Foresight and Stakeholder Involvement in Cultivating Organisational Thought Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to explore the benefits of integrating two seemingly distinct disciplines—strategic foresight and thought leadership—to uncover innovative managerial approaches that contribute to both fields. A review of academic literature highlighted the challenges and opportunities within each discipline, demonstrating how their integration, alongside active stakeholder engagement, can offer effective solutions. The primary objective of this thesis was to examine the use of strategic foresight methods and stakeholder involvement to cultivate organisational thought leadership. To achieve this, a practical foresight thought leadership method was developed for generating, enriching, and disseminating futures knowledge while engaging stakeholders and employing content marketing strategies. This method was piloted in the context of a Finnish B2B organisation, Maria 01 (Startup Maria Oy), making the organisation a beneficiary of the thesis. The pilot project employed strategic foresight methods to generate futures knowledge and develop narrative future scenarios, which were then utilised in various content marketing activities to efficiently enrich, synthesise, and disseminate the accumulated futures information through podcast discussions, blog entries, and social media posts. Feedback was collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews with the organisation’s representatives.

The developed method enables the integration of foresight and thought leadership. It facilitates the creation of insightful, high-value thought leadership content while introducing a novel application for foresight outputs—one that could potentially increase organisations’ motivation to engage in foresight practices. Furthermore, it facilitates stakeholder involvement, which not only enhances the quality and authority of the content but also contributes to the democratisation of foresight. Ultimately, by leveraging the developed method and engaging in thought leadership activities, futurists can more effectively communicate and disseminate their insights. In turn, foresight emerges as an essential tool for future-oriented thought leaders seeking to drive discussion and expand their influence. By bridging these two disciplines, the foresight thought leadership method contributes to the broader futures discourse, fostering greater futures consciousness in society.