Unlocking Strategic Foresight for Future-Ready Leadership
An Exclusive Boardroom Dialogue for Senior Leaders with Professor Sohail Inayatullah and James Clampett, Founder of insight & foresight
Professor Sohail Inayatullah
Professor Sohail Inayatullah is a world-renowned political scientist and futurist, celebrated for his pioneering work in futures studies. Currently the UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies, he has spent over three decades helping organisations and governments around the globe navigate complex, long-term challenges.
Professor Inayatullah's expertise lies in making futures thinking accessible and actionable. He is the developer of the Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) method, a powerful tool that helps leaders uncover the deep-seated beliefs and worldviews shaping their futures. His sessions are known for being provocative, insightful, and intensely practical, empowering leaders to think differently and act decisively.
He is listed in the top two percent of the world's scientists as measured by the highest impact of citations.
His clients include UNESCO, ADB, UNESCAP, FAO, INTERPOL, European Commission, Government of Malaysia, Government of Singapore, Dubai Futures Foundation, OECD, ANZ, LEGO, PWC, Dow, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, RHB Bank, Australian Federal Police, Victorian Police, AIPM, Australian Government Dept. of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Governments of Malaysia, Singapore, Armenia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, among others.
Q&A and discussions will be facilitated by James Clampett, Founder of insight & foresight
High-level, global perspectives on long-term societal and business implications of AI
Lead your organisation beyond the hype. Gain the strategic foresight to navigate AI's long-term impact and transform disruption into opportunity.
This is not a technical seminar. It is a strategic dialogue designed for board directors and C-suite leaders tasked with making high-stakes decisions in an uncertain world. Join a select group of your peers to reframe your approach to AI, moving from reactive adoption to proactive, visionary leadership.
Read event faqs here.
Move from Uncertainty to Strategic Advantage
In a world of constant change, reactive decision-making is a liability. This dialogue is designed to equip you with the foresight needed to lead with confidence and build sustainable success.
Learn Directly from a Global Futurist: Benefit from the rare opportunity to engage with Professor Sohail Inayatullah, a world-renowned expert who has guided governments and organisations globally.
Gain Actionable Strategic Frameworks: Learn and apply proven foresight methods to deconstruct AI trends, challenge assumptions, and develop robust, future-ready strategies.
Enhance Your Decision-Making Agility: Move beyond short-term AI hype. Develop the capability to anticipate a range of plausible AI futures, enabling more flexible and adaptive strategic planning.
Connect with a High-Calibre Peer Group: Engage in candid discussions with other senior leaders. Share experiences and gain cross-industry insights on AI strategy and governance.
A Half-Day of Strategic Exploration and Insight
Date: Thursday 12 February 2026
Venue: James Cook Boardroom, Sofitel Wentworth, Sydney NSW Australia
Agenda
08:30 | Arrivals - Light breakfast available
09:00 | Keynote 1: The Futures of AI - Prof. Sohail Inayatullah - A global perspective on the long-term societal and business implications of Artificial Intelligence. Facilitated Q&A and discussion.
10:30 | Morning Tea
10:45 | Keynote 2: Futures Thinking for AI Strategy - Prof. Sohail Inayatullah - Acquire practical insights and tools to look beneath the surface of AI trends and identify transformative pathways for your organisation. Facilitated Q&A and discussion
12:30 | Networking Lunch
13:30 | Conclusion
NB: Q&A and discussions will be held under Chatham House rules. Attendees can use the information from the discussions, but are prohibited from revealing the identity or affiliation of other attendees.
Registration is Strictly Limited
This exclusive event is designed for senior leaders and board directors focused on long-term value creation and strategic management. Due to the interactive nature of the day, seats are limited to ensure a high-quality conversation.
Secure your place to reframe your organisation's approach to one of the most significant forces shaping our futures.
Read event faqs here.
faqs
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“Using the Future to Think Strategically About AI: A Boardroom Dialogue” is more than an event – it’s a launchpad for a new way of strategic leadership. By fusing Prof. Inayatullah’s world-class foresight with an exclusive peer forum, this boardroom session offers a one-of-a-kind value proposition for CEOs, board members, and senior executives:
You will gain clarity on the complex future of AI, turning uncertainty into actionable knowledge.
You will acquire tools and frameworks that immediately elevate your strategic thinking, making it more robust, creative, and future-ready.
You will engage in rich peer learning and networking, forging valuable connections with other leaders who are also committed to staying ahead of the curve.
You will be inspired by thought-provoking dialogue with a renowned futurist – the kind of high-level intellectual stimulation that busy executives rarely get, but deeply crave.
Ultimately, you will leave empowered to lead your organisation into the future with greater confidence and vision.
In an age where every industry is being reshaped by AI and other disruptive technologies, those who can think strategically about the future have a decided edge. This event is a concise, powerful way to build that edge. As an executive, attending signals that you are not content to simply manage the present – you are investing in futures to actively shape your company’s trajectory in the years ahead. The insights and skills you’ll gain are directly tied to top-of-mind questions: How do we ensure our business stays relevant and competitive as AI evolves? How do we harness AI opportunities while steering clear of pitfalls? How do we align our team around a forward-looking vision?
