How We Work With Clients

As a strategic foresight firm, of course our central focus is on our clients' concerns. Client concerns may take a variety of forms. In the governmental sphere, these are some examples:

• A national government might ask us to develop a Whole-of-Government Approach (WGA) to addressing selected factors driving civilizational collapse.
• A Department or Ministry of Labor might ask what it can do to prepare workers for careers in renewable energy, environmental restoration, and pollution control.
• A Department or Ministry of Education might ask what it can do to best prepare students for careers that are focused on preventing civilizational collapse.
• A Department or Ministry of Defense, or an intelligence agency might ask us how best to address geopolitical or other factors driving civilizational collapse.

In the corporate sphere, here are some examples of client concerns:

• What kinds of products or services might we develop to counter the threat posed by climate change?
• What sorts of hardware or software products might we propose to our Department / Ministry of Defense to counter the threat posed by hypersonic missiles with thermonuclear payloads?
• What kind of public relation / social engineering strategies could we propose to our national government to counter any of the domestic sociopolitical trends driving collapse (such as increasing tolerance of political violence, disregard for science and expertise, or political polarization generally)?

The Framework Foresight process is a best-in-class approach to strategic foresight developed by Dr. Andy Hines and Dr. Peter Bishop at the University of Houston. Acute Foresight Consulting follows this process in our work with clients. 

The Framework Foresight process involves six major and sequential phases, shown in the diagram above:

1. Framing involves what many call "scoping the project." We work with the client to specify the issue of concern, the rationale and goal for the project, the timeframe of interest, the stakeholders, the audience for our work, and the client team that will work with us on this project. We arrive at a clear understanding of the focal issue.
2. Scanning involves collecting information, not only about the history of the focal issue and approaches that have been taken to it, but also about how this issue might evolve.
3. Forecasting involves defining the relevant forces driving change in the focal issue; these forces might include technological, geopolitical, social, environmental, and other factors. We then develop a clear picture of the single most probable (or baseline) future, and also plausible alternative futures.
4. Visioning involves working with the client to develop a clear picture of the preferred future.
5. Planning involves organizing to bring the vision into reality. Specifically, we work with the client to develop detailed plans, strategies, and options to make the preferred future--not the baseline future--actually occur.
6. Action involves implementing the plan. This includes working with the client to design and implement systems to monitor progress, and to institutionalize strategic thinking and intelligence gathering.