Vail Symposium presents prognosticator extraordinaire Peterson at Vail Interfaith Chapel

The Vail Symposium this week issued the following press release on a presentation by prognosticator Erik Peterson at the Vail Interfaith Chapel on Wednesday, Jan. 11:

The past few years have been a bit volatile with a global pandemic, war in Ukraine, inflation in the U.S. and more. However, as daunting as present-day challenges are, we also need to think about what’s next in 2023. Prognosticator extraordinaire Erik Peterson will do exactly that in a no-holds-barred presentation with Vail Symposium on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023 at the Vail Interfaith Chapel. 

“No one has a crystal ball for the future but Erik Peterson comes pretty close,” said James Kenly, executive director of Vail Symposium. “We’re looking forward to getting a sneak peek at what might happen this year and beyond in this riveting look at the future—both challenges and opportunities.”

Peterson offers a cross-sector, fast-paced look at where the current trends—geopolitical, economic, technology, social and demographic–are taking us out to the end of the decade, guiding the audience through trends critical to defining what the future will hold. Each alone is important to delineating future states; all five together serve as “perimeters” for plausible futures.

• Geopolitical: Imagine a world marked by growing “multipolar instability.”
• Economic: Tough sledding out to 2030.
• Technology: Prepare to move into a quantum world characterized by a yottabyte (1024) of annual data production.
• Social: The operative question in 2030 is whether existing institutions can maintain their legitimacy. It doesn’t look hopeful.
• Demographic: Asia and Africa are the hotspots for demographic growth, while 60+ countries will be experiencing population declines by the end of the decade. Watch out for the tidal wave of older age cohorts.

He then describes three “competing futures” of the world in 2030 that we all need to anticipate. 

Peterson has been in the business of examining macro trends for more than three decades, starting at Kissinger Associates, continuing at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and now at Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council. At the intersection of policy and business, he focuses on how the strategic operating environment can and will change and how organizations need to prepare.

In addition to looking forward, Vail Symposium will also be bidding farewell to Executive Director Kris Sabel, who retired at the end of 2022. Please join us for a short program at 7:30 p.m. with Dale Mosier, Terry Minger and others as we reflect on the growth that Kris has affected in his tenure at Vail Symposium. 

About the speaker:

Erik Peterson is a partner at Kearney and managing director of the firm’s Global Business Policy Council (GBPC), a strategic advisory service specifically designed to provide insight and analysis to the world’s foremost CEOs and business-minded thought leaders. At Kearney, Peterson has guided a range of initiatives pertaining to strategic planning, foresight, global trends, scenario planning, contingency assessments and quantitative forecasting.

Formerly, Peterson was senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Before joining CSIS, Peterson served as director of research at Kissinger Associates.

IF YOU GO:

What: Envisioning the World of 2023

When: Wednesday, Jan.11, 2023 | 6-7:30 p.m.

Where: Vail Interfaith Chapel | Vail

More information: Tickets are $25 in advance, $35 the day of the program. Please visit www.vailsymposium.org for more information.