We start season 3 digging deep into human values, while speculating on their evolved expression into the future, with futurist and Associate Professor at University of Houston's Foresight Program, Dr Andy Hines.
Having authored a book on the topic of values, ConsumerShift, Andy shares how defining what a value is and how it is expressed by people with differing typologies, helps us perceive them as something less static and therefore shows us their potential evolution into the future.
Jo and Andy discuss how values - an integral part of a person’s identity (their purpose, needs, world views and beliefs) - are expressed in the real world, as directed by external pressures but also individual choices. Andy speculates how modern values, built on capitalism, competition and an obsession with accumulation, may evolve.
Andy has been practicing futurism for over three decades and now teaches the skills of a futurist, but he has also applied it first hand during his time at Kellogg's and Dow Chemical. Through observing and projecting changes in the world, he explains why the science of futurism is fruitful, that more things have come true than not, but that we must align to the motion of change with patience, because contrary to popular thought, change happens slower than we think.
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To look outside, Andy speaks to different groups of people looking for diversity of thought; people who come at the world in a way that Andy doesn’t. He says this can be done observationally, through reading a magazine you don’t normally read, going on community boards you wouldn’t normally engage in, but that it should be done with patience, over an extended period of time. By seeking out unique view points, Andy seeks to build a better understanding of people in sub-cultures outside his own.
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Dr. Andy Hines is Associate Professor and Program Coordinator for the University of Houston’s Graduate Program in Foresight and is also speaking, workshopping, and consulting through his firm Hinesight.
His 30+ years of professional futurist experience includes a decade working inside first the Kellogg Company and later Dow Chemical, and consulting work with Coates & Jarratt, Inc. and Social Technologies/Innovaro.
His books include The Knowledge Base of Futures Studies 2020, Thinking about the Future (2nd edition), Teaching about the Future, ConsumerShift: How Changing Values Are Reshaping the Consumer Landscape, 2025: Science and Technology Reshapes US and Global Society, and his dissertation was “The Role of an Organizational Futurist in Integrating Foresight into Organizations”. He is a member and was Founding Chair of the Association of Professional Futurists.
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Looking Outside is a podcast dedicated to exploring fresh perspectives of familiar business topics. The show is hosted by its creator, Joanna Lepore, consumer goods innovator and futurist at McDonald's. Find out more at looking-outside.com.
Connect with Jo and join the Looking Outside community on LinkedIn.
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All views are that of the host and guests and don’t necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2022.
OBOY and Reel Life music features in Episode 21.
