Imagine a world where a government bans energy drinks if they are proven to be bad for public health, and people are abusing their impact and causing damage to themselves and others.
This is not a prediction, just a scenario. The question for you and your company is how you would handle a change in sentiment towards your products and services, maybe even to the point where some or all of what you do is banned by the State. It’s about making sure you’ve considered worst case scenarios in your planning.
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TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to the Future. It’s February 2033, and France became the first country in the world to officially ban all energy drinks. Red Bull doesn’t have any wings anymore, and Monster is apparently monstrous. Those lists of puns could go on.
I’m not taking a dip at any particular company, but I do think that we are going to see in the future that people Countries, industries, are beginning to look more carefully at the causes of diseases and health problems, and where the state is involved in overcoming some of the issues that our lifestyles cause, the state might get involved in limiting our access to things that could cause us harm.
Now, this is nothing new. We could have done a History Channel version of this where we look backwards at cigarettes and other things that we have banned in the past, or at least put very strict restrictions on their use. And it might be that in the future, we discover that energy drinks and high caffeine content that basically elevates our metabolisms for short-term energy drives are not actually as good for as we might imagine.
Well, let’s be honest, I don’t think anybody thinks they’re health drinks, but we like the benefits that we get from that little boost of energy, even if the consequences might have long-term health effects. Who knows? By the 2030s, if we have discovered that there are significant health damages and health problems, I’m sure that there are countries that are going to put a ban on them. Health drinks are in. Energy drinks are out.
Thank you, as always, for joining me in the future, where we choose scenarios. What would happen if? And we imagine what that might look like by pretending that we are in the future and experiencing the consequences. The question, of course, is how do we apply that to ourselves today? Maybe you’re in an industry that has a potential damaging effect. Maybe there is something that could go wrong with the products or services that you offer. And we need to imagine what might happen in the future if our product or service was banned because of the potential damage. And let’s be honest, that’s every product everywhere. Something can always go wrong.
So it’s a what-if, worst-case disaster scenario for our industry and our product and the services that we offer. Not saying it’s going to happen, but asking ourselves what we would do if it happened. We can then reverse engineer back to say, well, should we maybe be thinking about a different line of products or services? Should we be thinking about the way in which we communicate the product or service offering to our clients? Do we need to think about potential changes in regulations of our product and service? All good questions to ask, all good things to think about if we are thinking strategically.
As always, thank you for joining me in the ThrowForward Thursday Studio. If you’d like to connect to our team at TomorrowToday to talk about how you think about the future, how you think about protecting yourself from the risks or looking for the opportunities that disruptive change might bring, well, please make sure that you connect with us either via me at graemecodrington.com or directly with our team at TomorrowTodayGlobal.com. This is what we love doing, helping you to prepare for whatever the future holds. I’ll see you next week in the future, again.
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Graeme Codrington, is an internationally recognised futurist, specialising in the future of work. He helps organisations understand the forces that will shape our lives in the next ten years, and how we can respond in order to confidently stay ahead of change. Chat to us about booking Graeme to help you Re-Imagine and upgrade your thinking to identify the emerging opportunities in your industry.
For the past two decades, Graeme has worked with some of the world’s most recognised brands, travelling to over 80 countries in total, and speaking to around 100,000 people every year. He is the author of 5 best-selling books, and on faculty at 5 top global business schools.