Changing... what?

© 2025, James McLean

I was recently invited to take part in some exciting work where we will be thinking about what community and infrastructure will look like over the next fifty years. I’m thrilled to be involved in this work, which has me thinking deeply about adaptation, and what leadership will be required in the years ahead.

Humankind is at a peculiar place in history – as we stay busy tinkering with our everyday business routines, keeping productivity on track, there is a monumental shift happening beneath our feet. One which will have us falling flat on our collective backsides if we don’t move with it.

Check out this video from Indy Johar.

We persist with changes that fit into our view of “business as usual” in a world in which what we think is “usual” has evaporated. The planet isn’t the same as it was fifty, even twenty years ago, yet we continue to act as though it is.

We continue optimising our systems for a past world without acknowledging that the future isn’t just an extension of the present, but a separate, uncertain, uncharted, and constantly changing reality. Frankly, we know very little about how to navigate it.

What needs to be done cannot be achieved through incremental improvements or adaptive tricks. The tools we’ve relied on up until now won’t suffice. Engaging with this unknown future doesn’t come with a manual for transforming organisations or societies for what comes next.

Waiting for the perfect, confident answer and fully-fledged strategy isn’t an option either. It doesn’t exist.

We need a leap into the unknown, into a future we can’t fully envision. And as we leap, we must raise the awareness of our communities around us. Most people have no idea of how dire the current picture being painted by the science is, and we need as many people on board as possible to create space for this leap.

This is our call to action. We must foster creativity, imagination, and the courage to explore. Not everything we try will work. Things will fail. But if we fail, can we fail forward and learn from it?

We need to step boldly into this future, with the courage and humility to co-create – incorporating all perspectives so that what we generate includes the voices of those on the edges.

It's time to change, not just for survival, but to truly thrive in whatever our new world may become.

What are you trying in this space? What is working for you?

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