Meet the Contributor: Resident 'Futurist' David Houle

Why does LifeTwo -- a site about midlife issues -- have a 'futurist' contributor, and why did we select David Houle to fill that role?

Let's address the second question first. Who is David Houle?

David Houle is an author and operates a futurist website called EvolutionShift.

Having spent a former life in cable and broadcast television, Houle became a consultant and keynote speaker increasingly focused on future trends and forces that are reshaping markets and the world including social, environmental and technological shifts. He now advises companies on how to recognize, adapt and capitalize on these trends; exactly the role that LifeTwo has asked him to fulfill for its readers.

Now for the first question, Why a futurists perspective is important to LifeTwo's audience?

While it sounds somewhat cliche, the world is changing more rapidly than ever. Changes that used to take generations can now happen in a decade or less. Perhaps the best example is with the selection of one's career where mistakes are costly and life changing. Ten years ago, a career in the music industry might have seen like a great choice. It was and industry that was large, global, growing and exceptionally profitable. The problem was that it was just about to start a multi-year decline that continues today. Many of those who were "lucky" enough to find employment in the music business ten years ago are not out of a job while those who through better foresight (or luck) went into fields that have grown exponentially since that time. But how does one know that one industry (for example the music industry) is about to contract while other industries are on the verge of immense growth? It turns out that there are often plenty of signals which are which. More importantly, one doesn't have to wait for hindsight to see them.

With this in mind, we've asked David to look at the major trends evident today that will impact how people will work and live in the future, and provide us with insight to help us make the right decisions for tomorrow.

You can find all of Houle's articles written for LifeTwo here.

Update: Houle has revisited his predictions for 2007 comparing them to actual events over the first five months of the year.