The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work and Thrive in the Next Decade

by Rohit Bhargava, Henry Coutinho-Mason

Overview

This is a handbook for visionaries.

Making outlandish predictions about the future is easy. Predicting the future normal is far harder.

For the past decade, Rohit Bhargava and Henry Coutinho-Mason have been on the front lines of exploring the global forces shaping our future normal through their work independently leading two of the most successful trend consultancies in the world: TrendWatching and the Non-Obvious Company.

From donning full body haptic suits to sampling cultivated meat, their work has taken them into cutting-edge labs, private testing facilities, and invite-only showcases across the world. Now for the first time, they are teaming up to share a uniquely eye-opening vision of the future unlike any other.

Across thirty fast-moving chapters, The Future Normal spotlights dozens of ideas and instigators who are changing the world. From biophilic skyscrapers to generative AI, these stories offer an optimistic yet deeply human view of the next decade. Along the way, we also tackle some of the biggest ethical and societal questions raised by all this progress.

In this book, you’ll read about the ideas and instigators that are bringing about new ways to satisfy our fundamental needs and wants, changing not just their industries but also transforming our wider culture and society.

These are the stories of the future normal, and they are coming sooner than you think. For anyone looking to get ready, this book will empower you to seize the opportunities that lie ahead in this crucial decade. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646871438
Publisher:	Ideapress Publishing
Publication date:	03/05/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Rohit Bhargava has dedicated his career to bringing more humanity back to business. He is the best selling author of six books on marketing, innovation and leadership and has been invited to speak at more than 500 events in 32 countries. Rohit is the founder of the Non-Obvious company, frequently advises some of the world’s largest brands and has been featured in Fast Company, GQ and the New York Times. He lives in Washington DC with his wife and two boys, loves the Olympics and believes in listening before speaking.

Henry Coutinho-Mason runs TrendWatching’s global activities on a daily basis and is a sought-after keynote speaker. In the past three years, he has given over 50 keynote presentations in more than 25 countries across six continents. He is regularly quoted as a trend expert, including in the Financial Times, The New York Times, Fast Company and The Economist; as well as appearing on television networks such as CNBC, the BBC and Al Jazeera. In a past life, he was a qualified accountant and is responsible for introducing “flawsome” into the business lexicon. 

Rohit Bhargava is the founder of the Non-Obvious Company and entrepreneur having started three successful companies. He is widely considered one of the most entertaining and original thinkers and speakers on marketing disruption and innovation in the world. He is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of five books and teaches marketing and storytelling at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Henry Coutinho-Mason is one of the world’s leading authorities on consumer trends, having spent a decade as the managing director of TrendWatching. He is the author of Trend-Driven Innovation and has given more than 100 inspiring and practical keynotes and workshops in 30+ countries, to the world’s biggest brands including J&J, Calvin Klein, Mastercard, the Tata Group, and many more.

Editorial Reviews

At the beginning of each chapter, The Future Normal asks the most powerful question there is: what if? But more than just posing those two words and letting them hang, Rohit Bhargava and his coauthor Henry Coutinho-Mason, take us on a tour of the state of potential and possibility, nudging us to our own inquiry, understanding, and, ultimately, coherent action at a time when nothing is more crucial to us and the future of our society.”

—Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief, Inc. Magazine

“In The Future Normal, Bhargava and Coutinho-Mason expertly dig deep into our social behaviors and needs to understand which ideas and trends will take off and become ‘normal’ in the future. A fun and insightful read.” 

— Francesca Gino, author of Rebel Talent and Professor at Harvard Business School

"A non-bullshit, compelling and idea-packed navigation tool for anyone who feels overwhelmed by our world's exponential pace of change. The Future Normal cuts through the noise to define the decade's breakthrough technological and cultural trends."

— David Rowan, founding editor-in-chief, WIRED UK, author of Non-Bullshit Innovation

The Future Normal will simultaneously open your eyes and expand your mind. It will help you see the future first — while awakening you to the possibilities that future holds. This essential book will inspire you to push beyond asking “What’s next? and begin asking, “What if?”

— Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Drive, When, and The Power of Regret

“Thought provoking and clear-sighted, The Future Normal will help any leader prepare for the decade to come.”

— Beth Comstock, author of Imagine It Forward and Former Vice Chair, GE

“While we can’t predict the future, Henry and Rohit look at the signals that do contain it. Essential reading for any one wondering about what’s next.”

— Ben Page, CEO, IPSOS

"History is paved with thousands of wildly inaccurate predictions about what happens next. Against this backdrop, The Future Normal pieces together fascinating insights from the world's most forward-thinking individuals and companies to give readers a well-reasoned, well-researched roadmap of the trends that are most likely to define tomorrow."

— Hugh Forrest, SXSW | Co-President and Chief Programming Officer

“It's easy to be daunted by the possible strangeness of our future. But fear not – with The Future Normal as your fascinating guidebook, asking the questions you didn't even know you had, you will see fresh new perspectives as to the exciting dawns we all aspire to.”

