Futures Conversations

One day, a magpie landed on my head.  I was walking along, coffee in hand, when it flew straight at me and landed on my head. And stood there.  For a second, anyway, as I freaked out and flapped it away I'm sorry to say. It was so astonishing that a woman who was walking the other way stopped me and said “A magpie just landed on your head! I’ve never seen anything like it!” Importantly, I didn’t spill a single drop of my coffee in all the kerfuffle.  

Such a strange experience.  No wild bird had ever landed on my head before, nor since.  So it was a fairly obvious next step to ask myself “What could this mean?”  It turns out the magpie is symbolic of many things, but the thing I am choosing to focus on is communication and self expression, perhaps because I love the song of magpies and always find myself saying “hello Maggie” to any magpie in my garden.  Apparently the chatter of the magpie symbolises the need to listen with more attention and speak our minds more clearly.

So, in the spirit of the magpie, I’m hoping to have professional conversations with people who are interested in developing a future-fit mindset.  This is a mindset that is matched to our current Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world. It is not afraid of this new reality, but instead embraces uncertainty and change, takes a stance of curiosity and a bigger perspective, challenges assumptions and biases, and trusts that we can take wise action in the present to create the future we want. These are not intended to be “expert-led” sessions that “teach” skills or impart some kind of wisdom to passive recipients.  These are genuine two-way conversations about things that matter, with some futures thinking frameworks and tools thrown in from time to time for good measure. Through conversation with others we create the future.   

This is a bit of an experiment.  If you’re curious/interested in having futures conversations, or know someone who may be, let’s have a coffee and chat about what this could look like. Click here to register your interest using the subject "Futures Conversations", or contact me directly using the details below.

E: meredith.bowden@futuresplanner.com.au | M: 0438 66 77 92