The ‘Safe’ Business Move that Could Backfire Badly, According to a Futurist

Business leaders are trying to plan in a market that keeps shifting beneath them. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 found that technological change, geoeconomic fragmentation, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts and the green transition are all expected to reshape labor markets by 2030.

That uncertainty is already reaching the boardroom. PwC’s 29th Global CEO Survey found that only 30% of CEOs are very or extremely confident about revenue growth over the next 12 months, while more than half say their companies have not yet seen higher revenues or lower costs from AI. For many organizations, the challenge is no longer spotting change. It is knowing how to respond before the market moves again.

Scott Steinberg has spent his career helping leaders make those decisions earlier. An award-winning futurist, business strategist and innovation expert, he advises organizations on change, resilience, future trends and strategic innovation, with a focus on preparing for uncertainty before it becomes a crisis.

In this exclusive interview with the London Keynote Speakers Agency, Scott explains how businesses can think more like futurists, build resilience into their systems and create strategies that stay useful when markets, customers and technologies change without warning.

Question 1. In a fast-changing market, how should businesses think more like futurists when preparing for what comes next?

Scott Steinberg: “In a fast-changing world, it is critically important for companies and the executives who lead them to think more like futurists.

“As you start to plan for the future and think about where to turn for insight, I recommend triangulating data and looking at contextual signals to detect shifts in the market.

“In plain English, that means looking at global events and developments from three different angles: quantitative analysis, qualitative observation and cross-industry signals.

“For quantitative analysis, you need to look at data on purchasing habits, payment flows and customer acquisition metrics. Those will help you spot patterns and structural changes as they start to form.

“You also need to couple that with qualitative observation. Watch customer sentiment, emerging narratives or topics at conferences and events in your field, as well as areas attracting academic research, venture capital or regulatory attention. That will give you a sense of where the market is moving next.

“You also want to look out for cross-industry signals. Shifts in adjacent sectors, such as AI infrastructure and technology, e-commerce platforms and digital ecosystems, will often foreshadow ways in which your world will evolve.”

Question 2. What does resilience engineering mean in practice for business owners facing disruption?

Scott Steinberg: “The concept of resilience engineering speaks to designing systems and organizations that can absorb shocks, adapt to change and recover quickly from disruption.

“The goal is to bounce forward by learning and growing from every encounter.

“For companies, building resilience is an important practice across several dimensions.

“One is operational resilience. You want flexible technology infrastructures, cloud-enabled systems, modular payment architectures and so forth, so you can maintain service continuity during periods of market volatility or disruption.

“Another is customer resilience. You want to build relationships with clients across multiple channels, including mobile apps, social networks and partner ecosystems. You have to reduce dependency on any single customer interface.

“Then there is organizational resilience. You need to create a culture that supports experimentation, rapid learning and responsible risk-taking. That empowers your company and your teams to adapt faster to technological or business change.”

Question 3. What separates businesses that survive disruption from those that use it as a platform for growth?

Scott Steinberg: “Looking ahead, risky is quickly becoming the new safe.

“In a constantly changing world, the biggest mistake a business or leader can make is to sit still and do the same thing over and over again while the world changes around them.

“The smartest and most successful businesses are intelligent risk-takers.

“Successful innovation and adaptation do not require huge leaps of faith or gambling everything on one move. The most successful businesses take an approach to innovation based on constant experimentation.

“They play a portfolio of small, smart, cost-effective and strategic bets that provide constant insight into changing markets and customer habits.

“Collectively, that drives learning and growth for a business. It also lets you strategically test different directions and only move forward when you find firm ground.”

Question 4. How can leaders build business strategies that remain flexible when market conditions change?

Scott Steinberg: “To start, you want to create solutions that do not leave you dependent on a single customer base, a single technology or a single market.

“You want strategies and solutions that allow you to pivot or change stride when needed.

“You should also ask yourself three questions before committing to any initiative.

“First, financial gains aside, how can you ensure that you find ways to win with every opportunity you pursue? That could mean gaining new capabilities or resources that you can apply to other business ventures.

“Second, how adaptable are the business strategies and solutions you are considering? If they fall short, how readily can you repurpose tools, technologies and insights gained from these ventures in new ways or use them to pivot to new opportunities?

“Third, where and to what extent could your efforts in any given business area quickly translate into other contexts or markets?

“Before you make a business investment of any kind, including time, effort and energy, you have to look beyond pure dollars and cents. You need to think about how well these initiatives support your big-picture goals and strategies.

“Most importantly, if sudden unexpected developments call even the best-laid plans into question, how quickly can you use these efforts as a springboard to new ventures?”

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This exclusive interview with Scott Steinberg was conducted by Tabish Ali of the Motivational Speakers Agency.