An audit for organizational futurists: ten questions every organizational futurist should be able to answer

This paper is intended to provide a guidebook for organizational futurists in building a foresight function inside today’s organizations by suggesting ten questions that ought to be answered. It addresses how to start from a blank page, but can also offer help to those who have already established a function by suggesting additional questions to think about. It is intended to give auditees a sense of the key issues and challenges they will face. Managers may also find this audit useful in giving a sense of what an organizational futures function can deliver and the skills required of a prospective organizational futurist. A key assumption here is that while there is a growing demand for organizational futurists, the role is evolving to more of a broker function than the building of a staff function more typical of the past.