The Anchor Inventory
Before you decide what moves, know what’s holding.
My daughter was on a gap year. Her friends were all at university. The world was moving and she wasn’t — or at least, not in the same direction. I told her: when everything is shifting, you need something concrete to hold onto until you stabilize. Then you can go with the flow.
That’s what an anchor is. Not what’s keeping you stuck. Something to hold onto when everything around you is moving — until you can move again from a place you actually chose.
Drift happens in organizations the same way. Leaders aren’t drifting because they’re lost. They’re drifting because nobody created the pause before the decision. Nobody asked: what do you need to hold onto right now?
That’s what this inventory is for. Ten questions. Five minutes. Not a score — a clearer picture of what’s load-bearing before you decide what moves.
Everyday Futurism is a practice, not a prediction.
The Anchor Inventory is the stabilizing step in that practice. It helps you name what’s holding before you decide what changes.
But knowing what you’re standing on is only the first question. The second is harder: what are you taking for granted about what comes next?
That’s the work of the Assumption-Ground Audit — a process for surfacing the unexamined assumptions underneath a direction before it becomes a commitment. Not after the strategy is set. Not during implementation. Before.
If you completed this inventory and found yourself sitting with something — ground softer than you expected, an assumption you haven’t examined in years — that’s the right moment for that conversation.
Learn about the Assumption-Ground Audit →The Anchor Inventory is part of a growing set of instruments for the pre-adoption stage of change.
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