by Anitra Budd

For more than 30 years Joel Barker (B.S. ’66), one of the old College of Education and Human Development’s 100 Distinguished Alumni, has been educating people about the future. Barker, author of four books and 11 films, is one of the world’s preeminent experts on change, vision, and paradigm shifts. His most recent work has focused on promoting two of his automated tools for exploring the future and making strategic decisions: The Implications Wheel and the Strategy Matrix. I sat down with him recently to discuss his work, his advice for aspiring leaders, and of course the future.

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: I help people and organizations shape their own futures.

Q: What’s an average day like for you?
A: I don’t have average days. My days oscillate between standing in front of 5 thousand to 10 thousand people giving a presentation and reading alone in my library. The differences in energy levels are enormous. When you’re in front of people, teaching and inspiring them, you’re expending a lot of energy. Sitting in a library, reading about new ideas, discovering stories for new audiences, that’s taking in energy. I don’t think I could have one without the other.

Q: What’s one tip you would offer to someone to help them think like a futurist?
A: The single most important thing for a citizen to do, whether it’s in a professional, personal, or national context, is to read broadly. I was just with 150 kids in Hawaii, at a YMCA-sponsored event for future leaders, and I told them the same thing: To be effective in a leadership role, you must be both broadly interested and broadly educated.

Q: Over the course of your career you’ve worked with many prominent leaders. In your opinion, are great leaders built or born?
A: I’ve seen ordinary people become extraordinary leaders because they’ve been driven by something that’s important to them—something they just couldn’t let someone else have responsibility for. I’ve also seen people become leaders in crisis situations. In any situation, leadership is all about character, not intelligence. Sometimes people may be able to fool you for awhile, but their character will always come out.

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t in your current line of work?
A: I would be a designer, because I love inventing. I currently have three patents of my own [for a bicycle seat, a waterless toilet, and the Implications Wheel]. And you know, it might sound strange, but I think I’d be a novelist, too. That’s something I’m working on right now, in fact.

Q: What does the future hold for Joel Barker?
A: I’m 63 years old. I’ve got five book ideas that I’ve defined, and three are already well on their way. I have three more films I want to make. I’m also planning on spending a lot more time with my grandchildren, taking them around the world to places like Machu Picchu, Australia, Japan. I think it’s important for them, and for all children, to have a sense of the world and to not be too provincial. I’ll just keep taking [my grandchildren] places until I can’t do it any more.

PHOTO: Leo Kim