What’s the Future?

For Teams and Individuals

April 17 and 18, 2025 // Cambridge, MA

Join Leadership+Design for a trip to the future.

Reframe the past, engage the present, and design for the future. 

Over two engaging, interactive days at the eclectic Foundry in Cambridge, participants in this program will cultivate their presence as optimistic futurists. Working in teams, they will practice the habits, skills, and mindsets needed to create a preferred future – bringing tools back to their school. 

We will time travel to 2035, using the signals of today to build out possible future contexts.  We will imagine how schools might adapt and evolve to meet the needs, address the challenges, and leverage the opportunities of these unexplored futures. We will connect with other future-focused educators and generate a shared sense of optimism about our ability to exert agency and become the school we want to be.

The Program

Futurists don’t predict the future, so don’t expect any crystal balls or mediums at this program. Do expect to walk away with a toolkit for futurist thinking and new ways of thinking about the future of your school – not as just a better version of your school today, but a school that is relevant, adaptable, and designed for the students of tomorrow.

Topics Include:

  • Time Travel to 2035 (metaphorically)

  • Why Thinking Like a Futurist is a Critical Skill for Leaders

  • Futurist Skills: Signal Hunting

  • Futurist Skills: Episodic Future Thinking

  • Futurist Skills: World Building

  • Futurist Skills: Futures Wheel 

  • Fast Pitch Competition: One Idea for the Future

  • Becoming Good Ancestors

  • Bringing Futurist Thinking To Your School

Who Should Come? 

This program is designed for school teams of three (3) to six (6) individuals who can come and learn together and bring back their learning to their schools. We’ve designed this experience with an incentive for team attendance because we believe that building shared knowledge among a group creates critical mass for these ideas and builds shared understanding, easing adoption.

Individuals may also attend. If so, they will be assigned to a mixed team during our two days together.

Teams might include the following:

  • A team of department chairs

  • A senior leadership team

  • A group of teachers

  • A team of board members

  • A team of division directors and deans

  • A completely mixed group of educators and board members from your school

  • Individual members of any of the above groups.

Schools may send multiple teams. 

$3,500 for 3-6 people

A team with a shared experience, language, and toolkit eases the path to adoption at your school.

$1,200 for Individuals

Be an early adopter bringing futurist thinking to your commun ity.

What is Futurist Thinking?

We’ve spent a year writing about futurist thinking and its application to schools and school leadership. Get a taste of our thinking by clicking on the button below and scrolling towards older posts.

Location and Hotel

Location, Transportation Options and Parking:

The Foundry is a self-sustaining center of creativity and collaboration in the Kendall Square neighborhood of Cambridge. It is located at 101 Rogers St., Cambridge, MA 02142. The building is 0.4 miles away from the Kendall/MIT stop, where you can catch the red line and 64, 68, 85, CT2, 64, 68, and 85 buses. The building is 0.5 miles away from the Lechmere stop, where you can catch the Green Line and 69, 80, 87, and 88 buses.

The Foundry does not have a designated parking lot. Metered parking is available on Third, Fifth, and Rogers St. You can find a comprehensive map of parking options here.

Hotels:

We have not reserved a room block for this program, but we have provided a list of hotels that are near to the Foundry.

Le Meridien Hotel – Marriott (1.3 miles from The Foundry) $375/night

Hyatt Regency Boston/Cambridge (1.7 miles from The Foundry)
$420/night + $20 destination fee
The Kendall Hotel (1.6 miles from The Foundry)
$430/night + $25 destination fee
Kimpton Marlowe Hotel (0.5 miles from The Foundry)
$430/night + $30 nightly amenity fee

Cancelation and Refund Policy

Cancellation Policy:

L+D reserves the right to cancel this seminar if there is insufficient enrollment or if the situation regionally or nationally changes due to Covid-19 or other notable event. In this unlikely event, participants will be notified well in advance of the institute and given a full refund. L+D, however, cannot be responsible for any financial obligation incurred by participants because of travel cancellations.

Refund Policy:

When requested in writing, L+D will refund registration fees as follows: 75% of registration fee when requested 45 days or more from first day of the seminar; 50% of registration fee when requested 31–44 days from first day of the seminar; no refund within 30 days of the first day of the seminar.