April Rinne

April is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and ranked one of the “50 Leading Female Futurists” in the world by Forbes. She is a change navigator who helps individuals and organizations rethink and reshape their relationships with change, uncertainty, and a world in flux.  She’s a trusted advisor, speaker, investor, adventurer (100+ countries), insatiable handstander, and author of Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change.  And, for our purposes, she also has a law degree from Harvard.

ex judicata:  That is tremendous.  And it sounds like that was the perfect move for you at that time.  For the young attorneys reading this, while it can appear that this opportunity just came out of the blue, you had been essentially training all your life for it.   And you put the word out.

At ex judicata, we’re all about not limiting your thinking to a purely legal career.  But the straightest shot to get that nonlegal career is to build off your existing experience and passions.

April Rinne:   Again, there’s an intentionality.  I was clear about “here are the things I really want to manifest.  These are the things I really want to invest more of my time and my energy in.”  And guess what?  That may or may not be possible for reasons beyond my control.  I need to be really, really open to whatever shows up. 

I paid close attention. I knew I wanted to work in this space of more inclusive, sustainable business, and then water and sanitation show up.  I’m like, that’s not exactly the kind of work I had in mind – I’d never worked in water and sanitation prior to the Gates Foundation – but it is totally in line with my bigger goals and what I want to manifest, so I should dive in for a while.   While I was doing this work – and here–I’m going to date myself a little bit – smartphones start to show up.  I had already been working on mobile banking with flip phones and micro finance, and this felt like the next – and a far more powerful – iteration of that.

ex judicata:  You were a pioneer in that whole area.

April Rinne:  I guess you could say that!  Back then, I remember just being really struck by now this isn’t just finding money through your phone or doing banking through your phone. Now,  this is so much more: This is how you find transportation, this is how you find work, and expertise, and housing and…  like, almost everything.

 Again, all this was much further in the future, but I could see it happening.   I had a global perspective based on all my experience, which is what led me, ultimately 11 years ago, to go independent and enter this space of what was called at that time, the ‘sharing economy’. Business models based on access rather than ownership (carsharing, homesharing, co-working spaces, etc.)

None of this, of course, was on my radar in law school.  It didn’t exist! However, a point I want to home in on here is I was already accustomed to entering “new” and interesting spaces. The sharing economy.was interesting from an investment perspective and startup perspective, and it was interesting from a legal and public policy perspective, because guess what?  We didn’t have rules for any of this stuff… and so how are we going to navigate it? The same was true in many respects for microfinance. So I had the skills, but I saw opportunities to use and leverage them in new, helpful, and exciting ways.

So, in talking about the sharing economy, while I wasn’t practicing law at that point, the degree opened doors. People liked that I’d gone to Harvard Law.  When I talked about public policy, they respected my opinions. They saw that I knew what I was talking about, and they wanted to hear what I had to say.

In setting myself up as an independent, I had to take risks and tell myself I’d be okay if it didn’t work out.  My ego would be okay.  My bank account would be okay. (I’d been self-sufficient for so long at that point that for me, resourcefulness and budgeting are in my bones.) I continued to ask myself the question ‘If I were to die tomorrow, what does the world need me to do today?’  I knew we needed to think differently, to cast new horizons and connect new dots.

ex judicata:   There is so much more I’d like to cover, and we’ve got to get to your book.  So, you are helping people to think differently, to connect the dots and at what point do people start calling April a futurist?  I mean how does that work exactly?  No one goes to school wanting to be a futurist.  It’s a title someone must bestow on you.

April Rinne: You actually can study futurism today. In the last 5 years or so you’ve been able to get a master’s in futures studies at a couple of places.  But for a long time, that wasn’t an option. And, to your point, I did not go and do that degree.  And frankly: I did not set out to be a futurist.  Nor did I set out to be a public speaker.  Maybe I did set out to be a handstander many years ago though. 🙃 All of these things found their way to me. Or perhaps I found my way to them.

I often hear ‘what is a futurist?’  At the risk of oversimplifying, half of  people think I must be a techno optimist.  Like, technology will  save us all and AI is amazing, right?  The other half thinks futurism is crystal balls and tarot cards. My response is, futurism is actually neither of these things.   As a futurist–just a quick definition–I think of myself as helping people, teams, leaders, and organizations better understand what’s on the horizon and how they fit into it.

