Welcome

I help leaders rethink the future so they can catalyze change in the present.

Toward New Futures

Now is the time to rethink the future. In a complex and turbulent world, previous modes of reasoning and decision-making are no longer fit for purpose.
There are no future facts.
And yet decisions must be made and actions taken. A better approach combines transformative visioning and adaptive strategy—so you can move forward with greater clarity amid uncertainty. 
My work integrates three essential practices: strategic foresight to anticipate emerging change, systems thinking to make sense of complexity, and strategic design to orchestrate transformation.

This helps you:

  • -> Envision and act on transformative change
  • -> Innovate in complex problem spaces
  • -> Build a more resilient and future-ready organization
Portrait of John Rousseau

About Me

I am an experienced leader and trusted advisor with deep expertise in strategic foresight, systems thinking, and strategic design. I am passionate about helping organizations navigate complexity, develop new ideas, and catalyze positive change that benefits business, people, and the planet.
I have worked with leading firms in automotive, consumer goods, energy, and retail, among others. Prior to founding my independent consulting practice, I held leadership roles at Deloitte, Artefact, and Frog Design, and served as faculty in design at the University of Washington.
I earned a BFA in design from the University of Michigan, an MFA in design from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and an MS in strategic foresight from the University of Houston.
I would love to help you create something new.

Capabiliites

Strategic Foresight

Explore emerging and prospective futures—so you can identify better strategic choices

Outcomes

  • Collaborative synthesis of emerging signals, discourses, patterns, and drivers of change
  • Credible and divergent images of the future that contextualize risk and create transformative possibilities
  • Alignment on a shared understanding or vision, implications, and strategic choices
  • New narratives, artifacts, and communications that externalize emerging knowledge

Systems Thinking

Understand the system and its disposition—so you can operate from a shared map of reality

Outcomes

  • Diagnosis of system typology and strategic/tactical implications
  • Nuanced understanding of actants, constraints, and interactions at relevant degrees of scale and granularity
  • Coherent theories of change that can be evaluated through experimentation
  • Identification of prospective interventions and measures

Strategic Design

Create solutions to complex problems—so you can act and catalyze change in the present

Outcomes

  • New or evolved business models, services, structures, constraints, or other interventions
  • Stakeholder alignment via co-design of solutions and transformation narratives
  • Visual sense-making, concept design, and prototypes
  • Documented learnings, communication design, and tactical planning for next-stage actions
Image of a strategic foresight workshop
New futures begin with you and your team. I guide learning through engaged discourse and co-creation with stakeholders, catalyzing change from within.

Services

Labs, consulting, and capacity building for organizations
Labs

Applied Foresight

Map the future of your business
This two-day lab is a unique space for exploring the future of your customer, market, or industry. You will apply foresight methods to an issue of your choice, and come away with greater strategic clarity.

Who is this for?

Teams that want to build rapid strategic foresight capacity, make sense of emerging change, explore alternative scenarios, and apply futures thinking to build resilience and identify new opportunities

What you get

  • Functional futures readiness that will shift your awareness of change in the present 
  • Exposure to multiple futures, and what to monitor going forward
  • New tools to inform strategy, manage risk, and create opportunity in uncertainty
  • Synthesized documentation of workshop outputs
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Custom Labs

Make sense of complex issues
Strategic labs are designed to achieve specific outcomes, considering the participants, the business or organizational context, and other issues. These are carefully planned, curated, and orchestrated experiences that often integrate advance research and consulting.

Who is this for?

Leaders that want to collaborate to address complex strategic issues, align stakeholders around a shared vision, and develop new thinking and tactical plans

Applications

  • Strategic Planning and Visioning
  • Sense-Making and Stakeholder Alignment
  • Complex Systems Mapping
  • Innovation and Design Thinking
  • Transformation Strategy
  • Partnerships and Business Development
  • Learning and Capacity Building
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Programs
Consulting programs help you realize your innovation and transformation goals when sustained engagement is needed to generate new thinking, align stakeholders, identify actions, and catalyze change. These programs also build greater organizational capacity in strategic foresight, systems thinking, and design, with lasting impact well beyond the initial scope of work.

Strategic Foresight

Futures research, scenario development, and visioning in a domain of strategic importance (e.g., "The Future of XYZ")
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Design-Led Innovation

Design research, complex systems analysis, sense-making, and co-creation in a complex problem space (e.g., "Innovation in XYZ System")
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You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
– Buckminster Fuller

Client Stories

Archetypal client programs in sustainability, mobility, and energy

Mass Retailer

Creating a Sustainable Future for Retail

Context

The business had set a new sustainability agenda, and the innovation team wanted to identify transformational growth opportunities that would align with the vision. A cross-functional scenario planning and co-creation initiative was used to challenge assumptions and orthodoxies, spark new solutions, and contextualize strategic choices within possible and preferable futures.

Approach

  • Co-created detailed future scenarios based on uncertainties regarding sustainability and social change; scenarios were used to inspire innovation and stress-test resilience of specific opportunities
  • Co-created over 100 new business model concepts, which were narrowed to ten finalists. Selected concepts were visualized and tested with consumers, and further refined for internal socialization, evaluation, and development
  • Designed an immersive lab experience for the leadership team to engage with scenario thinking, concepts, and implications for the business

Impact

  • Increase in futures fluency and alignment on a shared vision across program team and cross-functional leadership team
  • Identification and prioritization of innovation initiatives based on agreed-upon business case criteria
  • Selected pilot programs brought to market for evaluation and development

Automotive OEM

Mapping the Transition to an Electric Future

Context

The business had set a goal to become an all-electric brand by 2030, and was preparing to deliver its first EV to market. There was a need to codify transformation priorities, identify gaps, and develop a tactical plan for near-term execution and long-term coherence. Generative workshops and discovery sessions across functions and levels were used to drive stakeholder alignment and development of a comprehensive change roadmap.

Approach

  • Conducted multiple workshops and individual meetings with executive team to understand perspectives and drive alignment across functions
  • Created a detailed tactical plan and multi-year transformation roadmap
  • Acted on immediate priority to improve customer experience for first generation EV deliveries

Impact

  • Clarity on critical aspects of transformation priorities and plan across executive leadership team
  • Implementation of tactical plan
  • Immediate action and positive feedback related to delivery intervention

Global Energy Company

Catalyzing a New Clean Energy Ecosystem

Context

The widespread adoption of clean energy solutions is constrained by complexity across the value chain and external environment, requiring a systems-level approach to change that is inclusive of multiple stakeholders and partners across industries and roles. There was a need to convene a representative group of stakeholders in a unique generative lab to share perspectives, identify shared interests, and co-create pathways for transformation.

Approach

  • Conducted advance interviews with all participants to identify shared interests, challenges, and perspectives
  • Conducted secondary research and applied systems thinking across the value chain to analyze current and desired future state of play, along with prospective intervention points
  • Utilized strategic design frameworks to structure lab activities, drive engaging and productive discourse, identify new systems interventions, and align on actionable outcomes

Impact

  • Facilitation and meeting exceeded expectations for both client and stakeholder participants
  • Alignment on shared vision and agreement to pursue next steps a first-of-kind pilot program
New futures await.