Welcome to
Personal Futures
and
Small Business Foresight
Image above: Verne Wheelwight speaks to an audience in Istanbul about Personal Futures.
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This site is about YOUR future—how to anticipate the future, how to plan for your future and how to deal with surprises that occur in the future. The methods you will learn have been tested and proven around the world by large corporations, organizations
and governments. Now these methods have been scaled down to fit you, your family, or your small business.
Personal Futures
(www.personalfutures.net)
Learn how to think about and plan for the future...YOUR future! use the same methods that professional futurists use for large businesses and organizations, but scaled down to fit your life. Books and workbooks are available in several languages including English, Spanish, Japanese, Turkish and Arabic.
Small Business Foresight
(www.smallbusinessforesight.com)
Small Business is different from big business!
Of course it is--- but when it comes to planning and preparing for the future, the differences are really important. The methods for exploring and planning for the future are the same as for international organizations, but the application of those methods is very different for small businesses.
Verne Wheelwright, Ph.D.
(www.vernewheelwright,com)
Verne is a professional futurist, has spent most of his life as a small business owner, and is now authoring and publishing books and articles about how individuals and small businesses can prepare for the future. In addition he conducts workshops, teaches, and speaks to audiences about the future. He also writes short stories and has collaborated with his granddaughter on a children's book.
EXPLORING THE FUTURE---YOUR FUTURE!
Think like a futurist!
Methods for learning about the future have been in use by large businesses and governments for decades, but the process was simply too complex for most individuals and small businesses. The Personal Futures Network introduces some new, easily understood approaches that will help you think and plan like a futurist. You will be able learn about and plan for your personal and small business futures.
Think like a futurist! What does that really mean, "think like a futurist"? Well, each futurist may have some different thoughts, but generally futurists think about longer term futures, usually 10 or more years ahead. Futurists believe that the future is not predetermined, but that several futures are possible. If several futures are possible, then one of those futures may be better than the others, or a "preferred" future. Very important; futurists believe that individuals or groups can take actions in the present that will help determine the future.
That brief paragraph helps explain why most futurists don't make predictions about the future, but rather suggest multiple possible futures, often in the form of "scenarios" or stories about the future.
What's in this web site?
Personal Futures
This page offers a brief explanation of Personal Futures and the methods that will help you explore and understand something about the future...YOUR future!
Small Business Foresight
Small business is different from big business…
Very different! Exploring the future of a small business employs the same methods as big business, but with a different approach.
Books and Workbooks
Offering several books and workbooks about Personal Futures, and they are available in several languages.
Videos
This page offerslinks to some videos about Personal Futures I've posted on YouTube, mostly short ones.
Even a few cartoons!
Free Downloads
The headline says it all!
The free downloads include workbooks and articles about Personal Futures.
Verne Wheelwright
A "bio" listing Verne's qualifications as a professional futurist and a list of books and articles he has published. He plans to add more information , including fiction, short stories, and articles.
Click on a heading in the blue band at the top of this screen to select a new page!
A taste of SMALL BUSINESS FORESIGHT!
This is an example of an illustration from “SMALL BUSINESS FORESIGHT". This simple image shows six forces of change that exist in every small business, throughout the life of that business.
I plan to post a number of “Figures” from the book on this web site at irregular intervals (there over sixty figures in the book) with very brief comments. You will find them in the SMALL BUSINESS FORESIGHT section. I welcome questions, comments, or suggestions!
A review of "Small Business Foresight"
US Review just published a review of Small Business Foresight. Following is the review.
Small Business Foresight: The Future of Your Business
by Verne Wheelwright, Ph.D., Personal Futures Network
Book review by Mihir Shah
"The point here is simply that the Futures Wheel is flexible, and you can use it to explore or think through nearly any situation."
Award-winning author of It’s YOUR Future...Make it a Good one!, Wheelwright delivers another gem that is both spectacular and necessary in its unpacking of the small business methods through which one can anticipate impactful global and local factors. At a time when infectious diseases are ravaging the globe, small businesses are one of the hardest-hit entities. This timely piece provides the tools and metrics to not only understand how to navigate through the various stages of business development but also to have enough foresight to anticipate any changing economic or technological trends that will almost certainly affect any small business.
This work includes numerous charts and trend lines to demonstrate the value of external forces. In particular, STEEP (social, technological, economical, ecological, political), SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats), and the Futures Wheel help create awareness for the future of small businesses regardless of where the owner is in the eight designated stages of development. In addition to the tools, the author provides his audience with the relatability factor by connecting his commentary to popular socio-cultural works such as Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point.
Coming from the experience and knowledge of a professional futurist, what this book provides beyond anything else is a diverging perspective from the sometimes singular-focused business owner who believes sheer competitive drive will be enough to succeed in all social and economic landscapes. While Wheelwright’s work is nothing short of a manual for small businesses to adjust to the ever-evolving trends, its comprehensive nature combined with its simplicity to understand complex business concepts like vulnerability analysis and contingency planning makes this ideal for everyone ranging from the layman who aspires to initiate a small business to someone who has been operating a solo business for many years.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review
I had an interesting interview with Peter Hayward, for his Podcast. Peter is a futurist and university professor in Australia. We covered a number of topics about the future and the methods futurists us. Here's the link:
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepod.org%2Fpodcast%2F2019%2F11%2F26%2Fep-33-the-future-is-flexible-verne-wheelwright&data=02%7C01%7C%7C9510396267c348a513ac08d772fee131%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637104311331317259&sdata=9mAMeBVg3oZCaJOCtk52G81GBSKxUzrLx2gUBbsirao%3D&reserved=0
More will be coming!
We will be adding to this website for some time. Your suggestions and comments will be appreciated!
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