A 3-Step Toolkit for Developing Change Literate Teams
Thank you
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Thank you for joining me for Lead Like a Futurist: How to Read Change to Lead Change at the Prosus Summit in Rio. It was a privilege to be with leaders who are shaping the future across such a diverse, fast-moving portfolio of businesses.
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As Prosus continues to grow across emerging markets and evolving technologies, the ability to see what’s shifting and move in alignment is your greatest advantage. That’s what Change Literacy is all about—developing the shared capacity to read and respond to change together.
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This page is a ready-to-use toolkit to help you bring those ideas to life with your teams.
Use it to host a short workshop, guide a strategy conversation,
or embed these practices into you regular leadership check-ins.
Letter from Cecily
Hello ​Prosus Leaders —
It was a pleasure to be with you for the virtual session from Rio and to sense the momentum, intelligence, and ambition driving your work. You’re operating in one of the most dynamic ecosystems in the world—high growth, high complexity, and continuous reinvention.
That’s why this work matters. Change Literacy isn’t just a framework; it’s a capability that helps you read the signals of change, anticipate the next moves and—when scaled across teams—move with speed when others hesitate.
The tools here are designed to help you strengthen that shared capacity—across teams, markets, and functions.
Use them to:
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Identify high-value innovation challenges with The Algebra of Strategy
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Develop The Other AI: Anticipatory Intelligence by scanning The Four Forces of Change
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Make stability an inside job with the Habits of Mind—keeping you focused on what matters.
When your teams can read change together, they can lead anything.
With appreciation,
Cecily Sommers​
ABOUT THE VIDEOS
The videos featured below were originally created for Cecily’s Lead Like a Futurist leadership development program, in the Leading Strategy module of Fluency 3: Foresight.They offer a concise introduction to the core frameworks taught in that course.
Begin with your Best Questions
Every great strategy begins with a question.
Sometimes it’s simply a hunch — “there’s something going on here” — and what’s needed is a way to think it through so you can identify your proprietary advantage in a new space.
These questions also set the scope for research. I call them Best Questions because they launch an inquiry that keeps you close to why it matters: to your customer, to your organization, and to how it will live in the market.
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Step 1: Think Like a Futurist
The Algebra of Strategy
Strategy is the conversation between what the world needs and what you’re built to give.
The Algebra of Strategy helps you map that conversation by balancing three constants — Needs, Purpose, and Conditions — and solving for the unknown: your X.
It’s a disciplined way to find clarity amid uncertainty and define the path that’s uniquely yours.
Watch Cecily walk through the “Solving for X” framework — how to map purpose, needs, and conditions into a proprietary strategy.
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Concept Overview
Solving for X turns curiosity into clarity by aligning three essentials:
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Purpose — the enduring “why” that gives direction and coherence
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Needs — the human context your work must serve
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Conditions — the external forces shaping what’s possible
When these align, you discover your most strategic path — one that’s both visionary and viable.
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Download the Algebra of Strategy Toolkit
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Think Like a Futurist offers a step-by-step guide for working the formula
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Team Practice
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Gather your team for a 60-minute session.
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Download and print the Purpose, Needs, and Conditions worksheets.
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Divide into small groups to explore each dimension, then reconvene to share insights.
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Identify your collective “X” — the sweet spot where purpose, needs, and conditions converge.
The result is a shared understanding of what you’re solving for — and why it matters.​
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Step 2: See Like a Futurist
The Four Forces of Change
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These are the forces that shape society; they are constant and universal.
It’s where we look for early signals of change—for what’s expiring and emerging—across each “forcefield.”
The Four Forces are used in the “Conditions” part of The Algebra of Strategy—your scanning methodology for seeing what’s expiring, what’s emerging, and what those shifts mean for your purpose and your customers’ needs.
Conditions are always changing—markets, technologies, demographics, and systems of power—yet beneath all the volatility, the same structural forces are always at work.
That’s what the Four Forces of Change reveal: the predictable currents beneath the surface that shape every civilization, every industry, and every organization.
