April Rinne, Founder and Author of Flux – 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change
She is a trusted advisor to well-known startups, companies, financial institutions, nonprofits, and think tanks worldwide, including Airbnb, Nike, Intuit, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, NESTA, Trōv, AnyRoad, and Unsettled.
Podcast
Overview
What do you think about change?
Some say it is good, some say it is bad, some say it is good, just hard to accept. We need to really accept the change and be Futurists.
Do you know what a Futurist is?
This episode of The Brand Called You will clear all your doubts about it. Talking about Futurists, our guest for today, tells us that the term ‘Futurist’ existed as a concept a decade ago, but was extremely unattended and under-rated.
Our guest, April Rinne, is a Futurist. She is the author of the book titled ‘Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change’. She has been named among the 50 leading female Futurists in the world. She was also recognized as the Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
April didn’t set out to be a futurist. She in fact set out to be a person who is very curious. She did not want to be an expert in one discipline, she wanted to apply and experiment with interdisciplinary concepts.
She has a background in different disciplines including law and finance.
As she was working, she used to think beyond the company’s daily operations. She was being asked by different organizations and governments about where the future is heading and how one fits into it. Due to this out-of-the-norm thinking, April was called a Futurist.
She says that the future-forward lens and framing are what make futurism a discipline.
How can you train to become a Futurist?
April tells us that there is a range of specialized programs like the Master of Future Studies or learning how to forecast to train as a futurist. She tells us that the mainstream Universities in the US might still not have these disciplines to offer for graduation. However, they are working on it.
Seeing the future trends early
April tells us that futurists have the ability to see the trends early. She tells us that for the futurists, the pandemic was not a surprise. They knew that where the world is heading, something of this sort was possible.
Talking about the ability to see the trends early, April says that the futurists sometimes feel the odd one out, as people do not believe what they say until that actually takes place. When their predictions come true, futurists are no more interested in that as they want to see what will happen next.
The Flux mindset
In her book, April talks extensively about change. She sees the need to reshape our relationship with change in order to have a healthy and productive outlook.
Flux mindset is the ability to see all the change. Changes could be positive or negative, expected or unexpected. A Flux mindset especially needs to see the hard change.
To explain more, April says that the Flux mindset is the ability to lean into uncertainty, precisely, because one is not trying to make it something different.
She says that people love the change which they can opt into or can control. They like a positive change. However, most humans struggle with the change they can’t control. That is Flux.
The Eight Superpowers
April says that anyone and everyone can develop the Eight Superpowers, she talks about. She also tells us that developing these superpowers does not need anything that you already do not have.
To activate the superpower in oneself, one needs to first open the Flux mindset and believe that their relationship with change could improve.
The second step is to use that Flux mindset to unlock the eight Superpowers. They are:
Run Slower
It not only means calming down anxieties but also making wiser decisions.
See what is Invisible
This includes seeing our blind spots and looking for new insights and opportunities.
Get Lost
This superpower is all about our relationship with the unknown and how to stretch beyond our comfort zones.
Start with Trust
This superpower talks about our relationship with one another and how we navigate change together.
Know You are Enough
This superpower talks about leaving our obsession with more and more behind and knowing that you are enough and do not need to push any longer.
Create a Portfolio Career
This superpower talks about designing our professional development in a way that it fits into the future of Flux.
Be More Human
This superpower talks about our relationship with technology. It says that we should spend more time with humans and less with technology.
Let go of the Future
Letting go of the future means letting go of our obsession with predicting and controlling the future. This is not about giving up, but about getting out of our own way to let a better future emerge.
Profile
A World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and ranked one of the “50 Leading Female Futurists” in the world by Forbes, April Rinne (pronounced Rih-Nee) is a change navigator: she helps individuals and organizations rethink and reshape their relationship with change, uncertainty, and a world in flux.
She is a trusted advisor to well-known startups, companies, financial institutions, nonprofits, and think tanks worldwide, including Airbnb, Nike, Intuit, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, NESTA, Trōv, AnyRoad, and Unsettled, as well as governments ranging from Singapore to South Africa, Canada to Colombia, Italy to India.
April is the author of Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change.
