STEPPING INTO THE VOID: CONFIDENCE AMIDST UNCERTAINTY 

The annual Flux Trend briefing – The State We’re In – is an executive summary of where the world is and where it’s heading. Using the acronym T.R.E.N.D.S. – representing six trend pillars shaping how we will live, work and interact in the coming year – the trend briefing identifies trends that businesses need to watch and tracks the ripple effects of previous game-changing trends we’ve identified.

Last year’s SWI title was “Aftershocks”, describing the recalibration process businesses were experiencing post-pandemic. COVID lockdown seems like a distant memory, but we are only really beginning to understand the gears of change that were set in motion when the world stopped. In many ways, it was the calm in the eye of the storm.

“Polycrisis” was the word of the year in 2022. Since then, it feels like we’ve been on a treadmill of polycrises. Flux takes a different view. There are messages in the madness.

Transformational events taken in isolation seem catastrophic. It’s only when you step back that you can see patterns emerging. We track trends over long periods and see, not just patterns, but seismic change afoot. Whether they are positive or negative depends on how you view and react to them.

In this trend briefing, Dion will highlight the Flux mantra, “To change the world, you first need to understand it” by allowing and encouraging us to step into the void, also known as the necessary place of initiatory transformation. It requires moving with confidence into uncertainty.

Here are some key trends that you will encounter once you step into the void:

• T (technology): Generative AI and Interactive AI are integrated into society and used as weapons for good or evil. What seemed to be a small and distant change in technology has become a great and rapid transformation of the industry. Further blurring the lines between reality and fiction.
• R (retail): In a turn of fate, retail is transitioning from mega-fulfilment centres to family warehouses (mini-fulfilment centres). Add to this a new trend of middle-class shoplifting created by the cost-of-living crisis, and you have an uncertain and disruption-filled 2025 for the retail sector.
• E (economy): In 2025, geopolitical dynamics will become even more complex because of the increased threat of conflict zones around the world and the impact of the second Trump administration. 
• N (natural world): We unpack how businesses and governments respond to the global natural water shortage and the conflicts that could arise from the tensions precipitated by this shortage. While also looking at how communities are responding to the realities of climate change, eco-anxiety and climate grief. 
• D (diplomacy): 2024 was the largest election year in history. The aftermath of this global political shift will unfold in 2025. Couple this with the growing number of countries preparing themselves in the physical and digital space for war, and you have a diplomatic cocktail that requires calm and skilful diplomacy. 
• S (socio-cultural): There is a seismic shift in social contracts propelled by multiple trends including gender politics, declining birth rates and an ongoing cost-of-living crisis. This brings into focus the growing 4B Movement, the child-free movement and burgeoning alternative versions to the standard nuclear family, showing how society is slowly changing to respond to these uncertain and complex times.

We will unpack these themes and much, much more in this trend briefing.

This trend briefing will help you to look and step into the void of uncertainty and complexity with confidence. It will help you to see change, however disruptive as an opportunity for growth and transformation.

Book this trend briefing to see what the void has in store for you in this era of uncertainty and complexity.

If you are interested in booking this trend briefing for your team or clients, please contact Bethea Clayton at info@fluxtrends.co.za  or +27764539405.

Still uncertain if this trend briefing is suitable for you and your team? 

Read our latest trend release [hyperlink to press release] to get an overview of the insights in this trend briefing offer. 

-Looking at Trends as Business Strategy-