Why we need strong pictures of the future, especially in a VUCA world…

Why we need strong pictures of the future, especially in a VUCA world…

Anyone with visions should see a doctor, Helmut Schmidt once said. Even today, people repeatedly ask me why the VUCA world we live in—volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity—still needs visions, pictures of the future and strategies:

“Strategy processes usually take so long that by the time we are discussing them, reality has already overtaken us,” the strategy sceptics often say.

Yet strong pictures of the future are needed precisely in uncertain times. Pictures so powerful that daily ups and downs do not make them fade. Such pictures create identity, provide orientation and thus show a way through the thicket of daily information overload and unexpected surprises.

My experience is that this power comes not from the picture of the future itself, but from people’s emotional connection with it, built during its creation, the necessary discussions and the exchange of differing ideas about a desirable organisational future. That also explains why a PowerPoint file headed “Strategy 2026” is worthless in itself.

That is why continuous dialogue and a structured strategy update at least once a year are so important: what influence does VUCA actually have on our picture of the future? What insights gained during implementation require course corrections? Where have our pictures already faded and need a fresh coat of paint? Those are just some of the questions I ask in strategy update workshops.

At the same time, recurring dialogue about the picture of the future gives new employees in particular a chance to connect emotionally with a shared future in a new community. Because, once again:

“Visions that many people feel in a similar way and recognise as a goal are capable of creating new systems” (Meadows).

And for some short-term orientation, here is my picture of the day: hands up, it’s the weekend!

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