I have the pleasure of working with people from all different industries and walks of life. It was lovely to work with Maree and learn more about what she did and how she worked! It was a breeze capturing her warm and fun personality.
What do you do? Tell us a bit about what you do.
My official title is Foresight Advisor and Researcher but very few people know what that is. I work with people to help them recognise and surface their foresight capacity – the one we use when we plan for a holiday, a shopping trip, a work meeting … I work with people in organisations who are grappling with the impact of change and support them to move beyond conventional ways of thinking about change today and the futures that change is creating. We tend to assume that the future will be more of today – good or bad – which stops us from seeing the possible futures that are always available to us as long as we let our brains find them in the present.
Tell me about how you got into your field.
I was a university manger for a long time and my boss in 1999 called me into his office and told me my position would no longer exist after a restructure and offered my a new position as Director of the university’s planning office. Then he told me he wanted me to ‘do’ foresight. I wasn’t quite sure what he meant but I found out and over time realised that this new way of thinking and working with people to escape the box called strategic planning was what I wanted to do full time. So I set up my Thinking Futures business in 2007 and have never looked back.
What is the best piece of career advice you’ve received?
To trust myself.
Why did you choose to have professional profile photos taken and what will you use your portraits for?
I needed to update my online presence since I was using one photo that was taken around 2003 I think. And I now have gray hair so that photo was out of date. I have lots of photos but I know the value of getting them taken by a professional. I’m using them on my website and social media at the moment.
Why did you choose to hire Lizzy C Photography?
I loved the website, Lizzy’s approach and philosophy and the sample photos were great. Plus the studio was close to home.
Tell us about your experience working with her. Were you happy with the results of your shoot?
There’s information on Lizzy’s website about what to expect from the shoot which was very useful to have beforehand, and the actual shoot was a pleasant experience. Lizzy makes you feel at ease straight away and we chatted while the photos were being taken. The proofs arrived really quickly and I loved the finished photos – I had lot to choose from, and ended up buying more than my package limit because I couldn’t choose.
