario development immerses people and organizations into future possibilities, allowing them to assess the validity, robustness, and future-readiness of their current strategies and to uncover new opportunities.


  • Create Phase NFF Icon


    Create: Action and Outcomes

    After developing informed maps of the future and pressure-testing strategies, sustainable foresight must become woven into the fabric of individuals and organizations.

Natural Foresight® exposes leaders and organizations to an action-based approach to building a Futures Thinking competency, utilizing foresight tools such as environmental scanning, assumption and bias modeling, and scenario development. However, these well-established approaches have been reframed in an adaptive, resilient, and transformative approach that has been successfully implemented in large, multinational firms. Now, through The Futures School™, anyone can learn and use the Natural Foresight® framework.