Develop a clear and distinct vision

Most professional service firms aspire to be thought leaders. They want to be recognized as distinct and trusted authorities within their industries.

Now, an important aspect of thought leadership is having a vision: a clear idea of what the future may look like – for your clients.

I believe this envisioned future should be positive. As being a doomsday prophet doesn’t inspire people. Nor, set them in motion.

Instead, it’s better to think of the best possible future for your clients. What would that look like?

For this, I’ve developed the Best Possible Future Canvas.

In essence the Best Possible Future Canvas is a blank canvas. It encourages you to think about the DESTEP trends you see happening in the world. And combine them with your expertise and experience.

For example:

You may see climate change and a rise in natural disasters happening (ecological).

As a result there’s climate migration (demographic).

But also, more public support for NGOs – like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace. And an increasing public demand for corporate action (sociocultural).

In combination with stricter rules and regulations on ESG – like the European CSRD and CSDDD (political / legal)…

…This leads to companies setting waste reduction goals and emission reduction targets, possibly creating a new level playing field (economic).

How will these trends – combined with the availability of big data, increased computing power and the rise of AI (technological) – impact our world, our economy, your client’s industry, and their business?

I think this in an interesting exercise to do, maybe together with a couple of sector teams from your organization.

Hope this helps and curious about the results!

Thank you for reading MBD Boost #013, sent to marketers and business developers on July 2, 2024.