Planning the future instead of suffering it: Woody Wade joins the ZEMID Advisory Board

May 2026 | Frankfurt am Main

Today, the Mittelstand makes decisions under conditions for which no reliable blueprint exists. Geopolitical shifts, AI disruption, new regulation, reshaped supply chains — the simultaneity of these developments is historic. Anyone who treats the future merely as a linear extension of the present is planning past reality.

ZEMID is addressing this challenge in a structured way: with Woody Wade, we have gained one of the world's leading experts in scenario planning as a member of our Strategic Advisory Board.

Woody Wade

Scenario Planning | Author, Harvard MBA | Adjunct Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology | former Board Member World Economic Forum | Founder Wade & Company SA, Switzerland | Workshops in 35 countries

Woody Wade has conducted scenario planning in roughly 35 countries for organisations of every size. His 2012 book Scenario Planning: A Field Guide to the Future, published by John Wiley & Sons, is required reading in the field. His latest work Designing Four Futures (2026) shows how organisations systematically develop robust strategies for the future — not as prediction, but as preparation for several possible worlds.

What this partnership means

For ZEMID, this partnership means: mid-sized companies gain access to a methodology previously reserved for large corporations with sizeable strategy departments. Scenario planning is not an academic exercise. It is a business necessity.

„Anyone who has only one plan today has no plan at all."

Concretely, this means: instead of betting on a single forecast, companies develop several plausible future scenarios — and test their strategy against each. What holds up if the euro weakens? What if AI regulation reshapes the industry? What if a key supplier fails? These questions are asked systematically — before the situation arrives.

ZEMID supports mid-sized companies precisely at this interface: between strategic orientation and operational execution. Woody Wade's expertise complements our offering at a decisive point — where executives need to lay the foundation for their next five years.