About TBD Futures

At TBD Futures, we believe in the power of the creativity and rigor.

TBD Futures, founded in 2024 by Lucy Ziegler, leverages extensive consulting experience and proven methodologies from her work with global clients from startups to Fortune 500. As a former Expert Consultant and Design Director at McKinsey & Company, Lucy co-created and led the firm’s Design x Foresight practice, driven by a commitment to help clients navigate uncertainties with a leader's mindset.

TBD Futures is at the heart of a diverse network that includes designers, innovators, strategists, business analysts, product managers, futurists, and industry experts, many of whom are former McKinsey consultants. This collective expertise allows TBD to tailor its services to meet the specific goals and needs of each project.

Available for project-based consulting services, full-time roles, and retained engagements.

Read more about our vision on the Creative Rigor Process, and how Future Preparedness leads to success.

Our vision is to empower leaders to build toward a better future, collectively, for all of us.

As the entire world faces unprecedented complex challenges, leaders across geographies, industries, and organizational sizes are exhibiting similar concerns, fears, desires, and motivations. By uniting around a shared understanding of how to shape the future, we have the opportunity to become more creative and proactive, take actions on win-win solutions, influence the direction of trends, build greater inclusivity and equity, and drive toward a better future for all of us, together, in the long term.

Read more about our vision on Collective Futures

Speaking at U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2023

Lucy W. Ziegler | Founder

I’ve been on a long journey to fulfill my internal drive seeking and creating beauty and meaning. Always loved to write and draw, I became a journalist and started publishing at age 14, wrote and released EPs as a singer-song-writer while in high school, and published my novel at 19. I read a decade’s worth of Sci-fi magazines in one summer in college and started to write fiction. I’ve been fascinated with the concept of time and have written short and long stories exploring it over the years.

An Industrial Designer by training, I’ve had over 20 years of experience in design, innovation, and business strategy, bringing creativity, leadership, and entrepreneurship to organizations globally. As an Expert Consultant at McKinsey & Co., I co-founded and led the Design x Foresight practice, serving clients and gaining valuable insights in industries across consumer, healthcare, retail, mobility, travel, and tech sectors.

I founded TBD Futures to help leaders achieve business objectives, with not only rigorous research and analysis, but also creativity. My work on guiding people’s thinking towards the future brings my tremendous joy, fueling my own creative drive. Ultimately, Futures work is to overcome fear by embracing the unknown and creating meaning, with clear visions and intentions.

Born and raised in Beijing, China, I have lived on three continents, and served clients in eight countries. I obtained my Professional Certificate in Strategic Foresight from the University of Houston. I hold a BS from Beijing Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree from the University of the Arts, both in Industrial Design.

Speaking Engagements