In this episode of The Intentional Spill, Yvette and Frank take on one of foresight’s most comfortable habits (and biggest risks): the “Top 10 Trends” list. Using pop culture, collective joy, and the phenomenon of cultural movements (yes, including Taylor Swift) as a starting point, the conversation explores why what’s trending on Google, LinkedIn, or mainstream media is often the least interesting signal of what’s actually trying to emerge .

This Spill challenges traditional trend-scanning as a form of unconscious bias and, at its worst, a self-fulfilling prophecy that reinforces dominant narratives rather than disrupts them. Instead, the episode makes the case for transformational futuring: paying attention to the periphery, questioning inherited social constructs, and cultivating futures consciousness that can hold complexity, imagination, and collective potential states.

Along the way, the hosts unpack why foresight isn’t about reporting headlines, it’s about changing the conditions from which futures arise. Less echo chamber. Less algorithm worship. More discernment, humility, and intentional evolution.

Stop carrying water for the dominant narrative.
Look sideways.
The future isn’t in the Top 10.

In this episode of The Intentional Spill, Yvette and Frank confront a growing global pattern: the attempt to defang the future by controlling language. Sparked by an expanding list of government-banned words (from equity and race to climate and identity) the conversation explores what happens when imagination, meaning-making, and collective agency are treated as threats .

This isn’t a U.S.-only issue, and it isn’t just about words. It’s about how dominant systems preserve themselves by narrowing what can be named, imagined, or made possible. Through humor, provocation, and foresight practice, the episode reframes censorship just as an attempt to convey strength, but as a signal of system fragility, and argues that when the future is declared “illegal,” it becomes even more necessary to practice foresight as resistance and activism.

At its core, this Spill is a call to reclaim futures consciousness: the collective, relational capacity to imagine what wants to emerge and to build worlds worth living in, together.

Read banned books.
Use the words.
Imagine anyway.

In this episode of The Intentional Spill, Yvette and Frank take aim at how transformation has been hijacked and turned into a crisis response, a reorg strategy, or a last-ditch effort to save a sinking ship. Sparked by a recent Harvard Business Review call to “stop doing transformation,” the conversation asks a deeper question: What if transformation isn’t the problem, but how we’ve been co-opting it is?

Drawing from natural systems, foresight practice, and lived experience, the episode reframes transformation as a living dynamic, not a traumatic intervention. Think acorns and oak trees, submergence and emergence, and capacity-building over change fatigue. You'll learn why real transformation can’t be forced, scheduled, or “bombed” into existence.

This is a call to stop reacting and start cultivating.
Less treadmill. Less panic.
More intention. More life.
Transform away.

xoxo

Welcome to the 2026 season of the Wicked Opportunities podcast - launching The Intentional Spill, a weekly series of 15-minute, digestible, raw conversations (less prep, more truth). In the kickoff episode, Yvette Montero Salvatico and Frank Spencer (aka Dr. Juicy Owl) call out “marketed renewal” and the New Year, New You productivity trap, then make the case for Intentional Evolution: getting out of the happenstance dance and back into the driver’s seat of our lives, and our species. Expect everyday foresight as activism, a warning about the Evil E’s (extraction, exploitation, extrapolation, exponentiality), and a reframe of growth as emergence + submergence—because rest isn’t failure, it’s part of the cycle. Less machine. More garden. And please: don’t get deracinated from what wants to emerge. xoxo

The traditional approach to a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environment has often involved attempts to eliminate uncertainty, simplify complexity, and overcome volatility and ambiguity. This relies on mindsets and systems built on ideas like strategic hindsight, efficiency, simplicity, certainty, and control. Recent events have highlighted that these existing systems are ineffective. Attempts to solve complex challenges with simple or temporary solutions often fail because they don’t address underlying structures, values, and narratives.

The universe is, in its very nature, VUCA. Instead of battling it, we should consider embracing it.

Embrace the Long Now.

The Long Now is not about compressing time but stretching it. It’s an idea of integrating the best of the past and the most vibrant aspirations for the future to inform decisions in the present. It means seeing the “now” not just as immediacy, but as a longer span, recognizing that our actions today have long-term effects and build upon the past. It is about a mindset that includes the past, present, and future together as one comprehensive timeframe.

Embracing the Long Now means leaning into the unknown, mystery, and emergence. It recognizes that complexity and uncertainty are not problems to be solved but inherent aspects of the universe. When embraced, this environment can lead to greater opportunities, generativity, resilience, and abundance. This shifts the focus from trying to control everything to being in a perpetual state of readiness for any future that unfolds.

