What Does a Futurist Actually Do? AI, Robotics, Product Strategy & Predicting the Future
That Don‘t Sound RightShow Notes
What exactly is a futurist—and how does someone get paid to think about what the world might look like years from now?
On That Don’t Sound Right, hosts Peter and Cecil take a deep dive into the world of futurists and the surprisingly practical role that future-thinking can play in business. No crystal ball required.
The conversation starts with a simple question: What does “futurist” actually mean? From there, Peter and Cecil explore how companies use scenario planning to imagine multiple possible futures and then use those scenarios to make decisions about products, technology, and long-term strategy.
They explore everything from a future built around natural foods to a Star Trek-style world of abundance, showing how radically different assumptions about the future can lead companies toward very different plans.
The discussion gets practical with examples involving trucks, microwaves, emissions regulations, and DEF, illustrating how changes that seem far off can eventually affect the products we use every day.
And then there’s AI and robotics. What happens when automation starts transforming something as familiar as pharmacy fulfillment? How do businesses prepare for technology that may completely change the way work gets done?
Along the way, Peter and Cecil question what separates useful futurism from simply making predictions—and what makes a futurist valuable when a company is trying to plan for a future nobody can actually see yet.
It’s another classic TDSR conversation: part business strategy, part technology discussion, part speculation—and plenty of “wait…what?” moments.
Because before you can argue about whether the future sounds right, you have to figure out what the future is supposed to look like.
If you find yourself thinking, “That Don’t Sound Right,” you’re one of us.
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