‘Reluctant Futurist’ Mark Stevenson is a strategic advisor to governments, investors, NGOs and corporates and co-founder of Carbon Removals company CUR8. Though branded a ‘futurist’ by others Mark is more, as one client puts it, ‘Chief Annoying Question Asker’. He helps organisations change the way they feel, think, invest and operate... Read more
‘Reluctant Futurist’ Mark Stevenson is a strategic advisor to governments, investors, NGOs and corporates and co-founder of Carbon Removals company CUR8.
Though branded a ‘futurist’ by others Mark is more, as one client puts it, ‘Chief Annoying Question Asker’. He helps organisations change the way they feel, think, invest and operate in order to answer the intertwined questions the future is asking us – on climate change, inequality, the retreat of democracy and the failures of the markets to price risk properly (to name just four).
His two bestselling books, An Optimist’s Tour of the Future and the award-winning We Do Things Differently map out some existing and proven solutions to our current dilemmas.
He is Global Ambassador for both environmental law firm Client Earth and soil health pioneers Oath, as well as and former strategic advisor on peace, national security and climate change to the UK Ministry of Defence.
He also enjoys a successful side career as a comedy writer and songwriter, which he regards as essential for maintaining key skills needed in his strategy work. “The brain does the PR for what the heart has already decided, if you can’t speak to the heart any systems change is dead in the water.”
His hit podcast with comedian Jon Richardson and fellow systems change advocate Ed Gillespie is available on all major platforms.
Channelling Mark’s experience in helping governments, corporations and NGOs think through the implications and legacy of the pandemic, this talk explores the extraordinary moment the world finds itself in – and how the pandemic is, and will continue to be, a huge catalyst for long needed change....
Take a whistle stop tour of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of the next 20 years and why ‘business as usual’ is a recipe for disaster. How is the landscape of society going to change in terms of technology, energy, governance, health and commerce? What questions should smart...
Having spent 10 years working with and writing about some of the most innovative and extraordinary people and organisations in the world, Mark has distilled this learning down to his ‘eight principles for successful optimists’ that can be used at a personal, team and organisational level. What’s more, they can...
How do you talk truth to power and get away with it? What does it take for change to go beyond good intentions and turn into action? How do you take people out of their comfort zones and have them thank you for it? The answers are unexpected, but surprisingly...
How can an organisation maintain any kind of innovative edge when chaos abounds? Our increasingly VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world may seem almost impossible to navigate, and yet some organisations and individuals do, remaining relevant even as their competitors flail in the madness. While writing his last bestseller,...
Where the world is, how it got there, the options open going forward and your organisation’s unique role in building a better future.
Drawing on examples from his bestselling books and his own strategy work Mark explores why most attempts to battle the status quo fail, and how to approach change from the outset in a way much more likely to succeed.
What are the key principles behind personal, team and organisational change? There are 8, and you can apply them tomorrow.