Futurize! Dealing with Megatrends and Disruptors

The future will bring only more megatrends and disruptions. With the guidance of this book, which centers around the authors’ years-of-research-backed high-performance organizations (HPO) framework and includes the unique self-assessment tool Futurize! Diagnosis, business leaders and organizations will be prepared and truly ’future ready.’

The next two decades will present massive challenges for organizations, as they navigate the need for sustainable development against a complex backdrop of factors such as increasing inequality, resource scarcity, continued globalization, and the ever-increasing speed of technological advancement. This book will help business leaders and organizations set priorities and make decisions so that not only do they honor commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, but also become more future ready by:

• identifying the megatrends and disruptors which impact organizations now and will in the future
• specifically outlining how those megatrends and disruptors will impact organizations
• showing how organizations can deal with this impact in practical terms.

This book is a must for management teams, aspiring leaders, and professionals and students interested in the future of work, human resource management, and innovation.

André de Waal is Academic Director of the HPO Center and a partner at the Finance Function Research and Development Center, The Netherlands. He has been a consultant and past partner with Arthur Andersen for 16 years and served as Associate Professor of Organizational Effectiveness at the Maastricht School of Management for 13 years. Previously André lectured at the Free University Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, and Erasmus University Rotterdam. He holds a MSc in Chemistry from Leiden University, The Netherlands, an MBA from Northeastern University Boston, USA, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has published more than 400 articles and 36 books on the topic of high performance and performance management.

Julie Linthorst is an entrepreneur, researcher and management consultant who specializes in the areas of organization design, sustainable HRM, and the future of work. She holds an MSc in Work and Organisation Psychology from the University of Amsterdam and a BSc degree in small business management from Hogeschool Inholland. After having worked at globally recognized consultancy firms and with Arthur Andersen as Senior Manager Human Capital, Julie started her own firm in 2002. She has since worked as a consultant for large multinationals, SMEs and government agencies. Julie volunteers to support poverty alleviation and social inclusion. Her research has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals and she has spoken at several notable scientific conferences such as the European Academy of Management (EURAM) and the British Academy of Management (BAM). Julie is currently undertaking a PhD in the topic of the future of work at Nyenrode Business Universiteit, The Netherlands.