Methodology Futures Taxonomy Human Needs Global Drivers Value Shifts Macrotrends Microtrends Strategy Services Identify Your Future

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Methodology

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Methodology

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Futures Taxonomy

At the heart of The Future Laboratory is a taxonomy that our teams have used since the millennium to shape the strategic thinking and foresight capabilities of FTSE 100, Fortune 500 businesses, and progressive brands and disruptors. 

We use this methodology to map, monitor and interrogate the future. It serves as the foundation for everything we do as a business, and is based on six layers of hindsight, insight and foresight:

To find out more about our taxonomy or to receive a PDF of our full methodology, contact our team.

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1 2 3 4 5 6
1 : Human Needs

Static and universal needs, based on a value system that supports human nature’s physical and emotional programming

2 : Global Drivers

The shifting social, technological, economic, environmental and political landscape reshaping the world we live in, affecting everyone and everything

3 : Value Shifts

Consumers’ changing attitudes and behaviour – a reaction to their contemporary context

4 : Macrotrends

The cultural manifestations of new and emerging attitudes worldwide

5 : Microtrends

Influential short-term signals indicated by innovation

6 : Implications

Future implications for brand and business growth

The Seven Human Needs

The seven human needs are timeless and universal. Based on a value system that supports human nature’s physical and emotional programming, each human need is of importance to us as individuals and together they form the foundation of society as well as that of our methodology:

Why they matter:

Every day consumers make decisions based on what they feel and believe is most important. By aligning our research with these static needs, businesses gain a deeper understanding of how the needs of early adopter consumers will translate into product and service needs as their values shift with the global drivers.

To find out what the seven human needs mean for your business, contact our team.

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01. Attainment


02. Belonging


03. Curiosity


04. Fulfilment


05. Identity


06. Purpose


07. Security

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Attainment

All human beings need to feel respected and recognised among their peers, which drives the desire to constantly express our significance and success, our knowledge and tastes, with our achievements often reinforced through the acquisition of symbolic goods
KEY ELEMENTS
Knowledge Taste Work Respect Prestige Connoisseurship Ownership

Belonging

It is a social need to be physically connected to a group of like-minded people. We have an emotional urge, on an individual level, to create support systems and relationships that provide us with acceptance and approval
KEY ELEMENTS
Nationalism Tribalism Roots Conviviality History Culture

Curiosity

To both create and co-create makes us push the boundaries of what is ultimately humanly possible. Our in-built intuition makes us inquisitive beings with a shared inclination to discover or challenge the norm
KEY ELEMENTS
Exploration Education Connoisseurship Discernment

Fulfilment

There is a human desire to direct our own lives, to create forms of freedom and to find deeper meaning and balance in life. It is the psychological need to fully realise our personal potential with the resulting feeling of satisfaction
KEY ELEMENTS
Wellness Spirituality Love Emotions Self-esteem Beauty

Identity

We have a need to distinguish our character or personality from others and to feel unique and respected for who we are. We build our sense of who we are through a personal exploration of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and age
KEY ELEMENTS
Gender Age Ethnicity Religion Nationality Self-image Language Collectivism Morals

Purpose

It is in the interests of the human species for all of us to contribute, participate and add collective value to progress. Each day we plan for a better tomorrow, aligning our passions with our purpose to grow and achieve collective betterment
KEY ELEMENTS
Meaning Ethics Mastery Learning Collectivity Sustainability History Culture

Security

At the core of humanity is a fundamental need for structure, control, certainty and stability. It is a basic human survival instinct to protect ourselves and our loved ones from perceived physical, emotional and economic threats
KEY ELEMENTS
Finance Health Food Shelter Employment Safety Environment Wifi

The Six Global Drivers

Global drivers represent the cultural, social, economic, political, technological and environmental eventualities reshaping the world we live in. They are factual, objective and long-term structural forces that are pervasive, powerful and transformative.

Why they matter : What’s next

These are the fundamental shifts or external forces that have the potential to reshape the future trajectory of a brand or business. They help to contextualise decision-making by considering why and how the world is being reshaped. They enable clients to rethink what kind of world consumers will live in and therefore what will drive the businesses of tomorrow.

To find out how the six global drivers affect your business, contact our team. 

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01. Accelerating Technologies


02. Climate Change and Resource Scarcity


03. Dislocated World


04. Global Versus Local


05. Evolving Demographics


06. Urban Mindset

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Accelerating Technologies

Today, the ubiquity of technology in our daily lives has transformed the way society operates, and for billions of people around the world, technology has become enmeshed with their humanity.With technological adoption and innovation continuing to accelerate, and new developments in AI and blockchain technology dominating headlines over the past year, the limits of technological progress and its impact on civilisation are almost unfathomable.

