Futures Based Change Leadership

While it may be true that these times do try educators’ souls who are beset with conflicting reform agendas and an impatience about school change success, Futures Based Change Leader: A Formula for Sustained Change Capacity empowers leaders to use effective combinations of futuring, presencing, collaborative leadership skills, and systems’ disciplines practices so that their schools will effectively leverage opportunities to realize the needs of their preferable futures.

Dr. Bernato's Futures Based Change Leadership book provides a uniquely integrated solution to empower and inform educational leaders who seek to create and sustain educational excellence in an ever-changing world. The powerful algebraic model offered by FBCL = FP/ [(SD) + (U) + (CLP)] not only combines the insights of leading researchers in the fields of systems thinking, change theory, collaborative leadership, stakeholder engagement, and futuring, but also provides a conceptual framework for implementation supported by anecdotal case studies to dramatize the many issues of change leadership., Futures Based Change Leadership provides a blueprint for navigating the turbulent uncertainties of emerging futures in education. The book represents a practical approach to sustained change capacity, steeped in sound, research-based theoretical frameworks, and describes in depth how school leaders can effectively build and sustain the capacity for change to effectively respond to the challenges that may arise as a result of emerging futures. This is accomplished through a combination of techniques and practices, which include futuring, presencing, collaborative leadership skills, and systems thinking. Dr. Bernato has charted an important direction in sustained change capacity; this is a must-read for every twenty-first century school leader., Futures Based Change Leadership is a book of great value to any prospective or present school organization leader from several perspectives. Firstly the scenarios provided capture both the theoretical bases and the concrete challenges that all thoughtful organizational leaders face in this century. Equally important, Dr. Bernato combines and explains the variables that lie at the heart of initiating and implementing meaningful change. This is in tandem with the insight he provides to sustain the kinds of futures based changes that schools must create. And perhaps most importantly, his emphasis on and his practical explanation of the skills of futuring, collaborative practice and purposeful attention, are competencies essential for meaningful leadership for any future that may come our way.

Dr. Richard Bernato’s forty-seven year professional career in education spans higher education, many K-12 leadership roles, and consulting with many school districts. His main interests include futuring systems, planning and decision making, and high engagement of all stakeholders to ensure systemically healthy schooling and organizational practices.