In this formative interview, TFSX co-founder Frank Spencer speaks with world-renowned social systems scientist, futurist, cultural historian, attorney, consultant, speaker, and author Riane Eisler, diving deep into the (re)framing of a society built upon cooperation, partnership, and deep care. As she states during the conversation, the belief that humans are inherently competitive, egocentric, and violent is utterly false, drawing upon decades of research around the past, present, and future of human equity, empathy, peace, transformation, and models of economic and social partnership. As Riane notes in her book Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives, and Future, “…humans are capable of living in egalitarian social systems where neither dominates the other, where violence is minimized, and where prosocial cooperation and caring typify social life. This image is not a utopian fantasy but rather a set of potentials, if not inclinations, stemming from our evolutionary heritage.”

We’ve waited a long time to interview Riane, as her ground-breaking work is foundational to our passion to democratize the cooperative evolutionary trait of perceiving the emerging “whole” that fosters imaginal anticipation and the co-creation of transformational realities, This is a MUST LISTEN for anyone who cares about the future of humanity, planet, and our cosmic journey, and knows in their heart that there has to be a better way.

The urban legend of Generational Warfare has haunted us all for far too long, and it’s high time that we pull the mask off of this specter that has caused so much age-related fear and loathing.

During this month's WO Live!, we are exploring the idea of the People Cloud where we can connect with individuals around the globe based on shared passions and goals rather than the outdated construct of generational warfare. This is more than just a discussion, it's an opportunity to join a movement that's committed to creating a more connected, equitable, and empowering world. 

This livestream is an invitation to:

• Challenge the assumptions of generational warfare and other limiting narratives that hold us back.
• Reimagine systems and structures through a lens of abundance and possibility, focusing on a post-human and post-material way of seeing life.
• Connect with a community passionate about building a future where everyone thrives, using frameworks that support a shift from "individual rights to collective liberties".
• Learn how to apply the mindsets of sense, mesh, and transform to bring about a more abundant and collaborative future.

The People Cloud isn't just an idea; it's a call to action to rewrite our stories and move toward a more equitable, connected, and empowering future for all. Don't miss out on this chance to engage with fellow visionaries and contribute your own unique perspective to the future of the People Cloud.

In the world of foresight, we’re no strangers to complex challenges. But perhaps none feels as pervasive and daunting as the “Tragedy of the Commons.” This age-old narrative of scarcity and competition for limited resources shapes our decisions, our systems, and often, our very outlook on the future.

As activist and founder Adrianne Wright says, “the scarcity mindset is how we tell a fundamentally American tall tale about a nation built on notions of individualism; a male-dominated story filled with loners who suck it up and ride off into the sunset as others applaud our resilience. Shifting our stories from scarcity to abundance honors the fullness of our humanity.”

As foresight practitioners, we understand that the future is not a fixed destination, but a canvas for our collective imagination.

Join us for our next Wicked Opportunities Live! where futurists Frank Spencer and Yvette Montero Salvatico will guide us on a journey beyond scarcity, toward the liberating power of Imagination Literacy.

This livestream is an invitation to:

-Challenge the assumptions of scarcity that hold us back.
-Reimagine systems and structures through a lens of abundance and possibility.
-Connect with a community passionate about building a future where everyone thrives.

Welcome to 2025… it’s time for Wicked Opportunities® to take the stage!

As we begin our collective journey down the path of the new year, it’s imperative that we seek out new minds, new hearts, and new spirits – not only for ourselves, but for one another as well. However, this will mean that we will be defying gravity, soaring beyond the hold that a world in crisis has on our minds. With the collapse of one world at hand, we must embrace transformation of all that we know, and enter into alternative realities that change us all for the better.

Join Futurists Yvette Montero Salvatico and Frank Spencer as they introduce an exciting new initiative that will have us all flying high – Wicked Opportunities: Reimagining Systems for Transformational Realities. Over the span of 7 months, How to Thrive in Uncertain Times: 7 Lessons to Empower Hope will be presented as a once-a-month interactive livestream + an accompanying course that will dive deep into the research around our 7 Shifts in the Age of Opportunity, reframing one wicked problem each month as a Wicked Opportunity… and empowering you to do the same!

“The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will be live.” – Gil Scott-Heron

Real transformation doesn’t come from headlines or top-down decisions. It happens in the hearts, minds, and actions of people – of us.

Join Yvette Montero Salvatico and Frank W. Spencer IV for a dynamic Wicked Opportunities® Live! session as we explore:
🔹 How love, empathy, and activism fuel real change 
🔹 Why advocacy and empowerment are essential for the future 
🔹 The undeniable power of community to ignite societal transformation
 
✨ The future isn’t something we watch – it’s something we build together.