Rethinking the Future

The point is simple: prediction is very difficult (if not impossible) to get right. The best we can hope for from our futurists is to draw attention to unfolding patterns and their possible implications. That’s it. And that is what this book does. It was developed from a presentation given to a meeting of Fellows of the Royal Society for Arts and Manufacturing (RSA) held in Vancouver in 2011, and explores several unfolding patterns and their possible implications. I seek here to offer an interpretation of the significance of these developments in terms of unfolding and overlapping ’S’ curves, and suggest that there is an opportunity for a new enlightenment or Renaissance, despite the disruption many of the patterns I describe have on our understanding of the world around us.
This Renaissance can already be seen in some regions of the world, and there are signs everywhere of the change it will involve. Towards the end of the book, these examples are explored to illustrate what the new Renaissance may be like.

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Rethinking Education

This publication represents the first of a series of books that will profile some of the forward thinking work being undertaken by leading education researchers and policy experts focused on transforming the face of public education and the future of Alberta. The Co-creating a Learning Alberta book series is a partnership with leading public policy thinkers and the Alberta Teachers’ Association that flows from the public lecture series called “Learning our Way to the Next Alberta.” Since its inception in 2004, this lecture series has drawn over 5,000 participants and continues to push our thinking about the hopes and possibilities for the future of this province and is profiled at www.learningourway.ca. In these public lectures, three questions have come to dominate the conversations about the future of the Alberta: What is the Alberta that the world needs to see? What kind of Albertans do we need to become to get us there? and How will leadership in learning help us become our best selves?

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Rethinking School Leadership

This collection of papers explores the nature of school based leadership and the implications of such leadership for educational transformation. Anchored in a focus on equity and mindful and meaningful learning, the book includes papers on innovation, leadership, social inclusion, technology, change and development as well as a look at what it will take to create a great school for all students.

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Renaissance Leadership: Rethinking and Leading the Future

Rethinking Innovation: Driving Dramatic Improvement in Organizational Performance Through Focused Innovation – Reflections on the Journey of the Innovation Expedition
Donald G. Simpson and Stephen Murgatroyd

In the modern knowledge economy in which innovation, creativity, resilience and the ability to adapt to fast changing conditions are essential, what does leadership look like?

The authors suggest that there are six key characteristics which leaders need for the new renaissance we are now experiencing. Leaders need to practice personal mastery, apply a “glocal” mindset, accelerate cross-boundary learning, think back from the future, lead systematic change and drive performance with a passion. These are not characteristics leaders find easy to practice.

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