How We Work

We started Changeist in 2007 because the futures field needed a different approach—one that combined rigorous research with narrative design, strategic planning with public engagement, and analytical tools with experiential learning.

After nearly two decades working across sectors from humanitarian relief to Fortune 500 strategy, we've developed a distinct practice that treats futures work as both craft and discipline.

What Guides Our Work

We create knowledge and capability, not just reports. Organizations don't need another PowerPoint deck about trends. They need research infrastructures, decision-making frameworks, and learning experiences that outlast any single project. We design tools and platforms that become part of how you work.

We make futures tangible. Abstract scenarios don't change behavior. We create simulations where teams test strategies under pressure. We design exhibitions where audiences experience emerging possibilities. We build artifacts that make distant futures feel immediate and urgent.

We combine rigor with imagination. Our work starts with disciplined scanning and analysis—tracking weak signals, mapping drivers, identifying patterns others miss. But research alone isn't enough. We translate data into scenarios, scenarios into narratives, and narratives into experiences that help people understand what's at stake.

We work across scales. We've designed confidential boardroom simulations for executive teams and public museum exhibitions visited by thousands. Both require the same commitment to grounded research and compelling communication. The scale changes; the standards don't.

We value lived experience alongside expertise. The best futures work incorporates diverse perspectives—not as a gesture but as methodology. Different backgrounds reveal different signals, different concerns surface different risks. We actively seek collaborators and contributors who expand what we can see.

We're in it for the long term. Many of our client relationships span years or return across multiple projects. That's because we don't optimize for quick deliverables. We build capacity, transfer knowledge, and create frameworks that continue working after we've left the room.

Who We Work With

We partner with organizations serious about preparing for what's ahead—whether that's multinational corporations stress-testing strategy, government agencies building anticipatory capacity, or cultural institutions engaging publics with emerging change.

Our clients share a recognition that the future won't wait for perfect information, and that preparing for uncertainty requires both analytical skill and imaginative thinking.

If that describes your challenge, let's talk.

How We Define Foresight

Foresight is applied future exploration and action—sensing emerging signals of change, making sense of patterns, and building them into grounded narratives that help us see what could come next.

It's not prediction. It's a way of looking at prospective problems and possibilities that, over time, becomes an ingrained behavior—an always-on way of thinking about what's ahead.

We use foresight to anticipate risk and opportunity, envision alternative paths, discover connections we hadn't seen, and shape futures worth pursuing. But foresight is not simply imagination or learning about the vision of others—it is learned and applied through understanding and use by individuals and collectives alike.

Most importantly, foresight instills agency: the understanding that one has the power to influence outcomes, to see connections between choices and impacts, and to shape or choose a pathway to a better future through action. It moves people from contemplation to activation—not just witnessing possible futures, but participating in making them.

The power isn't in the tools or methods themselves. It's in the richness of the conversations they enable among those engaged together in exploring what's next.