Long term planning seems to be a thing of the past. With everyone focusing on quick results and quick fixes, how do we move past this to create long lasting change and impact?
In this TED Talk by Ari Wallach, we are exposed to 3 key ways to think differently about long term planning:
- Transgenerational thinking
- Futures thinking
- Telos thinking
Transgenerational thinking
Most people think about the present and their impact on the world. The stage from birth to death. Ari talks to a shift in thinking in how we model and teach the young people of today so that they too will then educate their children and so on. It’s about being mindful to not always go for the sandbag approach. It may not be easy but can leave a long lasting legacy.
Futures thinking
The key aspect of long term planning here is ‘futures’ noting the emphasis on the ‘s’. At the moment we are viewing the world through the dominant lens of technology. What we must be conscious of is that technology may not be the only fix. We might be in the midst of a technological evolution, but is that at the expense of a moral evolution? When planning, think of what other futures there could be from a scientific, faith, art, or culture perspective.
Telos thinking
Is all about answering the one question, “To what end?” and how far out is that. It shouldn’t be 3 to 5 years, that doesn’t cut it. We should be thinking decades or even to 100 years. Push past your own life in your thinking.
To learn more of the detail, view the full 13 minute TED Talk below.
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