Dear Friends & Colleagues,
I'm absolutely thrilled to have recently joined the MSR division as a Fetzer scholar. My research looks at how Eastern Asian philosophies (Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism) can benefit the practice of foresight, i.e., futures thinking, in organizations. As a way to introduce my work, I'm attaching the first chapter of a book I'm writing, titled "The Dao of Foresight" (also available in browser, if you prefer, at this link)
The Dao of Foresight is an upcoming novel but also a foresight manual that will educate people of all ages, but especially young working professionals and aspiring working professionals, on foresight concepts and techniques. It is not the typical foresight manual. Instead of being told in an analytical, explanatory and case study-based pedagogical fashion, it is told through a short, illustrated story. The story is about a disciple going through many obstacles to learn foresight from a foresight master so that he can save his village in danger, while at the same time preventing an evil villain from obtaining foresight knowledge and use it for unscrupulous purposes. As the master teaches foresight to the disciple, it is through their dialogue that the reader gets to learn foresight as well.
The book is inspired by Eastern Asian philosophies and literature, and in particular by the Wu Xia literature. It is also inspired by my experience with living in Asia (China, Taiwan, Singapore) in the past 13 years.
This is just one of the projects I'm currently on. Other projects include a collection of foresight meditations in the form of metaphors from the East Asian tradition, a series of guided foresight meditations for executives, and an academic article on the subject. If you want to get further engaged with the upcoming book/my work, you can do the following:
- Fill up this form to stay notified about any developments about the book, including publication date.
-Watch this online talk to learn more about the philosophical background that led to the book.
- Dm me or comment below to recommend a book publisher!
- Dm me or comment below to recommend a book illustrator!
- Feel free to provide feedback in response to the first chapter!
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Alex Fergnani
NUS Business School
Singapore
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