You Cannot Predict The Future, But You Can Prepare For It

The future is already influencing your decisions, even if you never call it “foresight”. We talk with New Zealand strategic foresight practitioner and futurist Victoria Mulligan about how to stop treating the future like a single unknowable thing and start using it as a practical tool for better strategy, better leadership, and calmer decision-making. We get into AI, but not in a hype-driven way. Victoria explains why predicting what AI will do next is far less useful than understanding capability overhang: the reality that today’s tools can already transform workflows, job design, and customer experience, even if no new models ship tomorrow. We also unpack the “missing link” behind low AI value in many organisations, and the four human strengths that make the difference: deep knowledge, wide knowledge, taste, and agency. From there we zoom out to megatrends and what they mean for Aotearoa New Zealand, including demographic change and how it will reshape financial services and consumer expectations. We also cover “critical ignoring” as a survival skill in an attention-poor world, plus a simple starting move any business owner can implement today: write down your assumptions, then stress test them before disruption removes your options. If you want practical scenario planning, better questions, and a mindset shift that replaces fear with curiosity, this one is for you. Subscribe, share it with someone who is feeling overwhelmed by change, and leave a review with the one assumption you are going to test this week. Want to explore some of the ideas Victoria mentioned in our conversation? Here are some of the resources she recommends: Future Scenarios for Aotearoa New Zealand: Click here Victoria Mulligan: Click here Futures FAQ: Click here The Futures Workshop: Click here Futures Thinking Resources | NZ Government: Click here Send us Fan Mail Support the show Buy your first home in NZ Weekly Webinars  You thought it's not possible or the dream is too far away? Come to my webinar and I will show you, you are much closer to your dream, than you think you are! Join Here - https://bit.ly/4m9SL72