I helppeople, teams, and organizations get better prepared, more ‘future fit’, more future ready for all kinds of possibilities that could come their way.   So, it’s a lot of strategy, but it also has a nice fit with career development.  It’s very akin to saying “what kind of life do you want to design in the future?  Figure this out, because you are already manifesting it today whether you realize it or not.”  Knowing that a little bit more intentionality and a little bit broader horizon, broader perspective, peripheral perspective can be helpful. 

ex judicata:  And that outlook carried you through your career progression.  So back to that futurist title…

April Rinne:  Back when I was a lawyer doing microfinance, as well as when I was an adviser doing sharing economy engagements, I was constantly looking towards the future.  Where are we heading?  What are those forces that are going to affect us that, by and large, we’re not paying attention to?  Then I begain doing more advisory work.  We mentioned the Gates Foundation had brought me in.  Later, I started collaborating with an organization called Institute for the Future.  It’s the oldest futurist think tank on the planet.  They’re based in Palo Alto.  They’re super interesting.   It was around this time other people started calling me a futurist and I was like, that’s not what I am.  I’m an advisor, I’m a lawyer, I’m an investor.

They’re like, ‘No, you’re a futurist.  And then I thought, well, you know what? I’m independent now.  I can call myself whatever I want.  I can have ten titles or no titles. I tried on ‘futurist’.  This was almost ten years ago.  I tried it on again years later.  Because nothing is forever, and I want to keep evolving.  I wanted to see if people’s reaction still prompted that description.  It still felt right.

Being a futurist also gives me a lot of flexibility and a lot of nimbleness.   I don’t use the title in all settings.  I try to meet audiences and clients wherever they are.  Many of them do like the term ‘futurist’, but I’m not so caught up in my identity and my ego that if I weren’t a futurist, that somehow my career would come crumbling down.  It wouldn’t.  The term does pique people’s curiosity.  Like, ‘what is that? Tell me more!’   It does accurately encompass the many different things that I do.

ex judicata:  As you travel throughout the US and the world, what are people thinking about the future?  On average, positive thoughts, negative thoughts?

April Rinne:  On the whole, there is a general sense of full-on dystopia.  A lot of people are afraid of the future, or just don’t want to think about it.

ex judicata: Yikes.  Bleak.

April Rinne:  Yes, but you asked me what I see more broadly. That’s not what I think personally! Plus, we’re missing a lot of texture and nuance here. First, it’s not all black or white. The future is not amazing or awful.  It can be lots of different things in lots of different ways at the same time.   Second, I do think we’ve had just an enormous amount of fear, anxiety and nervousness.  Maybe this is a good segue also to our Flux conversation, because there is a lot of fear around what we don’t control, a lot of fear around what we don’t know.  I think the pandemic made that glaringly clear.  However, those dynamics predate the pandemic. And so does our ability to improve how we see change.

From my perspective it is a wonderful time to be a futurist.  It doesn’t mean it’s an easy time for it.  But again, I’m always going towards where there is heat and energy and people who need help and that I can serve in new ways.  

ex judicata:  Yes, I can see that.  Let’s jump to your book: Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change.   What is a flux mindset?

April Rinne:  Flux is what people often think about when it comes to the future: “The future is in flux!”  And it’s helpful that we’ve covered a good part of my backstory, because whenpeople ask how I got interested in flux, change and uncertainty…  It all goes back to that profoundly human experience of losing my parents.  That was massive flux.  Every aspect of my life flipped upside down.  My family, my sense of self, my ideas about my career, my future.  Everything kind of melted and I had to figure out how was I going to move forward.  

If you fast forward to today, I think a lot of people are feeling that in their own way.   Not that they lost their parents, but rather this whole sense of, “what is happening in the world?!” I’d been developing and writing Flux since 2014.  But I was traveling too much to focus full-time on the book, and most people were like “the future will be fine, right?” Then the pandemic hit, I had the book ready, and I thought, now people are ready to read about and hopefully benefit from wrapping their arms around change.

ex judicata: Yes, the timing for your message was ideal.

April Rinne:  It was. I don’t wish a pandemic on anyone, but it did make us wake up a bit! The fact that we control far less than we think we do was made abundantly clear.  There’s actually weight in that idea.  Flux is really about our relationship, humans’ relationship to change.  So not change management. It’s not about “give me a spreadsheet, here’s my process and here’s a checklist and I’ll just go manage this change.”  That’s not the way change works.  Instead, it’s about ‘Wait a minute, what just happened?’  How am I showing up for this change to begin with?

