Richard Watson is an author, lecturer and scenario thinker; a leading futurist who also has a take on the here and now including How to be Productive without Being Busy and Unleashing the Imagination.
His latest talks challenge the emerging epidemic of busyness around the world by offering a way out of endless meetings, pointless emails and digital distractions. Richard also uncovers the hidden art, science and intuition of great thinkers from Aristotle and Darwin to Mozart and Einstein.
Founder and editor of www.nowandnext.com, a website that documents global trends, Richard has worked extensively on scenario planning projects in Australia and the UK, having been introduced to the discipline by Napier Collyns, one of the founders of Global Business Network (GBN) in San Francisco.
Richard is the author of Digital Versus Human (2016), The Future: 50 Things you Really Need to Know (2012); Future Vision: Scenarios for the World in 2040 (2012); Future Minds: How the Digital Age is Changing Our Minds, Why This Matters and What We Can Do About It (2010) and Future Files: 5 Trends for the Next 50 Years (2007).
Richard has been a blogger on innovation for Fast Company magazine (US) and has written for Future Orientation (Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies), Retail Banking Review (Australia) and What Matters (Mckinsey & Company).
Richard has worked with many top organisations, from academic to blue chip, including; Anglian Water, London Business School, Imperial College London, Cambridge University Business School, RAND, Shell, Ministry of Defence, General Electric, IBM, KPMG, PWC, EY, McDonald‘s, Nestle, PepsiCo, Tesco, Toyota, Samsung, Virgin Atlantic and Westfield.
Outside work, Richard‘s interests include wine, cars, gardening and maps.