The Brandcenter recently hosted Steven Fisher, a world-renowned futurist, design strategist, and innovation leader, for an engaging session with students as part of our Friday Forum speaker series. Fisher, who currently leads the Futures and Innovation Practice at FTI Consulting, shared his extensive knowledge on the importance of foresight, future thinking, and innovation in shaping the business landscape. Fisher has decades of experience with a resume that spans the healthcare, government, technology, media, and aerospace sectors, and companies like McKinsey, Digitas, CVS Health and The Revolution Factory.
Opening with his unique perspective on being a futurist—“screaming what you think the future will be from the mountaintops”—Fisher guided students through the evolving role of foresight. He emphasized the importance of searching for new discoveries and inventions on the periphery to anticipate future trends, and crafting possible futures through design fiction and world building. He also introduced the concept of “spectrum foresight,” which blends historical, present, and future forces to build plausible futures. By considering how future situations will impact our brand and customers, businesses can provide our clients with a heightened brand experience that increases their likelihood of loyalty.
Fisher also touched on the evolving relationship between AI and humans, acknowledging his initial skepticism toward AI due to concerns over intellectual property. However, he now views AI as a powerful partner in shaping the future, providing enhanced foresight and creative possibilities for brands.
One memorable highlight from the session was Fisher’s recount of his work on the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, an innovative project that brought together a collaborative team of heavy hitters including Coca-Cola, Ferrari, and Segway inventor Dean Kamen. Kamen actually started the project in a deal with Coca-Cola which would bring his game-changing water purification advancements to low-income rural areas. As we heard in the question-and-answer session following his talk, the Freestyle machine would bring unique Fanta flavors to some of our own students growing up in smaller towns. Fisher emphasized the role of creative and futuristic thinking on refashioning a product we can take for granted, like soda fountain machines, into something completely new and different.
With a career spanning multiple industries and groundbreaking projects, Fisher inspired students to embrace foresight and speculative design as they plan for the future. As part of his commitment to sharing his knowledge with the next generation of business leaders, Fisher is an avid author of several books and hosts two podcasts: the *Think Forward Show*, which explores futures thinking, trends, and ideas; and the *Off World Podcast*, covering the business and science of humanity’s journey to becoming a multi-planet species. Keep up with him on LinkedIn or his website.
Brandcenter is lucky to have Fisher as a member of our Director’s Council as of the 2024-25 academic year.