Facing the reality of a mountain of complex problems, we will work together to create the ideal future for organizations and society. This book explores a framework for envisioning long-term future “worldviews” and methods for implementing actions within an organization to achieve these visions. It incorporates emerging design theories like Speculative Design, Designed Realities, Transition Design, Futures Literacy, and Defuturing, based on Masaki's professional experience in Japan and the US.

Envisioning a bright future is increasingly challenging with current worldviews focused on speed, quality, and cost. To address complex 21st-century issues like climate change and economic disparity, we need to reinvent our way of living and being. By “imagining” a long-term future society and backcasting from that vision, we can identify what is truly needed for today’s world.

This book emphasizes exploring “multiple possibilities” through imagination, contrasting with the traditional focus on committing to a “single solution” in education and business. It aims to inspire a diverse audience—including young people, business professionals, science fiction enthusiasts, and adventurous designers—to engage both their creative and analytical sides. Although the word “design” is in the title, no prior knowledge of design is required to read the book. (Although fluency in Japanese and ability to read Kanji are definitely required. 😉)

In the face of kinetic, chaotic, intermingled and entangled global challenges, the future requires that we #imagineharder and bring new approaches to envisioning and acting to shape the worlds we will inhabit. Masaki's book offers a framework for imagining alternative futures and creating actionable strategies, and the ways that the kinds of organizations that can bring about material change can invigorate their own collective ways of imagining in order to achieve them. Masaki draws on principles from speculative and transition design, as well as futures literacy, with the hope that these can help transcend the typical focus on short-term gains and mere operational efficiency. Masaki is encouraging a broader, more imaginative approach—one that empowers individuals and organizations to explore multiple futures and rethink what’s possible today.