I devour books. Mostly non-fiction, but also fiction that says something about the times. I surf the web to find inspiration both on serious Media and on social Media to be inspired about what's being talked about now. I always have my curiosity with me in the supermarket, on the street, when traveling and when meeting other people.
At the same time, my customers are a goldmine of inspiration. What do they ask? What turns them on? Together we develop new thoughts and solutions, which then become part of my mindset. I often go home and research a topic if someone has pointed out a new angle or told me otherwise. It's a mosaic of theory and practice and an open, curious vibe that I always carry with me and barely let go in my sleep.

It is important to work on understanding what behaviors and needs are evolving in the future to ensure your existence both as a company or, for example, a public organization. After more than 20 years of working with this, I'm still surprised by the lack of interest of leaders in understanding where things are going. In fact, I can't believe they can sleep at night. Isn't that the most important task of leaders?

When I started exploring the trend process, the word trend was only used and understood in statistics and design, in two very different ways of course. But basically both subjects used and use the word for the same thing: a process of social change, an innovative process where something, for example style, is changed by people. So trends are about human behavior. Regardless of how you work with trends, and whatever you call yourself, trends are about people being inspired by each other and creative companies being inspired by trendsetters, because the latter set the agenda for consumption going forward.

A trend is the combination of various different innovation data points, which allows one to conclude that there is a critical mass of change afoot. Springwise is a collection and collation of those data points. Our Springwise access database categorizes the data by industry, geography, and timeline. This means that we can track change and thus trends in a number of different ways leading to both conclusions and validation of ideas for our customers.

My source material is wide-ranging. I travel a lot, which is a great way to pick up new knowledge. Books and articles are also important sources for keeping up to date - especially when working with macro trends. The internet is of course an important source, but it takes a long time to find reliable sources on the web and the sources that provide relevant material. The amount of information on the web is both the strength and weakness of the medium. 99 percent of all information is irrelevant. As an experienced trend researcher, you build up a network of people over the years with whom you share experiences. This network is also an important source.