Full-Spectrum Thinking: How to Escape Boxes in a Post-Categorical Future

Leading futurist Bob Johansen shows how a new way of thinking, enhanced by new technologies, will help leaders break free of limiting labels and see new gradients of possibility in a chaotic world.

The future will get even more perplexing over the next decade, and we are not ready. The problem is that we’re restricted by rigid structures that do not serve our larger goals–we think they inform us, but in fact, they tend to limit us. Simplistic stories of what’s going on will be alluring but dangerous. Just in time, new technology and media tools will make it much easier to think beyond the categories, buckets, slots, and boxes that people use today to prepare for threats and imagine new opportunities.

Full-spectrum thinking is the ability to seek clarity and understanding across gradients of possibility. Utilizing successful examples of spectrum-thinking, such as gender fluidity and the autism spectrum, noted futurist Bob Johansen reveals how a spectrum unifies us rather than divides us by seeing each individual as inhabiting various points on the same landscape. By recognizing technology as an integral part of creating this spectrum, Johansen demonstrates that we can apply full-spectrum thinking to achieve breakthroughs in business, leadership, innovation, politics, community relations, and many other domains.