Shaping the future you're trying to create. As a story that's believable, grounded, and emotionally true.
CE, executive team, board, or a small group of trusted leaders who want to move beyond the strategy document version of the future.
Reflective leadership exercise
60 minutes
You cannot create a different future while staying exactly the same.
This exercise is about getting out of the day-to-day pressure long enough to think clearly about the future you're trying to build.
The goal is a story that feels human, specific, and earned. One that helps decisions become clearer and gives people something they can see themselves inside.
Before You Start
Find somewhere quiet. This exercise can be done:
Format | Notes |
On your own | Useful for personal leadership direction or preparing for a team conversation |
With a leadership team | Surfaces different pictures of the future and where they align or diverge |
With a board | Useful before a strategy refresh |
With a small trusted group | Good for honest drafting before a wider conversation |
You do not need perfect answers. And the aim here isn’t to predict, but to create.
Step 1. Picture the Future
Allow 5–10 minutes before writing
Choose a day and year in the future. It can be 10, 20, 50 years from now.
People are reflecting on the last several years. What changed, what mattered, what made a difference. Your organisation, team, or leadership is part of that conversation.
You walk into the room.
What are people talking about?
[Write what you see and hear in that room.]Step 2. What's Different Now?
Describe what has genuinely changed.
Avoid vague words like "innovation" or "transformation" unless you can explain what they looked like in real life.
What feels different in the world around us?
[What feels healthier, stronger, fairer, or more stable?]What problems have eased?
[What frustrations no longer dominate conversations?]What are people experiencing now that they weren't before?
[Real examples. Observable shifts. Things people would actually say or notice.]What gives people hope?
[Notes]Step 3. What Part Did We Play?
Now bring the focus closer.
What did we help make possible?
[Notes]Finish these sentences:
Prompt | Response |
"They helped us…" | |
"They were known for…" | |
"When things got difficult, they…" | |
Pay attention to the verbs. They tell you a lot.
Where did we show courage? What did we protect? What did we build?
[Notes]Step 4. The Hard Decisions
No meaningful future happens without trade-offs.
What decisions changed the direction we were heading?
[What did we stop doing? What did we say no to?]What became more important than growth, comfort, speed, or consensus?
[Notes]What conversations did we finally have? What risks did we take that mattered?
[Notes]Reflection: What did leadership require from us that was uncomfortable at the time?
[Notes]Step 5. Who Did We Have to Become?
This is the part people often skip.
What changed in the way we led?
[What behaviours became normal? What became unacceptable?]What capability did we build? What did we have to learn?
[Notes]What did governance or leadership start doing differently?
[Notes]If you are doing this for yourself as a leader:
Prompt | Response |
Who did you have to become? | |
What did you let go of? | |
What kind of leadership did people start experiencing from you? |
Step 6. Write the Story
Now pull everything together as a story.
Write 1–2 pages as though someone is reflecting back on this period in the future.
The best future stories: sound human, include tension and trade-offs, feel specific and earned, and make people feel something.
Writing prompts — choose one to start:
"By 2030, people could feel the difference because…"
"Looking back, the turning point came when…"
"What changed us most was…"
"We stopped trying to…"
"People trusted us because…"
"The future became possible when…"Step 7. Test the Story
Once you have a draft, don't protect it too quickly. Take it to people not for approval, but for testing and noticing where there’s alignment and divergence.
Question | Notes |
What feels true here? | |
What feels unrealistic? | |
What feels missing? | |
Where does it sound too safe? | |
What would need to happen for this to become real? |
Creating futures gets sharper when reality pushes against it a bit.
Step 8. Final Reflection
A strong future story should create both energy and responsibility.
If it only inspires, it's probably too vague. If it only pressures people, it's probably too narrow.
Does your story pass this test?
[Notes]Summary
Element | Notes |
Time horizon | |
Format used (solo / team / board) | |
Core change described | |
Hardest trade-off named | |
Who we had to become | |
What still feels uncertain or unresolved | |
Next step with this story |
🌿 Want to Go Deeper?
This is a standalone exercise. It also works well as a precursor to a strategy refresh, a board planning day, a leadership transition, Or in Step 1 of the Strategy Sprint. wherever the question what are we actually trying to build? needs to be answered before the tactical work begins.
To access the editable Notion templates for this and all other practice pages, request a copy of the editable templates.
🤝 Need Help With This?
This exercise works well as a self-facilitated team conversation once you've run it once with support.
Run it with your team. A facilitated Future Story session brings your leadership team through the full exercise in real time. Surfacing different pictures of the future, finding where they converge, and building something honest you can actually work from.
Not sure if this is the right starting point? A call is a good place to begin.
Call, text, or email using the details at the top of this page.