The 5th Lord-Lieutenant’s Leaders’ Forum takes place on November 24, from 5.30-7pm, with civic, charity, academic and business leaders coming together to hear keynote speaker, the acclaimed futurist Richard Watson.
Richard is an author, lecturer and scenario thinker who helps organisations think about the future, especially new opportunities and risks. He is probably best known as a maker of ‘roadmaps’ intended to stimulate conversation. The Financial Times called these ‘brave’, while Business Insider said they might ‘blow your mind’.
Currently Futurist-in-Residence at the Entrepreneurship Centre in the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, Richard previously spent three and a half years working with the Technology Foresight Practice at Imperial College, London.
He is the founder of What’s Next, a website that documents global trends. He has been a blogger on innovation for Fast Company Magazine and has written about creativity, innovation, and future thinking for a variety of publications including Future Orientation (Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies) and What Matters (McKinsey & Company).
In addition, Richard lectures at the London Business School and has worked with the Strategic Trends Unit at the UK Ministry of Defence, the RAND Corporation, the Cabinet Office and the Departments of Education in both the UK and Australia.
Richard has given over 300 talks to various organisations throughout the world. He is a proponent of scenario planning and an advocate of preferred futures, believing it is incumbent upon organisations to create compelling visions of the future and work towards their realisation.
Richard is the author of five best-selling books on societal trends and the impact of technology
on the future:
- Future Files: A Brief History of the Next 50 Years
- Future Vision: Scenarios for the World in 2040
- The Future: 50 Ideas You Really Need to Know
- Future Minds: How the Digital Age is Changing Our Minds
- Digital Versus Human: How We’ll Live, Love and Work in the Future
Richard is an engaging and thought-provoking speaker, well worth listening to, so save the date – and learn how to shape your future!
For more information contact csbp@northampton.ac.uk or call Adrian on 07720 297402
