There are four kinds of futurists, each trying in their different ways to help organizations. Each way has its advantages and disadvantages:

The first kind of futurists have, in the course of decades, developed methodologies with which they try to make predictions and help organizations adapt themselves to developing trends.

The second kind of futurists include futurists who start out from the assumption that even using the methodologies available today it is not possible sufficiently to understand how systems develop and therefore it is very difficult to predict them. These futurists help organizations by developing different scenarios of future situations and, together with the organizations, prepare procedures to respond to a variety of possible situations.

A third type of futurism which is characterizing the following consulting projects starts with the assumption that it is not the aim of the futurist to make predictions. This is first of all in recognition of the difficulty in making predictions, and secondly out of a belief that the members of the organization themselves are the most appropriate people to shape intelligent hypotheses regarding the future of their organization. A further assumption is that for an organization to be in a position to take steps with a view to the future, it needs to establish a futurist organizational language common to all its members, that is, futurist cognitive notions that it can use as tools for relating to the accelerated and dynamic changes taking place outside and inside the organization. The objective of this third type of futurist is not to make predictions but to help the organization design future notions or a future organizational vision arising from the collective wisdom of the experts working in the organization (Passig 1997). Shaping this collective vision was the goal of the bellow currently running procedures in Israel.

A fourth type of futurists--a very new type of Futures' philosophy, starts with the assumption that if an organization thinks about illogical scenarios that are liable to develop and derives procedures for responding in the event that they do in fact occur, this organization will prepare itself to cope with all possibilities, no matter how complex or extreme. The aim of this type of futurism is to develop wild cards and prepare the organization for any eventuality.

Facilitator: Dr. David Passig

Developing the future mission of the IACC.
The Project with the Israeli Association of Community Centers (IACC).

Developing the future of Electronic Commerce.
The Project with The largest Israeli Bank, Bank Hapoalim.

Developing the future of IAF Organizational Intelligence.
The Project with the Israeli Air Force.

Developing a Model of a Virtual Teacher's Training Center.
The Project with The Teacher's Training Center with Communicational Technologies.