Welcome to this 35th issue of our newsletter “Weak Signals and other Trends”. Each week, I sift through hundreds of sources of inspiration to track where we’re heading. We discuss those trends and signals every Saturday at 9am EST on Clubhouse in the summer..

You can subscribe to this weekly newsletter here to get it directly by mail.

This is what I noticed this week, thank you for reading and sharing this newsletter to those who look into the future.

Strategic Intelligence

Tools and methodologies intelligence professionals are using:

Crowdsourced software recommendations. Search engine You.com takes on Google. Hackers are stealing data today so quantum computers can crack it in a decade. Designing a Workflow For Thinking. Verify/hack any business email address. Reverse Image Search. How to Find Someone’s U.S. Court and Property Records.

Strategic blindspots

Looking at the familiar with “alien eyes” allows you to unlock new opportunities and avoid missing emerging risks

The Greenland connection. The average professional now spends 21.5 hours a week in meetings (42% of one-on-ones are rescheduled every week…). Should we rein cities in or embrace their biomorphic growth? The Climate Impact Map. US needs 30m new trees to combat shade disparity. China is reinventing the way the world reads. Retired Canadians are staying in their homes. What’s Harder to Find Than Microchips?

Here are some techniques this week: How to Embrace the Rule of Reversible Outcomes. Why Complexity is Different. Charts that don’t change. You Will Know Us by the Company We Keep. Imagined Futures. The Spark file.

We have started registrations for our “Strategic Blindspots” course which will take place on January 18-19, 2022.

Our future

External Communication of Autonomous Crews Under Simulation of Interplanetary Missions. What major themes will we see in global media in 2022? Amazon now hopes to launch a total 7,774 internet satellites. Haptic Furniture. How Alibaba tracks China’s delivery drivers. Space commerce. How cyber surveillance is booming on a global scale. The Home Is the Future of Travel. Futurists have their heads in the clouds and this quote:

If you want to predict the future accurately, you should be an incrementalist and accept that human nature doesn’t change along most axes.

Trends reports for 2022 are starting to flow in: Consumer 2022. Top 10 Predictions for the Future of Connectedness. Media Trends and Predictions 2022. Winter 23-24 Color Forecast Points to Energy Shift Ahead.

We provide in-house training to executive teams and board to feed their strategic planning process and investigate future scenarios. More here.

Weak signals

Weak signals are indicators of a change, a trend or an emerging risk that might become significant for the future. They allow us to run hypothesis, expand our thinking, and challenge assumptions. How will you interpret those in your industry or field of expertise?

The silent bookclub. Does It Matter if I Eat the Stickers on Fruits and Vegetables (anyone ever read those?). Portable bathtubs. Inside Hermès’ Temporary Gym. A space dedicated to mental health, grief and mindfulness. Eterneva. Postcards’ collections ( check also the Postcards from Timbuktu!) 42% of one-on-one meetings are rescheduled every week. Price Index for All Urban Consumers. My barber-shop is rich.

A treasure trove for weak signals: Weeklypedia.

Join us to discuss those trends and signals every Saturday at 9am EST on Clubhouse. We have a panel of futurists that illustrate what those signals might mean, and an enlightened group of curious minds in the room.

Down the rabbit hole

This is a new section. It highlights a subject that lead me to many useful threads, or a single site, that opened many doors.

This week, I went into the Time Traveler by Merriam-Webster: Search Words by First Known Use Date.

On our radar

I am diving into the world of inclusive design for a new client in the healthcare arena: Olay develops new lids. Versatile cutlery. Mastercard indents cards. The high cost of living in a disabling world. Packaged for people with disabilities. Architecture for autism. Alliesthesia. Gallery of Designing for Autism.

Hodgepodge discovery

Articles for the curious mind …

Decoding the Cultures of Hacking. Faces of opensource. The 100 Best Inventions of 2021. All the Marvels. The New Science of Clocks. The Unknown Entrepreneur Who Built UPS. Ancient concrete resilience. The Original The quiestest ’s room. Homo imaginatus. The Font industry.

Feeling Good

Christmas cannons. The meataverse. Wander prompts. Italian movie soundtracks. Track the hidden resources of wilderness land. Cythar and pastels (all in Chinese but very intuitive…).