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In a field of very well qualified Presidential candidates, Andrew Yang has found a way to stay competitive and stand out among the crowd. He is not a Congressman, a Senator, a Governor, or a billionaire, and yet he is polling well, raising a ton of money, and garnering a massive social media following. And, his campaign is continuing to gain momentum. But what is most interesting is the way he is influencing other Presidential candidates, now and in the future(s).

Senator Bernie Sanders has undoubtedly had a massive impact on the Democratic Party since his 2016 campaign influencing not only the Democratic Party’s agenda, but also how the Party operates. Senator Sanders has been advocating against corruption, greed, and injustice for decades, and his meteoric rise in 2016 put him in a position to eradicate some of the corruption and injustice in our system. And, it is conceivable that over the course of this campaign cycle and in decades to come, Andrew Yang will be able to directly influence the Democratic Party’s agenda the same way Senator Sanders has, and similarly influence how the Party operates.

Andrew Yang’s impact, though, might go far beyond influencing the Democratic Party’s agenda and how the Party operates. In a world where we have been discussing many of the same issues for decades, Andrew Yang is running a data-driven campaign laser-focused on the future(s). While many candidates, past and present, have delivered soaring speeches with platitudes about the future, Andrew Yang seems to be the first Presidential candidate that speaks as though he is familiar with the field of futures studies.

The biggest clue that Andrew Yang is familiar with futures studies is his stated motivation for his signature policy proposal. Andrew Yang’s Universal Basic Income proposal, which he is calling The Freedom Dividend, would give every American adult $1,000 a month forever, and the primary driver for him suggesting this is automation and AI trends. Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a form of social security that ensures income inequality doesn’t get out of control. Yang has communicated superbly why he thinks we need to implement a Universal Basic Income.

The reason Andrew Yang cites for UBI is that we are experiencing the greatest technological shift in our history. He argues (or simply observes) that four million manufacturing workers had already lost their jobs in 2015 before the election of the current president. And, on Yang’s campaign website it says, “The smartest people in the world now predict that a third of all working Americans will lose their job to automation in the next 12 years. Our current policies are not equipped to handle this crisis. Even our most forward-thinking politicians are unprepared.”

Some might argue that Andrew Yang is just forecasting technology, and that other candidates have done just as much forecasting on issues related climate change, healthcare, and foreign policy. It may be true that other candidates in the current race (or their staff) have done some futurist exercises, but at the very least Andrew Yang has identified a massive blind spot that no one saw or is seeing. And, how did he do that? Was it luck that he just stumbled upon a massive problem and the associated solution that virtually no politicians were talking about? Maybe. Or, maybe Andrew Yang is a new brand of candidate that has read a thing or two about futures studies.

Andrew Yang’s candidacy represents the beginning of a new wave of candidates that will have the ability to understand the complexity of our society in ways that present candidates haven’t been able to. We obviously need less career politicians and more of something else. Maybe that something else includes scientists, entrepreneurs, architects, engineers, and artists that are proficient at entertaining and building the improbable solutions we need. Perhaps we need more “once-in-a-generation” minds that have the intellect and imagination to identify blind spots and build consensus around inspiring and effective solutions.

Andrew Yang tells his story of coming to the conclusion of UBI as a process of discovery, like the way a scientist might uncover a new element or like the way an entrepreneur might discover a market opportunity. Imagine if more candidates were as curious and methodical as scientists, architects, and engineers or as resourceful and as creative as entrepreneurs and artists. Imagine electing 535 designers, engineers, and builders to the United States Congress. The creative product of such a Congress would be unprecedented.

Andrew Yang may be the first futurist in the White House. This is a big deal. Not only will it mean that the State of the Union will now include a data-driven slide deck with a new suite of American Key Performance Indicators, but it will also mean a government thinking and planning in much longer time frames. Imagine a government thinking on 100-year time scales or 1,000-year time scales.

One thing is clear, Andrew Yang is enabling current and future Presidential candidates to more ambitiously communicate with the American public at higher levels. Andrew Yang hasn’t shied away from complexity and nuance. He faces it head on. Presidential candidates need to be able to communicate complex problems to the American public. Our society is only going to get more complex. Imagine how much more complex our society will be in 1,000 years. We need more Presidential candidates that are willing to communicate complexity and data, and we need them to be able to build consensus around big ideas. We need more candidates that identify as futurists. Hopefully, Andrew Yang is just the first of many.

“As a society, we can’t hide from the future; we have to build and own it.” — Andrew Yang