Foresight Tools: The Futures Triangle
As leaders navigating constant change, we know the difference between good strategy and great strategy lies in clarity. Our featured tool, the Futures Triangle, was developed in the 1990s by Sohail Inayatullha and helps you map the dynamic forces influencing a desired future through a clear, structured lens.
The Futures Triangle focuses on three key forces at play around a vision of a plausible future:
The Pull of the Future: Your inspiring ideas or plans for what you want the future to be.
The Push of the Present: Current trends and forces that are already creating change.
The Weight of the Past: Institutional and systemic factors, belief systems, worldviews, etc. that are obstacles to change.
Let's explore how this tool works with an example: Sarah’s creative agency is considering a pivot in their business model.
The Pull of the Future: Sarah envisions transforming her agency from project-based work to becoming an ongoing innovation partner. She sees potential for deeper client relationships, predictable revenue, and more meaningful impact.
The Push of the Present: Changes today that impact her vision: clients seeking strategic partners and consistency, shifts in employee work patterns, and increasing demand for innovation support.
The Weight of the Past: Existing patterns that could create resistance: Team comfort with project-based work, established pricing models, and long-standing client expectations about agency relationships.
Here's how Sarah's completed triangle might look:
Your Turn: Complete Your Futures Triangle
Draw your triangle (literally – grab a paper!)
In the center, note your theme or overarching vision of the future
On the left, list current trends already creating change
On the right, jot down the plans you have for the future
On the bottom, note the established patterns or systems that might resist change
The outputs of this effort can be used in a number of different ways. Here are some follow-up questions to consider as you look to take advantage this exercise:
Which current trends could you leverage to accelerate progress?
What established patterns might you need to address?
How might you refine your vision based on the interplay of these forces?
Pro Tip: Order matters in this exercise, we recommend leaving the weight of the past for last! By approaching the pull and the push activities first, we can get a clearer picture of the end goal rather than being limited by constraints of the past.