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Although Robert K. Greenleaf is primarily known as the father of the empowerment movement and the advocate for servant leadership, he also had a strong and abiding interest in the anticipatory leader. Indeed, throughout his essays he developed a coherent and rigorous discipline of forecasting which involved three stages.

To shape a futures agenda for future executives.

Identifies and examines five future leadership foci: globality, technology, talent development and retention, innovation, and professional development and training.

The position of CEO needs to be reinvented and to move in the direction of hybrid competencies.

All future executives will have to be futurists and learning leaders.

Megatrends are historical nexuses which gather and focus both obvious and subtle sub‐trends as a contribution to the history of future ideas. A substantive candidate of the twenty‐first century is “convergence”. That pursuit of “the unity of all knowledge” involves the integration, synthesis and confluence of different and often opposing intellectual concepts; and of seminal research developments and academic disciplines. Three major components and sets of authors are identified and examined: the technology of theology; the increasing interconnectedness of social, political and economic forces; and the interfacing of scientific, humanistic and spiritual domains.

Much has been written about consultants and, of late, executive coaches. The estimate is that there are presently about 30,000 of both types and they earn almost $30 billion in the USA alone. But there is a neglected side, especially to executives – the trusted advisor. Although the number of trusted advisors may be small, their impact may be even greater than all executive coaches combined. They work behind the scenes, often without a written contract (although they are very well paid), must be always available, are employed often as secret emissaries, function regularly as an early warning system, and routinely are engaged in deep and even profound dialogue with the CEO. S/he serves as an alter ego or professor offering an endless seminar that integrates theory and practice. S/he may previously have been a consultant or coach but no one chooses to become a trusted advisor, because trusted advisors are chosen.

The double challenge is how to upgrade problem solving so that it is also innovative and how to position solutions so that they enjoy future longevity. It is possible to do both by employing future‐imbedded innovation methodologies. The new thinking and positioning involved are not only discussed in detail but also applied to leadership innovations in education and business. In addition, further demonstrations, in the areas of corporate training and performance evaluation, are explored. Finally, a profile of a new senior executive position, that of chief learning officer(CLO), and its focus on innovation management is offered as the current state of the art.

The purpose of this paper is to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

While we should not necessarily believe the people who tell us there has never been a better time to invest, to buy a new car, to become an entrepreneur or even to upgrade our central‐heating boiler, it may be true that there has never been a better time for organizational learning – whether that is within the organization itself or amongst the employees.

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.

The future does not just happen; it is created whenever we are innovative. For that to occur systematically and predictably, organizations have to become involved in at least five interventions. First, they must invite synergy between intellectuality and creativity and ultimately tap both. Second, they need to introduce unlearning. Third, they have to find the right mechanism and create the right environment for creativity and the future to coexist and flourish together. Fourth, there is a discipline involved in creative dislocation which they need to understand. Fifth, they must explore the many steps – ten are outlined here – that promote the unlearning process and disorient the time/space continuum.

Once upon a time, illness and disease were acts of God visited upon defenceless individuals. Now, science is able to map the interplay of genes, environment and lifestyle, allowing doctors to forecast our health and longevity with startling accuracy. But what if these resources were put in the hands of patients themselves? Might it inspire them to help, even heal themselves?

To present the degree to which futurists (inadvertently perhaps) encourage future avoidance or deflection.

Identifies instances and examples of future deflection and avoidance attributable to the misplaced zeal of forecasters.

Proposes five strategies futurists can use to turn avoidance into acceptance.

To call attention to the negative impacts of forecasters and forecasts on audiences and to suggest ways to eliminate or limit such audience alienation.

Do futurists really think differently? Does focusing on the future shape distinctive thought patterns and problem solving methodologies? Is there an inevitable futurist signature not unlike that of science fiction authors? If there is such a separate commodity as futurist thinking, are its benefits sufficiently generic and attractive enough to overcome the typical resistance to looking and thinking ahead?