If you are an executive leader committed to navigating your organisation confidently into the AI-enabled future, this event is tailor-made for you. It combines the credibility of a McKinsey-style briefing, the inspiration of a TED talk, and the interactivity of a workshop, all in one morning.
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This boardroom dialogue is specifically designed for board directors, C-suite executives, and senior leaders responsible for long-range strategic planning. If you are tasked with navigating uncertainty and making high-stakes decisions about your organisation's future, this event will provide immense value.
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Prof. Inayatullah’s frameworks spark a habit of thinking about not one future, but multiple futures. Executives are used to making forecasts – often single-line projections of next year’s numbers – which can lull us into false certainty. In contrast, futures thinking methods expand your mental model to consider alternative outcomes. The “Six Pillars” approach (one of Prof. Inayatullah’s contributions to futures studies) includes pillars like anticipation, timing, deepening, creating alternatives, transformation, and integration. In practice, this means you learn to constantly scan for emerging issues, to understand historical patterns, to imagine alternatives, and to then integrate those into strategy.
Benefit = After this event, you’ll likely find yourself asking different questions in meetings – “What are we missing? What else could happen?” – and encouraging your team to think in terms of contingencies and long-term impacts. This futures mindset is a competitive advantage, fostering innovation and agility. It’s like having an internal future-focused compass; companies that navigate with such a compass tend to innovate ahead of competitors.
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Traditional strategic analysis often stays at the surface – e.g., SWOT analysis or PESTLE might list trends and factors, but they rarely challenge the deeper assumptions. Prof. Inayatullah’s methods like Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) compel you to examine issues at multiple layers (data, system, worldview, myth). This is crucial in the context of AI because AI’s impact is not just technical; it’s cultural and philosophical. By using CLA, for instance, you might realise that the real obstacle to AI adoption in your firm isn’t the tech or cost (litany) but a cultural narrative among staff that “AI will replace us” (metaphor level). That insight can completely change your change-management approach.
Benefit = You uncover root causes and hidden opportunities. You go beyond treating symptoms and begin to address the underlying narratives and mindsets that will shape success or failure. Few leadership seminars teach this kind of depth of analysis.
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The problems executives face around AI are complex and intertwined (e.g., balancing innovation with ethics, up-skilling workforce while automating, etc.). Prof. Inayatullah’s methodologies, such as the Futures Triangle or CLA, are specifically designed for complex problem solving. They help break complexity into manageable parts (trends, drivers, weighty barriers, etc.) and help synthesise a lot of information into a clearer picture.
Benefit = You gain structured ways to discuss and make decisions about complex issues. Using these tools in your strategic planning can improve the quality of dialogue and thinking in your team. Instead of circular debates, you can say, “Let’s apply what I learned – what are our key drivers, what are our barriers? Are we all picturing the same future or different ones?” It provides clarity.
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One often-overlooked aspect is that futurists like Prof. Inayatullah emphasise narratives and metaphors (the deepest layer of CLA). This can greatly help leaders in how they communicate vision and change. By exploring the metaphors your organisation lives by, you can craft better stories about where you need to go. For example, maybe your company sees itself as “a ship weathering storms” – that metaphor might be limiting innovation (too passive). Prof. Inayatullah might encourage you to shift the narrative (maybe to “navigators discovering new worlds”). This level of insight has concrete payoff: when you roll out your AI strategy, framing it with the right story can galvanise your people.
Benefit = You’ll become a leader who not only charts the course but also tells the story of the journey in a way that resonates. The event’s exposure to this kind of thinking can enrich your leadership communication. You’ll likely pick up a few powerful metaphors or examples from Prof. Inayatullah’s repertoire (he’s known for memorable analogies) to use when you make the case for change in your own board meetings.
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Yes. Prof. Inayatullah’s work spans many countries and cultures, and his methods incorporate global trends. Engaging with his foresight means you are tapping into a global braintrust of foresight.
Benefit = You get out of the “local bubble” and consider your strategy in a global context. In an era where AI developments can happen anywhere and then spread (think of how a breakthrough in Silicon Valley or Shenzhen can echo worldwide), having that international awareness is key. You’ll be better prepared to lead your organisation in a globally connected future, identifying opportunities or threats from afar that others might miss.
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No. This is a strategic dialogue focused on leadership and foresight. We will not be covering coding or deep technical specifications. Instead, the focus is on understanding the long-term strategic implications of AI and developing the frameworks to lead your organisation effectively through future disruptions.
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Our event is an intimate, high-level dialogue, not a large conference. It is led by world-renowned futurist Professor Sohail Inayatullah and is strictly limited to foster deep, peer-to-peer discussion. The focus is on exploring proven foresight insights and methodologies to develop actionable, future-ready strategies for your own organisation.
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You will learn how to apply futures-thinking methodologies to your strategic planning. Key takeaways include:
Deconstructing AI trends to move beyond surface-level hype.
Using Causal Layered Analysis to identify deep-seated assumptions and opportunities.
Building multiple plausible scenarios to enhance organisational agility and resilience.
Developing a shared language for discussing AI strategy at the board and executive level.
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You can secure your place by clicking the "Purchase A Ticket" button on this page and completing the registration form. As seats are strictly limited, we recommend registering early.
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