Climate Change and Resource Scarcity

Driven by the climate crisis, our planet is fast approaching a tipping point as the consequences of historic lack of action result in increasing disruption and devastation across every corner of the globe.The urgency surrounding climate change is now a full blown emergency, existentially threatening humanity and industry. But ambitious goals and targets are emerging, backed by tangible action plans, alongside a growing sense of pragmatism over doomerism.

Evolving Demographics

Over the next decade, the shape of our global population is set to change dramatically. These shifts will redefine tomorrow’s demographics and profoundly reshape societal and cultural systems in terms of identity, beliefs and values.Global economic instability due to falling fertility rates and ageing populations in some regions may be rebalanced by a growing youth workforce emerging in others. But the more human impact on who we are, how we live, who with and where, will also have far-reaching repercussions for societies and industries.

Fragmenting Societies

Fractious inequalities and divisions are being exposed in a fast-changing, unstable world. VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) has often been used to describe this situation, but today, BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear and incomprehensible) is emerging as a more appropriate acronym.The deterioration hinges on the increasing fragility and fragmentation of social, political and environmental ideologies, driving factions into isolated silos and resulting in discord leading to societal polarisation, with apathy and suspicion regarding a way forward.

Micro-Globalisation

After decades of liberalisation, the world we live in is inextricably interconnected – socially, technologically, economically, environmentally and politically. But lack of equitable collaboration has stymied mutual progress, leaving us in a state of co-dependency rather than cooperation.Without this alignment the world is reconsidering whether resilience can ever come from an integrated and interdependent global economy, driving movements towards a recalibration of this complex eco-system and a renewed championing of localism and national pride.

Urbanising World

Despite ever-evolving migration patterns and there percussions of a global pandemic, cities remain the financial, technological and cultural epicentres of society, acting as the main environments for daily life and work for a vast majority of the global population.Priorities for living, working and playing in these urban environments are being redefined, subsequently reframing the requirements citizens have of them, with liveability, connectivity, sustainability and health and wellbeing becoming expectations rather than aspirations.

The Value Shifts

We know that our needs are prioritised, expressed and pursued differently as time, culture and social requirements change. 

The evolving forces sitting above these needs are changing our value expectations, transforming our aspirations and priorities, and beginning to reveal the role, the purpose and the direction that brands and businesses can take as they move towards 2030.

Identifying how societies and culture are changing provides the sociocultural context for our macrotrends.

Why they matter : What to plan for
As consumer values shift from year to year, we track their evolution through the lens of our global drivers and human needs to help businesses stay ahead of the cultural curve and understand the trajectory of the trends they have invested in or should be investing in.

Macrotrends

We can identify future macrotrends by studying the behaviours of innovators and early adopters who signal the cultural manifestations of new and emerging attitudes globally.

Why they matter : Where to play

To understand revenue-driving early and late majority consumers, we focus on innovators and early adopters who determine today what the rest of us will be doing tomorrow

By understanding these consumers, we can help our clients deliver a business strategy that appeals to early adopters and the late majority – ultimately future-proofing your business

The Diffusion of Innovation curve seen here is a simplified version of the mapping process used by Bryce Ryan and Neal Gross to describe how an idea, innovation or product development passes from the fringes of our culture into the late majority mainstream

Every year we publish over eight global macrotrends exclusively for members of our trends intelligence hub, LS:N Global. 

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Microtrends

Where macrotrends chart the next 3–5 years, microtrends are tangible examples that are emerging now.

Supported by new consumer-facing innovations, microtrends are evident in new start-ups, products, services and experiences. Manifesting in the short term, microtrends emerge in local and regional variations.

Why they matter : How to win
Microtrends highlight specific shifts in consumer behaviour that change the business environment in the short term.

They enable businesses to see what’s happening now across industries, regions and markets, allowing them to re-align new workstreams and help articulate a proposition from local insights.

Members of LS:N Global get exclusive access to new microtrends published each week. 

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Strategic Implications

As you can see, we don’t predict the future. But through Strategic Foresight we can track global shifts to understand the key drivers of change and mine the evidence of today’s world to preview what the future could look like.

Our Strategic Implications enable clients to contextualise, navigate and find opportunities by highlighting how a macrotrend might affect them and refocus their outlook.

Our frameworks are designed and created in close partnership with our clients.

Our team of strategists are always on hand to dig deeper and build a personalised Foresight Framework for you. Get in touch to understand how our human needs, global drivers and macrotrends will affect your organisation.

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