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Nanette Nelson, Envision Board Member Those practicing strategic foresight have heard about signals and drivers. But how are they different, and how are they used to envision the future? Understanding the role of drivers is important. Learn about drivers of change.

Jim Golembeski, Upward Mobility Signals Team Our Wisconsin workforce continues to set records. Numbers from June 2024 show a record 3,048,600 people employed in our state with a Labor Force Participation rate of 65.5%, 3% above the national average. So who are these people, supposedly sitting on the sidelines, unwilling to work? Read about the housing […]

Judy Nagel, Upward Mobility Signals Team (with guest authors Paula Breese, Lynn Coriano, and Sarah Inman) Upward mobility is driven by policy – which can catalyze or sabotage. In the United States, due to our policies, it takes five generations to move from low income to the middle class. The world’s top five countries in […]

Nanette Nelson, Economic Transformation Signals Read Burge’s insightful book to meet this increasingly significant group – Americans who say they have no religious affiliation. Read the review here.

Nan Nelson, Upward Mobility Signals Team A recent American Library Association report found younger generations using public libraries, both in person and digitally, at higher rates than older ones. And they’re not just reading, but gaming, playing music, hanging out — essentially reimagining learning. Read the story here.

Nan Nelson, Upward Mobility Signals Team With AI’s future still unwritten, Nightshade, a project from the University of Chicago, gives artists recourse from AI theft by rendering data useless or disruptive to AI model training. Ben Zhao, a professor who led the project, compared it to “putting hot sauce in your lunch so it doesn’t get stolen from […]

Heidi Selberg, Envision Board President Economic challenges come with a shrinking working-age population. An analysis published in the New York Times Interpreter newsletter describes how depopulation (primarily because of declining birthrates) leads people to become particularly receptive to far right politics. This is why: As the population decreases, the economy slows down because fewer workers […]

Nan Nelson – Envision Board Member Consider the Artificial Intelligence Revolution: A.I. tools like ChatGPT seem to think, speak, and create like humans. But what are they really doing? Leading experts explore what A.I. can – and can’t – do today, and what lies ahead: cancer cures and prediction, wildfire spotting, artificial limbs, and much […]

Nan Nelson, Economic Transformation Signals Team The concept of personhood is important – “persons” have rights. The trend of expanding the concept of personhood (to include pets?) began in ancient times and is likely to continue. Let’s look at the arc of change and what the implications might be for food, medicine, computing (AI) and […]

Jim Golembeski, Upward Mobility Signals Team Everyone faces obstacles going through life. Some things just happen, and others are self-inflicted. Sara Williams has used her challenges to build an even better life. She’s the Community Organizer and spokesperson for JOSHUA, promoting the worth and dignity of every human person through social justice. Read about Sara’s work.

Amanda Johnson, Howe Community Resource Center I participated in the Envision training due to its novelty and unique approach. Initially, I approached it with a degree of skepticism. However, what I learned fundamentally shifted my perspective and fueled my curiosity. Read how signals improve decision making.

Dave Wegge, Foresight Committee Scholars have long tried to identify and explain generational differences. Classic theories tend to focus on major events as the primary explanatory factors. As we study the future and apply Strategic Foresight to identify plausible futures, we need to pay attention to these generational differences. I have found a new book […]

Nan Nelson, Economic Transformation Signals Team In late 2023, Schneider President and CEO Mark Rourke noted that the biggest problem to solve along the way to becoming the first carrier with one million zero-emission miles was high capacity, high speed charging for the battery-electric fleet based in California. The range is only about 200 miles, and weather is […]

Jeanne Stangel, President and CEO, Curative Connections For more than 75 years Curative Connections has been helping individuals and families seeking with support and care due to aging, dementia, brain injury or disability. Most recently, we enrolled a leadership team in Strategic Foresight training through Envision. When it concluded, we asked Garry Golden to train […]

Natalie Bomstad, Health and Well-Being Signals Team The foundation of a vibrant, thriving future is one in which our people and places are both healthy and well. Envision’s Health and Well-Being Signals Team takes a multi-dimensional, holistic approach to health and well-being, similar to the World Health Organization’s definition. Our domain map focuses on five […]

Tom Schumacher, Housing and Safety Signals Team How do you keep the lights on during the next big power outage? The answer might be right in your refrigerator. Factors converging in the direction of distributed energy storage might one day make your home more energy resilient. Batteries are taking centerstage in this transition, and advances in battery […]

Jim Golembeski, Upward Mobility Signals Team Recently I had the pleasure of getting a root canal. The experience was not as bad as I thought it would be, but the real problem was that the oral surgeon kept up a one-sided conversation to which I was unable to reply. He kept talking about people unwilling to work. […]

Beverly French, Arts, Culture and Entertainment Signals In 2015, our local Green Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau wanted to build a visitor center – a welcoming front door to our community. But, to create a welcome center that would require fundraising, building design, content creation, and programming. The Chamber needed the right leader to make […]

When six local businesses and nonprofits completed Envision’s Strategic Foresight training in April, a major theme of every report was Artificial Intelligence: AI. Read about their plans for a transformed future.

Fr. Paul Demuth, Housing and Safety Team We constantly hear of the increased need for housing. At the same time, office and business space sits empty or half-used. Then, from an isolated, cost prohibitive lifestyle comes an affordable, inclusive living space that used to be a shopping mall Read about this housing match made in […]