Longtime Heart+Mind colleague and friend, Doug Griffin, has just released Foresight 2030, a thoughtful new book that explores the influences that will impact the decade ahead. Doug digs deep into the role of technology, the future of work, how education may change, and the direction of news, media and information. We were thrilled to collaborate on this effort with Doug, just as we do on many aspects of our client work.
When the pandemic began, we set out to create a regular set of Pulse surveys to look at how the pandemic and the politics were shaping attitudes, emotions and even the values that Americans reference to make decisions. Each Pulse was an online survey conducted with 1,000 American adults. Along with Pulse, we launched our weekly Heart+Mind online RoundTable series, Connections, to gather and discuss optimal strategies to respond to societal changes over time.
To support Foresight 2030, we added questions to a Pulse series in 2020 to learn more about the raw human emotions surrounding the breaking COVID-19 crisis. We explored: What’s the mood of America? What are the dominant emotions? How are fundamental values like peace of mind, freedom, tolerance, personal satisfaction and concern for others being impacted by a pandemic and social/health crisis that most Americans had never faced in their lifetimes? What is impacting optimism now and the outlook for the decade ahead?
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What we captured from the Pulse data was incredibly valuable, and these research findings reflected what we have felt to be true in our current society. It was clear that optimism was down, there was an increasing erosion of trust for traditional institutions, and people were confused about what to do next.
“The team at Heart+Mind Strategies has been researching American values for decades, monitoring the impact of values on decision-making since the origin of the Wirthlin Worldwide Consultancy that was established by Richard Wirthlin in 1969.”
Doug Griffen, Author
American Optimism
Heart+Mind Strategies Chief Growth Officer, Maury Giles, contributed to Chapter 12, “Surveyin’ USA: How American Optimism and Values Changed in 2020/2021.” Maury focuses on not only the Pulse findings about the human dynamics around COVID-19, but also the potential long-term effects that government and business leaders should strategically consider moving forward.
“I am deeply grateful to the Heart+Mind Strategies team for their work in tracking American attitudes, values and emotions since the start of the pandemic and sharing their insights in this chapter as part of our book. Their Pulse surveys reveal powerful emotions and attitudes that are shaping the future of the decade ahead and illuminating some of the conflicts and divides that America is experiencing.”
Doug Griffen, Author
“COVID-19 has shaped personal and societal expectations for life in the decade ahead,” Maury shares in the book. “It has influenced the optimism or pessimism we feel about what comes next. And that’s why this book, this research, this personal and collective reflection, matters so much. We are all placing certain bets about the decade ahead. Those bets are influenced by our life experiences, our values and our emotions.”
In Foresight 2030, Maury and Doug share research findings on how misinformation, inequality, lost anchors, polarization, fear and loss of control are fueling a shift toward self-interest at a time when our country longs for unity and direction. “We went down a dangerous path of American self-interest over the past four years that was inconsistent with the need to recognize the collaboration needed for a global future,” Doug writes.
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Moving ahead, there is an opportunity for leaders, brands and organizations to help unite a very divided country over the next decade. “You and I make decisions on countless issues in our daily life, the question is what influences our decision making process,” Maury writes. “If leaders understand the values that influence our decision-making, they can communicate at that value level to influence our decisions.”
Maury shares a recipe for optimism to achieve our potential in the decade ahead:
- Individual focus on improving tolerance of others and personal dependability for those around us
- Collective focus on happiness, enjoyment, and belonging
- Practical and meaningful efforts to address systemic solutions for misinformation, inequality, lost anchors, polarization, and fear/loss of control
The Most Consequential Decade of Our Lives
Through Foresight 2030, Doug is able to shepherd us through the next decade – what we know, what we can expect, and why this might be the most consequential decade of our lives. As Heart+Mind Strategies Managing Partner and CEO, Dee Allsop said, “Foresight 2030 is the pinnacle gift to tomorrow’s thinkers, influencers, and leaders from a rare talent at the pinnacle of a remarkable life.”
“Americans are optimistic about the decade ahead by a margin of 60% net optimistic to 40% net pessimistic. This is in February 2021 after one of the most divisive presidential elections we have ever seen, a nearly year-long COVID pandemic, a major economic downturn, and massive social protests in the summer of 2020. That’s remarkable. And it backs up our Foresighters and their sense that despite the raw disruption of 2020, we may have reset America onto a more optimistic path for the future. Dare I say, what could be the most consequential decade of our lives.”
Doug Griffen, Author
We recommend you read this book. Each chapter will inspire ideas to more effectively resonate with the people who matter most to your success. The empathy you will build for the perspectives of others will inspire your path to build stronger human connections on your way to 2030.
Thank you, Doug!
Watch Doug introduce his book Foresight 2030: Conversations About the Decade Ahead as part of our December 2021 RoundTable.