'Getting Your Future Right'
Welcome
A quick update: the previous 'Free Articles and Papers' section is now called 'The Future Of...' with articles moved under a theme such as 'water' or 'people' or 'technology' and so on. That way you should be able to find the type of content you want more readily. Some articles will also appear in multiple locations given the broad reach of some topics. They'll all still be there and they are all still free!
Looking Up Feeling Good Pty Ltd is a business that helps you to move towards Getting Your Future Right. If this is your first visit, below you'll find an overview of where to look to find the information you need; and if you are a return visitor, welcome back:
Strategic Thinking: If you want ideas to kick start strategic thinking, go to The Future Of tab above, where you'll find a whole series of free downloadable papers and thought starters on a range of topics. That might be sufficient for your needs. If you want something customised for your organisation's specific needs or alternatively if you have any questions about the ideas in the articles and ways to use them in your business by all means contact us
Media Coverage: If you are looking for some of the media on topics where Strategic Futurist Marcus Barber has presented or provided comment, go to the Free Articles tab and you'll see them listed in the first part of that section. If you are a journalist or media organisation looking for a comment about 'the future' please contact me directly via email or via my 'roving landline' if you need an immediate comment for a story on the day
Facilitation, Consulting & Speaking Requirements: If you are looking to find a futurist for a key note speaker or require a consultant to assist you with Facilitation, Innovation, Strategy or Futures work then you'll probably want to talk to us first. If you're wanting to enhance your organisational strategy, we'd be more than happy to provide you with an obligation free, no cost one hour consultation to discuss your needs, to determine if we are the best ones to assist you and to find out exactly what you are wanting to achieve, or put you in contact with someone better suited. Call us on 03 9644 0894
Client Feedback: Interested in reading what others have gained or said about our services? Go to the Great Client Feedback tab and find out for yourself the quality of the types of results of using our skills in your business
Products & Services: Whether you're thinking about training, skills development, external sources of Environmental Scanning or more, you'll find most of what you need listed in either the Products or Services tabs. These fully customisable sessions and products are aimed at delivering to you an increased strategic awareness capability and have been used successfully in almost all industry sectors and by clients of varying sizes. Call us if you have any questions on 03 9644 0894 or email us here
Areas of Latest Focus and upcoming Events: If you're interested in finding out what specific projects have our attention at the moment, or want to know some of the latest events on the horizon that we feel worthy of knowing more about, check out the Events tab or the Latest Focus tab
Understanding the Role of Feedback
Feedback plays an important role in the success of organisations of all sizes and can help us determine how our efforts are producing desired results or may need to be adjusted to achieve the goals we want.
Traditional forms of feedback are usually 'echoes from the past', just like trend spotting is nothing more than identifying things that are already happening, rather than things that could happen. We would like you to consider that an 'echo from the future' can be even more valuable feedback which is why businesses come to us to help them consider what their future might look like.
'Getting Your Future Right' (tm)
Take a look at the following questions and if they fit the kind of question you want an answer to, we can probably help you. With our extensive network of content experts and specialists, we may also be able to put you in the right direction with someone who can assist
- "What does the future hold for our Industry and what should do about it?"
- "How do we ensure we get the type of future we want?"
- "Where should we be looking to maximise our opportunities and minimise our risks?"
- "How can we build our organisation's capacity for Innovation to ensure continued success?"
- "Is it possible to get a jump on our major competitors?"
If you've ever asked yourself those questions or ones like them then we have a sense for what you want to achieve
On these pages you will find enough information to be able to make the kind of smart decision that will deliver what you want and greatly benefit your business. And you'll still probably want to talk to us - we'd be happy to hear from you and to answer those questions you have about what you need from us.
And YOU have to take action and MAKE THE CALL today!
It is likely that you are an organisation that is looking to answer some key questions for your future. You may have a changing marketplace, emerging supply chain issues or you may be witnessing a shift away from your traditional products to alternative competitor offerings. You may be aware of managerial challenges to available employee numbers or sense that 'times are changing' and want to know what those changes mean for you.
Potentially your senior management group or business unit has grappled with the idea of change and has explored some strategic plays and thinking - but the choices are uncertain. This level of uncertainty needs addressing because "we had good intentions" is not a satisfactory response to the question "What went wrong?" And potentially, your business is not yet satisfied with the answers it has generated to the strategic questions it is trying to answer.
For Looking Up Feeling Good the various issues (whatever they may be) indicate opportunities for growth and possibiliites for collapse. None of our clients have considered 'collapse' an option and we doubt you do either, which is why you are here.
Companies like yours come to us for a number of reasons and those reasons tend to fall into two main areas:
1. Your company is aware that the old way of doing business and textbook 101 answers are no longer providing the desired level of 'payback' to the organisation and you are being (proactive) at creating the future you want
and also common -
2. Your company has reached a crisis point and is looking to rescue itself; (reactive)
Send us an email or call the Sandringham Office: 613 9644 0894
.
.Keep informed - Sign up
Events
Wednesday 15 May 2013
Without putting too fine a point on it, most of us pay little attention to what we 'deposit' in our toilets each time the body needs to exit our bodily waste. And yet with a looming phosphate shortage around the world (along with other useful components) our personal waste streams are worth billions of dollars every year. The ability to 'mine' large volumes of human waste has been improving over the past decade and in this conversation with ABC Darwin's Vicki Kerrigan, we push the envelope so to speak by considering personal waste streams as a source of income
Read more...
Tuesday 14 May 2013
Today I have a bee in my bonnet, so please look away if my frankness might bother you. In the last couple of days I've had yet another conversation with a Local Council planning team manager about Strategic Planning for their Council that bothered me a great deal. What really has me bothered is that the conversation indicated that the reason that this particular Council had not managed to achieve its outcomes was the belief that their previous plans were not perfect. This is NOT the first time a similar suggestion from a Local Council has been offered.
Read more...
Monday 29 April 2013
Whilst many people have heard about Drones in terms of their military applications, the concept of micro drones and their use in civilian settings is not quite so well known. It appears that the surveillance capability that technologies like Drones provide, are edging their way into more social environments. That may or may not be a good thing. The questions are always around potential implications, especially in area such as personal privacy. It's no possible to have a camera equipped micro-drone for around $50 and depending on your desired filming requirements or range of operations, prices and complexity of a drone increase from there.
Read more...