And even the word change is fascinating because we treat it like it’s all one thing, like it’s one word.  But the reality is change is messy and hard and we hate it.   And change is also amazing, truly life changing, and we love it.   So, what’s the deal?  

A flux mindset isabout these changes we don’t control, those changes we didn’t see coming, those changes that upend what we thought we were going to be doing and how we show up for them better.  So, the basic definition is a flux mindset is the the state of mind that can see all change as a never-ending opportunity to learn, grow and improve.

There is clearly a through-thread for my life in this, but it’s not “about” me. I believe that every single person on the planet can have some resonance with this concept, and everyone can help open and strengthen their own flux mindset.

ex judicata:  Unfortunately, we don’t have enough time to start going through the 8 superpowers[1]  which can help you develop a flux mindset.  But hopefully we have aroused enough curiosity for people to pick up the book and try to incorporate those 8 elements into their own lives filled with change.

Circling back to our core audience, lawyers, and more specifically lawyers thinking about a new career.  They are looking at potentially a massive change.   But is this change one can prepare for, or is it not?

April Rinne:  Absolutely. we can prepare! What we’re talking about in leaving law for a new career is the kind of change one chooses.  Which is like, ‘Okay this is scary, but I’m going to do it’.  We can pull on that string, which is awesome, takes confidence and courage and responsibility as you need to prepare for thrusting change on yourself.

Leaving law is a change that perhaps you don’t “have” to make, but I go back to Mary Oliver’s quote that you have one precious, short life to live.   What is it that you feel drawn to do?  Don’t have those regrets on your deathbed. 

There is another piece that’s germane to the world of law right now: here is a lot of change underway and on the horizon that we do not control.   Lawyers can feel trapped.  I’m afraid to leap but I’m also afraid of what is coming.  So, what to do? 

ex judicata:   And, if any of this is striking a chord, dealing with both is the essence of the flux mindset and reason to pick up a copy of the book.

A last question which we always end on is how valuable was your law degree in getting to where you are, in accomplishing all you have?

April Rinne:   I am so glad I went to law school.  I am so grateful for my law degree.  My law degree has opened up more doors for me than anything else.  No regrets whatsoever about law school.  No regrets whatsoever about my time at law firms.  Like I said earlier, I loved it.  I use my law degree every single day, but I do not use it to practice law.  You want a good lawyer? I’ll send you ten people who love practicing the law and excel at it.  That is not me. 🙂

The way law school and the practice of law teach you to think, to issue-spot, to assess the bigger picture, to look at what’s said and also what’s not said –  all that has been profoundly helpful.  I use those skills all the time.   I couldn’t do what I do without having learned and honed these things.

I think everyone who has a law degree is incredibly privileged, incredibly powerful,  incredibly knowledgeable.  That knowledge can be leveraged in so many ways.  I would say, for me at least, the most interesting ways have been either outside of the law or at  the intersections and overlaps with other systems surrounding the law.  It’s all fascinating. It’s a matter for each person to decide what do you do with that degree. What do you make of it in new ways that are unique and meaningful to you moving forward?  There are more ways to do that today than there ever have been before.

ex judicata:  This is a wonderful place to leave it.  So interesting.  So valuable to any lawyer reading this.  Hopefully, you’ll join us again so we can delve into the 8 superpowers.

April Rinne:  Yes, there is another conversation to be had particularly around the Flux Superpower: Create Your Career Portfolio. This helps you design and own a career that’s fit for a future in flux.

ex judicata:  I believe that is number 6 on the list of superpowers.  I’m reading ‘For success and satisfaction in a world in flux, treat your career as a portfolio to curate rather than a path to pursue (or a ladder to climb).’

April Rinne:  I wanted to mention that on your website, I believe it says something like ‘Welcome to the revolution’   My husband Jerry, is like ‘This is you: The career revolution!’   I like what you have done on the website, and I would love to support it.  I do feel like I’m a kind of – take this as a compliment – I’m a sort of poster child for ex judicata.

ex judicata:  Oh, you are. The embodiment of what we are all about.  Thank you again for being here.

April Rinne:  My pleasure and thank you.

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You can refer them here: https://fluxmindset.com/8-superpowers

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