HR Grapevine 2015 Speakers - Richard Watson, Futurologist

Futurologist, Richard Watson, will be speaking at this year’s HR Can Change the World conference. He talks to HR Grapevine about his inspirations and influences…

How did you become a futurologist?

I wrote a book that had future in the title and acquired the job title at that point. To begin with, I actively tried to dismiss it. Even today the only place that I use it is on the blog ‘The accidental futurist’, I don’t think I use it anywhere else. I’m happy for other people to use it, because it polarises. I wrote Future Files back in 2006, and it was about the future so people assumed that I was a futurologist. It makes me squirm to this day but it’s the best explanation that I can think of. You could just as easily describe me as a writer, strategist, scenario planner... you could say all sorts of things.