— Sian Sutherland, Founder, A Plastic Planet

“An important book which brims with optimism, imagination and practical ideas"

— Julia Hobsbawm, author of The Nowhere Office

"The Future Normal is a collection of thought-provoking concepts and scenarios packaged in a digestible framework. Rohit and Henry have created a new blueprint and discussion guide here for companies and leaders across all industries to use for future business and strategy planning.”

— Anneliese Olson, Former Senior Vice President, Hewlett Packard

“The focus in this book on what life will be like everyday – the normal as opposed to the extreme outlier experiences of a few – is really smart, and more importantly, really useful for thinking about now and next.”

— Mark Curtis, Head of Innovation, Accenture Song

"From air protein to job sharing to 15-minute cities, The Future Normal is a greatest-hits discovery tour of the most exciting ideas that will make up our everyday lives in the near future. Henry and Rohit narrate one innovation after another, all of which are a testament to the sheer power of human ingenuity in a tone that is both comforting and accessible, like your best mate telling you about the incredible future that awaits us all whilst you share (low-alcohol, gluten-free) beers at the pub."

— Sonalie Figueiras, Founder, Green Queen

“The ultimate orientation! Open this book and you see the trends that will shape your future.”

— Nils Müller, CEO & Founder TRENDONE

"In a time of humanity-defining change, The Future Normal shows where to focus our efforts. A clear guide as to which of today’s bets not only could but need to become the most ordinary and thus important elements of life. It is those, after all, that define the true future."

— Rachel Arthur, Founder FashMash and Advocacy Lead for Sustainable Fashion, UN Environment Program

“Who doesn’t want to have a crystal ball to see the future? Bhargava and Coutinho-Mason argue that we don’t have to. We simply must look around us today to spot tomorrow’s opportunities. In The Future Normal, they show us how and present some of the most compelling trends that will impact our future—and likely your business. Immensely helpful and insightful.”

—Martin Lindstrom, author of Buyology and The Ministry of Common Sense

"Future Normal is a helpful canter through what the coming years may hold, asking the right questions and feeding our imaginations for a positive tomorrow."

— Azeem Azhar, author of Exponential View

From the Publisher

2023-03-21
Entrepreneur Bhargava and consultant Coutinho-Mason predict new patterns for work and society in this debut nonfiction work.

The future is already here—it just hasn’t gone mainstream yet. That’s the philosophy undergirding the work of the two authors of this book, who make it their business to know where, in the present, the seeds of the future are already beginning to sprout: “What is happening on the edges of most industries or in society—the technological marvels, the ambitious innovations, the bold social agendas—hold the potential to become mainstream in the future, to change how we’ll live and work and what we’ll value,” they write in their introduction. Some of these ideas have already filtered into the popular consciousness, even if they haven’t become routine for everyone, such as remote work, the medical use of psychedelics, and plant-based meat. Others will likely strike readers as completely novel; in the future, the authors assert, children may get a substantial portion of their education passively by playing video games embedded with stealth learning technology. If one lives alone, they say, one may rely on Siri-like virtual assistants, trained to offer people emotional support and companionship. Large companies, in order to better integrate themselves into the community, may invite nonprofits, local businesses, and artists to share their office space, the authors note, and one’s city may be redesigned so that all the places one needs to go daily—work, home, school, parks—are within a 15-minute commute. The new urban center may feature vertical forests—skyscrapers filled with trees and plants to relegate their temperature and muffle noise—and vertical farms, and biotechnology may replace plastic, making products waste-free. This might sound like the stuff of SF, but with each chapter, the authors introduce readers to concepts that make the future seem less dystopian—and right around the corner.

This present-is-future philosophy is why Bhargava and Coutinho-Mason jokingly refer to themselves as “now-ists” rather than futurists. Their prose reflects the optimism and enthusiasm they feel for each new idea, as when they discuss the pre-owned clothes marketplace Depop: “Digital secondhand marketplaces also allow people to flaunt their entrepreneurialism as a key source of status too. If eBay is the Goodwill of the digital secondhand fashion world (huge, functional, but unsexy and hard to navigate) then fashion marketplaces like Depop are its younger, more creative, cooler cousin.” Chapters generally introduce an emerging trend or technology and then highlight an organization or company that’s currently putting it into practice. If there’s a knock on Bhargava and Coutinho-Mason’s method, it’s that they sometimes come across as a bit too rosy in their assessments. For example, the authors choose to focus on how much time artificial intelligence technologies can save artists—highlighting a movie trailer that was made in hours instead of weeks—without addressing how that saved time will likely mean a smaller paycheck. In general, however, these now-ists succeed in making the future a little less scary and a lot more exciting.

An intriguing and cheerful look at ways that innovation may reshape society.

Kirkus Reviews