Missing the Future

I miss the future. I miss vision and purpose.

They seem to have disappeared from so much of the conversation about “content” (ew), marketing, comms, and strategy. From national and global policy discussions as well.

Even innovation talk seems so short-term, like DeepSeek fever.

It’s all just about finishing the next project or making the next noise, at every level.

Once upon a time (showing my age), we folks in digital industries used to talk about big concepts. We weren’t planning for dystopias of hyper-creation and emptiness. Either we were wrong or something went wrong along the way.

I remember thinking through questions like “how will this affect the organization in five years?” “What’s the cumulative benefit of this to our audience or customer base?” We took time to imagine and plan. We considered consequences and the implications of those consequences. We looked ahead beyond the next move to envision the state of play three moves later.

Of course, some of this may be nostalgia from a dying star far off in space.

But some of it is real. The future was there, once upon a time.

Ideas-Led Growth

Sign up for Ideas-Led Growth to receive weekly insights on using ideas to drive business growth, organizational change, and marketing results.

Share the Post:

Related Posts