Vision without Action is an awaken dream. But Action without Vision is a Nightmare

The decisions and actions we make in the PRESENT are shaped by our current vision of the FUTURE.

But eyes are of little use when the Mind is blind, looking at the world with old lenses.

Many of us are in a nightmare. As citizens, managers or decision-makers, we are fighting for mere survival or struggling to make sense of the world. We often falling - without admitting it - into confusion, fear, anxiety, or, as political trends show, into a desire for Certainty.

For years, the usual talk has been either “Business as usual is dead” or “we need to accelerate massive shifts from Organisations, particularly businesses. They need to regenerate and serve people and planet for long-term value creation rather than short-term value capture and profits.” But, despite the talking, many of these organisations are locked into the eternal repetition of the S.O.S.(Same Old Solutions), within the same paradigm. They continue to “rearrange the furniture in the same room”, i.e. re-acting, re-structuring, re-engineering, etc.

Why? Because like us, decision-makers are prisoners of worldviews, current ideas, and assumptions which they don't challenge, or sometimes not even notice.

This is THE nightmare: trying to explore new landscapes with obsolete mental Maps lacking imagination, making us blind to possibilities and locking us into the “lawn mower” perspective.

Today, what is required to make wise strategic choices and actively shape desirable and viable Futures? Good thinking, Imagination, Courage and Hope.

Vision creates Action. And it takes Vision to be realistic.

The quality of our decisions depends on the quality of our Thinking and the accuracy of our perceptions. Exploring new territories requires new mental Maps.

We believe the Art of shaping the Future requires  a  combination of Strategic Thinking and Serious Creativity  to generate "Shifts in Minds for Shifts in Action".

Here are 3 essential “Shifts in Minds” that can make a real difference in “Shifts in action”:

1.     Mapping the Maps

We need to learn to think about the way we think, so we can become aware, consciously challenge and escape our stories, dogmas, conventional wisdom and routine Thinking.

That allows us to

• ‍ re-perceive Reality in fresh, creative, visionary and sometimes revolutionary ways‍
• eliminate blind spots and explore new opportunities
• try new perspectives and rethink the paradigm in which we innovate

2.     Making the Future we desire the cause of the Present

We need to explore and "rehearse" the Future with Imagination, juste as top athletes rehearse their performance in their Mind.

This allows to

•  detect seeds of the Future in the Present that give us hope
•  re-imagine outcomes that matter, open the space for transformative Innovation and deliberately instill the sense of Hope and Purpose in everything we do
• build an innovation portfolio that can really help “redesign the plane while flying it” rather than just “do more of the same, faster, better or cheaper”
• create together a vision of the Future we wish to inhabit that can guide the decisions and actions we make now

3.     Cultivating Creative Thinking as a human skill

To design innovative ways forward and shape viable Future for us all, we need to think creatively. And be serious about it.

We don't need “Crazitivity”, the useless freedom to throw ideas that sound out of the box but are out of purpose. What is needed is “Serious Creativity”, which is about Focus and Freedom. It is the ability to generate original, value-creating concepts and ideas within well-identified constraints”.

We, Humans, will never be replaced by machines if we cultivate Creative Thinking as a skill and understand its essence: conceptual thinking. It is the ability to connect concepts and ideas,Vision and action, so much needed to navigate this fuzzy and ambiguous world with pleasure.  We will becomeThoughtful and Mindful people who

•  escape the “prisons” of our minds - Repetition, Rigidity, Conformism, Conventional Wisdom, “Incremental Thinking”
•  put our Imagination at work with Audacity to open up radically new ways forward and “make the seemingly impossible possible”.

The Altitude Attitude: escaping the “lawn mower” perspective

As a result of those 3 shifts in Minds, we can adopt the "Altitude Attitude”.

We have a “Vision to Action Elevator” that allows us to consciously “move up” to higher vantage point and take a helicopter view on the landscapes of our thoughts, feelings and actions.We bring the big picture to life.

In short, we can escape the “lawn mower” perspective and seize the historical panorama, with an “Eye Hopener” view point. 

This is what we call Shapership.

Shapership is the Art of shaping the Future.

Based on 25 years of practice and proven results, it is a concept and a set of practices we invented to open new windows in minds. It helps redraw mental maps and get to places not imagined before.

Shapership can help you change how and what you think to make radically different Futures visible, desirable and actionable.  

We are unorthodox but you get results

We have helped dozens of teams in companies and organisations around the world to tackle their strategic and business challenges with radical Imagination, expanded perspectives, bold Thinking and Serious Creativity.

What our clients appreciate the most is how these Shifts in perception allow them to accomplish the four movements needed to actively and successfully shape their Future

1.    SEE and decode the world with new lenses, beyond the familiar routine thinking highways

2.     SENSE new Innovation opportunities and emerging needs

3.     SEIZE them creatively, develop a transformative Vision and rethink the paradigm in which they innovate

4.    SHAPE reality in new ways and move from Vision to Action

What we propose is to put Shapership in practice via strategic Futuring: A space of Imagination and Hope, designed for those who want to make wise strategic choices today and actively shape desirable and viable Futures.

And since, in terms of testimonials, you are never better served than by others, we invite you to listen to a CEO turned “fan” of our Strategic Futuring approaches.

A few years ago, we were very lucky to cooperate with Andre De Smet, a visionary, courageous and humble CEO.He was leading the strategic transformation of a famous waterproofing company.Together, we shifted he company from a Manufacturer of roofing membranes to an innovation hot house with pioneering new activities and products (such as the first cradle to cradle certified vegetal roofing membrane), a revolutionary business Model, and a new company culture. As a result, the Turnover was multiplied by 5 in 3 years.

In this short video (1’30), he testifies on the impact this collaboration had on him, personally and professionally.

Visit the Strategic Futuring section if you want  and get in touch for a complimentary chat about how you can conquer new territories in your mind to create new value-adding activities. Today and in the future

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