Excited to be entering the next phase of what is becoming the Optimistic Futures Project. Looking forward to hitting the road (virtually and IRL) to get this message out. Please share the news and help me build a community committed to creating better tomorrows.
*************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Emma Boyer
856-489-8654 x305
Reimagining Our Tomorrows: Making Sure Your Future Doesn’t SUCK
By Joe Tankersley
Storytelling Our Way to A Brighter Future…
INSPIRING AND IMAGINATIVE NEW BOOK FROM FORMER DISNEY FUTURIST LAYS OUT AN OPTIMISTIC VERSION OF THE FUTURE
“This book is precious gift, a beacon of hope and optimism and human possibilities.”
– Raj Sisodia, Cofounder Conscious Capitalism International
From Black Mirror to Westworld, pop culture is dominated by versions of the future that look bleak. Even the perspective of experts and news outlets, while not as extreme as being overthrown by robot overlords, is a patchwork of global warming, automation, job loss, and decreasing attention spans. Futurist and former Walt Disney Imagineer Joe Tankersley doesn’t believe that the future will look as depressing as most of us do—or at least, it doesn’t have to. In his fascinating new book, Reimagining Our Tomorrows: Making Sure Your Future Doesn’t SUCK (September 18, 2018), Tankersley shows us, through a series of speculative vignettes, an optimistic (though not utopian) version of the future that we have the power to create.
Imagine a future in which a new generation of pioneers transforms abandoned suburban malls into vibrant eco-villages, passionate solo-preneurs take a break from crushing it in the new gig economy to brainstorm the perfect virtual reality Burning Man Moon raver with the help of their personal smart agent, micro-entrepreneurs defeat the tyranny of algorithm-driven media to make fake news obsolete and bring back the power of the local press, or where nursing homes sit empty while seniors thrive in community co-ops with art studios, personal chefs, and virtual pain management apps. In Reimagining Our Tomorrows, Tankersley uses the power of story to show readers the innumerable positive possibilities that the future might realistically hold. The book illustrates how the massive disruptions we are experiencing today in technology, society, culture, and economics can help us create a world of personal empowerment and community prosperity, a far more optimistic narrative than the gloom and doom that is so often laid out for us.
The key to ensuring this version of the future, says Tankersley, is in our hands, or rather, in our imaginations. “Too many people fear the future because they are overwhelmed by negative stories about what is coming,” he says. “They need hope. They need confidence in their own agency to shape a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities.”
Reimagining Our Tomorrows, though filled with awe-inspiring ideas, is not a how-to guide. The book shows what is possible with the unlimited reach and power of the human imagination. Tankersley believes that the future will be built from the bottom up and from the fringes of society to be sustainable, abundant, and just.
The themes that Tankersley explores—sustainability, kindness, empowerment, and innovation—are incredibly timely, and his extremely insightful conceptions of what the future might look like are well thought out and thoroughly researched. What’s most striking about this book, though, is the conviction that Tankersley imbues in every word that this is a future that is achievable with a little bit of optimism and a little bit of effort.
Joe Tankersley is a futurist, writer and advocate for better tomorrows. He combines his experience as a storyteller with the tools of strategic foresight to help others create compelling visions for our futures.
Joe’s early professional dream was to become a world-famous independent filmmaker. Fortunately for all, those days were pre-YouTube, so most of the incriminating evidence of his efforts to learn how to tell a story remains hidden from public view.
That all changed when he joined Walt Disney Imagineering as a writer/producer. For the next twenty years, his work was scrutinized, and often enjoyed, by millions of visitors to Disney theme parks. During his time there, Joe worked on projects for Epcot, Magic Kingdom Park, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the Disneyland Resort in California.
It was at his first World Future Society Conference that Joe discovered his true calling. Appalled at how boring most of the presentations were, he committed himself to making the future exciting again. Not in a sci-fi fantasy way, but in a way that would inspire others to take up the work of creating better tomorrows.
By pestering his bosses at Disney, he got his first opportunity to try out his new idea when he was asked to help establish the first Strategic Foresight Group for Walt Disney Imagineering’s elite Blue Sky Studio. Joe trained hundreds of Disney cast members to use narrative to explore possible futures and developed visions for the future of socially responsible corporations, creative communities, and digitally empowered workforces.
In 2014, Joe decided it was time to take his future storytelling show on the road. He envisioned this new project, Unique Visions, as a vehicle to share the power of story ad foresight with those who were already working to create better tomorrows. In this role, Joe has worked with nonprofits, entrepreneurs, community groups, and international corporations. His belief that the future should belong to everyone has led him to work with groups ranging from international pharmaceutical companies to the country’s largest rodeo. Joe is most passionate about projects relating to conscious capitalism, the environment, connected communities, sustainable tourism, and aging (because he realizes he is getting older).
Joe lives in the heart of Central Florida, where if current trends continue, his future grandchildren will one day inherit beachfront property.
For more information visit www.uniquevisions.net
REVIEW COPIES OF REIMAGINING OUR TOMORROW AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
###
#sustainability #socialentrepreneurship #entrepreneurship #futurism #artificialintelligence #innovation #creativity #reimaginingtomorrow