(More photos will be shared in our official Facebook post — this is just a snapshot.)
In an era of rapid change, brand competitiveness no longer stems from the vision of a few top decision-makers. Instead, it is driven by people who can actively learn, collaborate across disciplines, and embrace uncertainty. But what defines “brand talent”? And what capabilities will future brand professionals need?
In this workshop, The Evolution of Future Brand Talent, organized by CoFound, we invited Connie Tsai Mei-Ping — a seasoned brand consultant who integrates facilitation and coaching — to lead the session. Connie emphasized that brand building is no longer the job of a lone expert or manager; rather, it must be a co-created journey by teams. Her methods help teams harness their experiences to shape strategic direction, while coaching leaders to uncover blind spots and unleash their strengths. This perspective perfectly echoes the core question of the workshop: In the face of uncertainty, how can we define and cultivate the next generation of brand talent?
The workshop began with a key concept: the future is not a single predictable path, but a landscape filled with variables and multiple possible scenarios. This idea lies at the heart of Futures Thinking — a multidisciplinary and systemic approach to identifying which trends may persist, which values may shift, and how to prepare for a range of strategic responses.
Futures Thinking doesn’t aim to predict the near term or provide single answers. Rather, it builds our capacity to perceive and respond to change. Connie reminded us that “The future is not equivalent to technology, nor does it always mean progress.” The evolution of the future is nonlinear and shaped by intersecting forces—not one domain alone. This mindset is exactly what brand leadership and talent management need today: not just quick reactions, but the ability to anticipate disruption and design resilient organizations.
The explosive advancement of AI has dramatically reshaped work. From ChatGPT to Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek, large language models (LLMs) are transforming job roles. Companies now deploy AI for customer service, sales, legal drafting, and more. Klarna, for example, replaced the workload of 700 support agents with GPT tools. The rise of AI is not just a technological shift—it’s a deep organizational and talent restructuring.
As Connie noted, “No one expected AI to develop this fast—its impact on society has been astonishing.” From healthcare to education, business to engineering, AI is pushing us to rethink what makes talent valuable. It’s no longer enough to understand marketing or strategy; future brand professionals must know how to work with AI, adapt to change, and develop new forms of collaboration and communication.
This workshop was designed with immersive, interactive methods. Participants were guided from personal reflection to collective foresight. The session began with everyone receiving a pen and paper to recall their childhood dreams and compare them with their current roles. “Am I walking the path I once imagined?” Some dreamed of becoming singers, doctors, or pilots; today, they’re educators, pharmacists, or business leaders. This moment of introspection was itself a form of future-thinking practice.
Later, participants collaborated in groups to map out major societal shifts from 1985 onward—technology, politics, education, values—and imagined how the next 10 years might unfold. This was more than a timeline; it was a training in collective foresight. “The future is not something we wait for—it is something we can prepare for, based on known signals.” Connie also highlighted how we often overlook the deep value-shift undercurrents when we analyze events with habitual thinking. Many participants reflected that tracing these changes opened new, inspiring possibilities for envisioning the future.
In this context, what truly defines a “brand talent”? Professional skills are no longer sufficient. What matters now are curiosity, systems thinking, emotional resilience, and a spirit of collaboration. Talent is no longer measured by how fast they work—but by how far they see, how widely they think, and how steadily they move forward. This workshop wasn’t just a trends session—it was a deep, immersive training in future fluency. Participants left with both insights and actionable frameworks to take back to their teams.
Futures Thinking can be applied in a wide range of settings—from shaping the future of brand talent, to strategic business planning, to aligning teams around shared vision and direction. As AI and cross-disciplinary collaboration become the norm, what we need is not just faster marketing strategies—but a deeper understanding of people and how we work together. The core of brand competitiveness is no longer just about products or messages. It’s about shared meaning, mutual value, and the willingness to create the future—together.