Watch Cecily introduce the model in this short video from the Lead Like a Futurist: Foresight course.
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As Cecily explains, this framework helps you stay anchored in what never changes — human needs and purpose — while mapping how the world around those constants continues to evolve.
Download the How to See Like a Futurist: The Forces of Change
See Like a Futurist offers a guided—shareable— tour of the universal forces that drive change
Team Practice
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Revisit your “X” from The Algebra of Strategy.
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Assign each team member one of the Four Forces to scan.
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Set up Google Alerts, follow thought leaders, or gather examples of emerging shifts.
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Meet monthly or quarterly to share insights and identify opportunities.
Over time, your team will develop shared foresight — the ability to see change together before it arrives.
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Step 3: Lead Like a Futurist
Habits of Mind for Inner Stability
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You can arrive at brilliant ideas and smart strategies for your future, yet the limiting factor is often the human one. There are habits we can build and strengthen that allow us to lead in an always-changing world.
The Four Habits of Mind — Optimism, Curiosity, Courage, and Patience — are the inner muscles of Change Literacy. They help leaders stay grounded, open, and resilient as they navigate complexity.
These practices go deeper than meets the eye. They’re the key to becoming the calm at the center of the storm.
Download the How to Lead Like a Futurist: Habits of Mind
Lead Like a Futurist The practices go deeper than meets the eye, and are the key to becoming "the calm at the center of the storm."
They help leaders stay grounded, open, and resilient as they navigate uncertainty.
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When reviewing strategy, pause to ask:
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What are we learning?
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What do we need to explore more deeply?
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What risks are we willing to take?
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What can we allow time to reveal?
These questions build a culture of awareness and adaptability — and the wisdom from which real leadership flows.
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Your Next Step: Lead the Change
These frameworks are designed to spark momentum—but they’re even more powerful when put into practice.
For 25 years, I’ve partnered with executives and teams at some of the world’s most influential organizations to anticipate disruption and lead transformational change.
If you’re ready to go deeper — or scale Change Literacy as a common language for all — we can work together to do the same for you.
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Custom workshops to introduce Change Literacy to teams
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Advisory partnerships for leaders navigating complex transformation
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Lead Like a Futurist training programs to scale foresight and strategic agility across the organization
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Keynote speaking to inspire and equip your teams to Read Change to Lead Change
Contact Cecily to Explore a Collaboration
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And, for a deeper dive into these frameworks and real-world case studies, keep this close at hand…
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Your Desktop Reference: Think Like a Futurist
Think Like a Futurist remains one of the most practical and enduring guides to understanding how change works — and how to lead with foresight.
The book details the Four Forces of Change, introduces an innovation process, and shares case studies from organizations who found new relevance for their brand, as well as new ways to scale organizational change—with impressive outcomes!
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Named one of the Top 25: What Corporate America Is Reading, Think Like a Futurist was is also respected by industry peers as "Most Significant Futures Work in Methods and Practice."
“Put down your Magic 8 Ball and pick up Think Like a Futurist.
In its prescient pages you'll discover how to short-circuit the habits that blind us to future trends,break through the walls of resistance to change,
and find the tools you'll need to face the future with confidence.”
— Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind​
About Cecily Sommers
One of the World’s Top 50 Female Futurists — Forbes
A renowned business futurist, keynote speaker, and best-selling author, Cecily Sommers helps leaders anticipate and steward transformational change.
Kicking the futurist-as-guru paradigm to the curb, Cecily embeds foresight in leadership development programs—training clients to become their own best futurists.
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As the strategist that Google, Salesforce, Purina, and JPMorgan Chase turn to for making sense of their future, Cecily guides organizations through questions such as “Which opportunities give us the most advantage?” and “How do we create a change-ready culture?”
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A two-time TEDx speaker and frequent keynote presenter at global events, Cecily is described as “catalytic and brilliant” for her ability to distill complex issues into simple, relatable terms.
She inspires audiences with stories of reinvention and lessons on knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do.