Former LAGCOE leader turns to new career as a ‘futurist’; here’s what that means – The Advocate

Angela Cring, former executive director of the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition, peered into her past to find her future as a certified foresight practitioner, or futurist.

Trained as a geologist and accomplished as the full-time leader of LAGCOE, the biennial trade show that dates back to 1955 in Lafayette, she left the organization in early 2020 to explore new opportunities for self-fulfillment and community benefit. Three months later, her search ended with a quest to become a CFP. She completed an eight-month training course offered by The Futures School in Florida and created her own company, JoyForwardStrategy.

I decided to start my own business, she said. My original intention was to do strategic planning; Ive been doing that for years in previous jobs. I always loved that. I reflected back on what I have done for the past 10-15 years that brought me the most fulfillment, and this was it.

Angela Cring, a futurist with Joy Forward Strategy in Lafayette, offered a list of trends she is watching for 2022. Here are 10:

Cring, an Alexandria native, was educated as a geologist during her undergraduate studies in geology and political science at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi and during graduate studies as a geologist at Ole Miss. As a geologist she did hydrology and wetlands restoration work and later did geophysical survey work. In 2008, with the birth of her daughter, she moved to LACGOE in a part-time assistant capacity and took charge of the organization in 2011. Her last day at LAGCOE was Jan. 3, 2020.

Simply stated, she said, being a futurist is more about the present than what is to come. It involves making good decisions now to prepare for trends that are emerging or not yet in ready evidence.

Its kind of an oxymoron, she said.

As a futurist she said she scans the horizon for things that are emerging: trends you can see and ones that arent trends yet. Then, she said, the futurist maps out different scenarios of what the future might look like and, using maps of future, creates strategies on how you personally or how your client or organization would deal with or adapt to the different scenarios.

We'll keep you posted on the Acadiana economy. Sign up today.

Angela Cring enlisted in LAGCOEs cause as a young woman and leaves it as a more accomplished one. She said she believes incremental progress

You can pick or choose a preferred future where you want to be but at least build out and examine possible scenarios, bad to good, to adapt more quickly than other people or other organizations that havent done that work, she said.

Cring said she has landed some clients since going into business early this year and is prepared to lead strategy sessions for for-profit businesses and non-profits, as well as for individuals.

Most of my client work has been more traditional, strategic planning, she said. Its less about futures work. Not many people know or understand what that is.

She said shed be interested in forming a cohort futures class locally to facilitate activities and build discussions around it to build a pipeline of leaders more capable of thinking more futuristically. So far, she said, people dont embrace it although they value strategic planning. She said the futurist is not something new: Alvin Toffler was at the forefront of the movement as early as the 1950s.

Im super committed to it; it can be personally transformative. I was doing futures training during 2020 when there wasnt much good in the world to grab onto. My foresight training gave me hope; it allowed me to see all the amazing possibilities that exist in the world, even if they havent come to fruition yet.

Seeing what could be creates a sense of hope and optimism to people, which is something the world needs more of right now specifically, Lafayette and Acadiana. It doesnt feel like our community has much of a vision right now.

To find out more about Crings services, see JoyForwardStrategy.com or email Angela@JoyForwardStrategy.com.

Go here to see the original:
Former LAGCOE leader turns to new career as a 'futurist'; here's what that means - The Advocate