It’s fair to say that for many of us, 2023 has been what the British would self-deprecatingly call ‘a bit of a year’.
Global news stories aside, it’s been 12 months of tumultuous change and disruption – the Transformation Economy we identified back in 2018 in full swing – and that process is by no means pretty. The many CEOs, SME owners, retailers and entrepreneurs we talk to across the world are telling us that they’re all working twice as hard for every dollar, pound, euro and yuan they generate.
Their consumers, they tell us, are increasingly prismatic, unpredictable, disloyal and disaffected, making strategic development a 21st-century minefield of obfuscation and volatility. And yet we remain firmly, consistently and resolutely optimistic about the future. Our year-end glasses are most definitely half full rather than half empty as we survey both what’s passed and what lies ahead.
Here, at The Future Laboratory we have upgraded our forecast rating for 2024 from ‘indefinite uncertainty’ to ‘definite uncertainty’. Trust us when we say that’s a good thing. Back in 2022, our LS:N Global macrotrend The Paralysis Paradox identified a sentiment of trenchant latency based on the bewildering complexity of choice and inescapable impotency of affirmative action that laughed in the face of seemingly obvious decisions to make. It was easier to just do nothing.
2024 will be about moving forwards: getting off the pot, the fence, the bench, the bleachers or the sidelines – wherever we’ve parked ourselves and our ‘ethical’ consumerist consciences – to take an active role in making a difference. The future that lies ahead remains unpredictable and uncertain, subject to momentary change that will be either precipitous or a landslide. But what is definite is that we will all, individually and collectively, need to take a stand for what we believe in. 2024 is the year to make your future happen.
We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year!
