FuturesThink
About Leon Rademeyer
Leon is a qualified futurist, political scientist and journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in strategy development, corporate reputation management and high-level stakeholder engagement in Australia and abroad. Having worked at large corporate institutions in the media, defence, higher education, healthcare, forestry and executive search industries, he has gained expert knowledge and experience in the following:
• Strategic foresight theory and practice
• Corporate, marketing and crisis communication
• Decision conferencing and strategic policy communication
• Corporate culture development and human capital management
• Reputation, project and change management
• High-level stakeholder engagement and management
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As a futurist…
Leon holds a Master of Philosophy in Futures Studies (1) with a current research interest in the disruptive impact of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI) on social structures, in particular the debate around granting legal personhood to intelligent machines.
As a PhD student (2) his research has been published in a peer reviewed journal (3) and explored legal rights for robots in three scenarios set in 2060. Emerging issues investigated in this research included the moral and legal obligations of granting rights to robots, the emotional impact of human/machine interaction and the future impact of AI on global employment and politics.
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Four-Step Foresight®
His academic research into robot ethics and AI and his personal interest in neuroscience, in particular how humans think about the future, prompted Leon to develop a novel foresight method - Four-Step Foresight® - which bridges the gap between the neural process of futures thinking and the practicality of change management.
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As a political scientist...
Leon holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Politics (4) majoring in African and International Politics and a Bachelor of Arts in International Politics (Hons) (5) majoring in Regional Studies (Asia-Pacific) and Strategic Studies.
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His research interest is the politics of the Middle East and North Africa, in particular the long-term outcomes (or futures) of the Arab Spring uprisings of 2010 which he explored in his master’s thesis (as a futurist).
As a journalist...
Leon holds a National Diploma in Journalism (6) and has been employed in various roles in Australia and abroad including as Chief of Staff at a South Australian newsgroup. He cut his teeth during a five-year stint (1990 – 1995) at a broadsheet daily newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa where he reported on political violence and labour affairs during the country's transition to a democracy. During that time, he had the privilege of meeting Nobel Peace Prize laureates Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and FW de Klerk.
FuturesThink
Leon founded the forerunner of FuturesThink in Canberra (Australian Capital Territory) in 2014. The consultancy is currently operating from Adelaide, South Australia.
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(1) University of Stellenbosch Business School: Cape Town, South Africa.
(2) PhD Futures Studies: University of the Sunshine Coast: Queensland, Australia. (PhD not completed due to work commitments).
(3) Rademeyer, L.B. 2017. Legal Rights for Robots by 2060? Knowledge Futures: Interdisciplinary Journal of Futures Studies. Vol. 1(1).
(4) University of South Africa: Pretoria, South Africa.
(5) University of Pretoria: Pretoria, South Africa.
(6) Tshwane University of Technology: Pretoria, South Africa.