This immersive five-day masterclass is facilitated by internationally recognised strategy professor and global scenario planning expert Professor George Burt, visiting from the UK. With more than 30 years of experience working with organisations around the world, Professor Burt is recognised for helping leaders navigate uncertainty, complexity and contextual change through strategic foresight and scenario planning.
Find out more about Professor Burt and his work:
Professor George Burt
Scenario planning is an approach designed to help managers and executives across all types of organisations engage with uncertainty and context-driven change. Managing through uncertainty is increasingly recognised as a critical strategic leadership capability. The ability to make sense of changing environments, avoid premature decisions, and identify hidden, non-obvious and counter-intuitive signals of change underpins organisational sustainability and long-term success.
Scenario planning has its roots in the work of Herman Kahn at the Hudson Institute, where he challenged military planners and policy makers to think critically about uncertainty and future risk. The approach was later adopted by organisations including Shell, British Airways, GE and Nokia as part of their strategic planning processes.
Today, strategic conversations and organisational narratives shaped through scenario planning are widely recognised as valuable tools for challenging assumptions, reframing strategic thinking and supporting better long-term decision making. This process is often described as “the gentle art of re-perceiving” — redefining the basis of organising to ensure future sustainability and success.
Throughout the week, participants will undertake hands-on application of the scenario planning process using a nominated ‘client’ organisation drawn from the participant group. The program culminates in the development and presentation of future-focused strategic proposals.
This applied approach enables participants to build practical understanding, confidence and capability to use scenario planning within their own organisations and industries.
Important Note
Masterclasses may occasionally be subject to change, and the publication of results (for Masterclasses with assessments) typically falls outside the standard Trimester result publication timeframes. Students should be aware of these variables, especially if they may impact their planned graduation date.
About the facilitators
Professor George Burt
Professor George Burt is an internationally renowned strategy professor and a global scenario planning expert. George was appointed Professor of Strategy at the University of Stirling Management School in 2013 after spending 22 years at University of Strathclyde Business School. Preceding his career in academia, George trained, qualified, and worked as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (PwC) in Glasgow, West Africa and London.
Throughout the last 30 years George has focused on developing an international reputation as one of the leading academic authorities on organisational learning and strategic foresight with scenario planning. George’s research is derived from working closely with management teams who wish to collectively understand change in their external environment. Using the scenario planning process, George facilitates these management teams as they engage in exploring the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity that characterises their changing world.
George has worked with corporate organisations: PayPal, Shell Global Solutions, PETRONAS, ProRail NV (Holland), Mitsui Babcock/DoosanBabcock, Thales Optronics Limited, Lloyds Registry Quality Assurance, and the Babcock International Group. George has also worked with public and not-for-profit organisations, including: World Bank, Scottish Government, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), Confederation of Forestry Industries (CONFOR) Scotland, City of Glasgow Council, Stirling Council, Perth & Kinross Council, Dumfries & Galloway Council, Scotland Excel, and the Church of Scotland.
George is a member of the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Futures Advisory group, and of the Scottish Government’s Scottish Futures Group.
George has published extensively in a wide range of academic journals including: Business History, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, British Journal of Management, Management Learning, Journal of Operational Research, Advances in Developing Human Resources, International Studies of Management and Organisations, Journal of General Management, Journal of Strategic Change, and Futures. George is co-author of the best-selling book on scenario planning: Kees van der Heijden, Ron Bradfield, George Burt, George Cairns and George Wright, The Sixth Sense: Accelerating Organisational Learning with Scenarios, 2002, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, West Sussex. George is currently completing a new book – Theory and Practice of Scenario Planning: From Order to Disorder.