Ep066: A no BS discussion about the future, with futurist Dave Wild

My guest today is Dave Wild, a futurist, innovator and strategist. Dave believes we can all have a part in creating a bright future. Dave speaks, coaches and innovates himself in areas such as the future of work, going beyond digital, artificial intelligence, and more. But don’t take it from me, one of his clients said “What I love most about Dave is his flexibility in adapting to the requirements of the culture of the organisation and the desired outcomes. He offers fresh perspectives and exposes you to global trends and innovations. Dave brings a huge array of tools and I have seen him take people through a journey where even people who don’t consider themselves to be creative or innovative start making connections and generating new ways of thinking to start doing things differently for their business”.

Dave got me really curious, which in my book is a clue that great learning is around the corner. Here’s Dave:

Phew! That chat is so packed with value, I suspect that will be on the multiple listen list for many of you, including me.

There are two things I need to tell you before I get to my key takeaways from that chat with Dave.
First, I came to know about Dave a while ago, through a wonderful listener and friend of mine Sheri from New Zealand. I’m sure many of you from NZ will know her. That sparked a great discourse with her and I about the work that Dave does, and Sheri was contextualising why she was suggesting I should share Dave with you. So thank you to Sheri, I really appreciate your contribution. If you have a guest or a topic in mind, I’d love to hear from you, send me an email or a message on LinkedIn.
Second, Dave and I got talking after the interview about how we respectively help open the minds of people and help them move towards effective action. So we’ve decided to team up to bring Dave to Australia for a tag-team session for you – a morning of emerging and future trends with a group of really diverse people from government to start-ups, and an afternoon with our sleeves up, getting down and dirty in a facilitated group session so everyone in the room can make sense of, and create a plan for the future they want to create. This is not training, this is not death by powerpoint – this will stretch your brain and make you work – which is how growth happens. Since we literally just knocked up this idea, the only details we agreed is that it will be in Sydney towards the end of Feb – if you are keen to find out more, let me know by visiting safetyontap.com/dave

So here’s my takeaways from that chat with Dave Wild:
The way to predict the future is to create it. Almost too simple, but very profound. I think that as health and safety people this is the business we are in – we are seeking to create a healthier and safer future. But when you really think about every thing you do, message you communicate, process you formalise – ask yourself the question, is this creating that future? It doesn’t take me long coaching health and safety people to identify these kinds of things, which we know deep down don’t help create that future. So whatever you do, be honest about the future you are creating, and if it’s not the one you really truly want, it’s time to pivot.
Read the dictionary. What a wonderful habit to get into when we are communicating, by simply slowing down and asking each other, what do we mean by this, that or the other? I had a conversation today after my chat with Dave, and uncovered that in this organisation, if I used the word change, I would really turn people off because it had a negative connotation. Instead they preferred the word improvement. It doesn’t matter why, we were talking about the same thing but would have really gotten off track if I hadn’t stopped to understand how they defined what I thought I was talking about.

Until next time, what’s the one thing you’ll do to take positive, effective or rewarding action, to grow yourself, and drastically improve health and safety along the way. Seeya!