People
GBN is distinguished by overlapping networks of experienced scenario and strategy consultants — our practice — and diverse, provocative thinkers about the future — the GBN Network.
Our Practice
The GBN practice comprises a diversity of intellectual backgrounds and professional experience. We hold doctorates in demography, philosophy, international affairs, and neuroscience; masters degrees in political science, economics, anthropology, criminal justice, and business administration. We've worked in high technology, medicine, energy, economic development, financial services, media, marketing, journalism, research, philanthropy, ICT, and organizational development. We share a ruthless curiosity about the past, present, and future and a collaborative, networked approach to learning, thinking, and problem solving. We continually invest in and evolve our tools and tradecraft as world-class designers and facilitators of experiential learning and scenario and strategy development.
Our Network
The GBN Network is an extended community of 100-plus original, integrative thinkers whose boundless curiosity, passion for ideas, and generosity of spirit leads them to explore and contribute unique insights about the wide-ranging uncertainties shaping the future. In all of our work — consulting, training, and collaborative learning — we incorporate their diverse perspectives on critical, often surprising, developments in science, technology, culture, arts, ecology, politics, and economics. Yet the network is far more than a collection of experts — it helps us and our clients to challenge assumptions, connect the dots, ask better questions, and interpret and make sense of the complex forces in play.
The GBN Network, established in 1987 by GBN's cofounders, was based on two sources of inspiration. The first was Gurdjieff's notion of "remarkable people" that Pierre Wack, the "father of scenario planning," had adopted at Shell: someone "who stands out from those around him by the resourcefulness of his mind." The other was the high tables of Oxford and Cambridge, where select dons and guests, chosen deliberately for the originality of their thinking and diverse disciplines engage in deep, unbounded discourse. Both roots have continued to influence the composition and contributions of the GBN Network, which is central to our scenario thinking. Network membership is by invitation only; there is no application process.