Delphi 2017 – What Motivates People Tomorrow

Social changes are making their mark. Current developments constitute a tremendous upheaval that, over the next ten years, will exert a lasting influence on people`s everyday lives, their desires, values, and their behaviour as consumers.

Managing "Dutility": Functioning within the System

• The retreating state prompts an enhanced self-responsibility of the individual for health, private pensions, continuous education, etc.
• "Work vs. Life" turns into a "Multi-Duty-Life": The uncommitted "self-time" is diminishing.
• The result: thinking in terms of efficiency and utilitarianism at all times.
• All resources are evaluated according to their utility.
• People keep looking to synchronise their "life interfaces" and to find support in managing their everyday lives.
• "Managing 'Dutility'" means to optimise the relation between "duties" and "utilities".

Living Substance: Back to the Essentials

• In a multioptional world, consumers feel the restraint to make the right decisions. Affluence turns into a burden.
• People start looking for the "right dosage": What counts in life really?
• They long for continuity and reliability; they wish for concrete attitudes instead of arbitrary statements.
• Consumers do not want to abandon product variety. However, they look for a clear structure and a means of orientation within the variety of options.
• It is about "re-conquering" one’s own sovereignty about when and where to make a decision.
• "Living Substance" means to live according to one’s inner compass.

"Embedding Individuality": Less "I" – more "We"

• Individualism without compromise finds itself in a dead end. Individualisation has reached its peak. The future will be characterised by a "mature" individualisation process.
• People no longer look for means of distinction, but for means of inclusion.
• They are ready again to engage in social communities, however, without giving up too much personal freedom.
• They seek for independence within communities, in other words, for an "embedded individuality".
• "Embedding Individuality" means taking a break from the "I" and engaging in the "We".

Creating "Lifeholder Value": Shaping & Participating

• People start interpreting the gaps and blanks of the retreating state as their own creative spaces: empowerment instead of accepting deficits.
• They want to regain control over their own lives: "Living, not being lived".
• On the way to the "lifeholder value"-project: Taking things into one’s own hand instead of waiting for others to "straighten things up".
• To reach their goal of a self-determined life, people form situational alliances: cooperation, dialogue and networking are the key principles people will live by.
• "Creating ‘Lifeholder Value’" means more self-determination by actively shaping one’s environment in cooperation with other.

Engaging in a Sane Society: Sustainability & Responsibility

• Globalisation at one’s doorstep: global issues effect people directly (environment, dreadful social conditions). My own bargain buys may cause me to lose my job.
• The meaning of sustainable behaviour is changing: It already pays off today, not tomorrow.
• Off to a "Sane Society": This holistic concept of sustainability encompasses ecological (preservation of natural resources, climate protection), social (the individual is part of a global social community – fair trade, sweatshop free), and personal sustainability (improve oneself to maintain one’s personal potentials).
• The "New Social Responsibility" combines public spirit and self-interest in a win-win-situation.
• "Engaging in a Sane Society" means that everyone benefits from sustainability and social responsibility, last but not least I myself.