Why Eastern philosophies matter in strategic foresight

In boardrooms across the world, strategic foresight is too often treated as a technical toolkit: trend reports are used reactively at face value, and scenario planning is used as a predictive framework. These Western-rooted approaches are valuable, but they can leave leaders trapped in the illusion of control, rather than prepared for true uncertainty.

By contrast, many Eastern philosophies — Daoism and Zen Buddhism in particular — have for centuries cultivated wisdom to be at ease with navigating change: reframing perspectives, going beyond current trends, accepting impermanence and practising deep preparedness to multiple possibilities, among other principles.

An Eastern perspective on strategic foresight reframes it not just as a technical practice, but most importantly as a mental capability. This article discusses three simple and practical ways this can be carried out in strategic foresight.

In Zen, the beginner’s mind is a newborn-like enthusiasm, full of wonder and curiosity about the external world. Inspired by the beginner’s mind, Pierre Wack suggested that looking at the future through scenarios is as if one re-learns how to look at the future from scratch. This is crucial in strategic foresight as scenarios spur us to let go of categories and preconceived notions so that we can reperceive the futures with the wonder of a beginner. Indeed, the quote by Zen master Shunryu Suzuki, "in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few," could be readily adapted to "in the beginner’s mind there are many futures, but in the expert’s mind there are few," without losing its original ethos.

In practice, strategic foresight workshops may challenge leaders to reframe their strategic environment by including rotating perspectives, shifting levels of industry analysis or introducing remarkable people – practices already used – and also by actively fostering conditions for a beginner’s mind. This can be done through probing questions such as: 'How would a newcomer/young adult/child see this problem/issue/situation?' among others.

In various Eastern philosophies, the student is taught to detachedly observe their thoughts without judgement and rumination. This is similar in strategic foresight, where the leader is taught to detach from current trends, as these may be friends until they bend and appreciate the deeper foundational truth of the nature of the future, i.e. that it is open to multiple possibilities and agency. This is crucial in a world of many 'trends reports' where leaders may invest in passing fads, without necessarily considering that the open space of possibilities of the future business environment may not be determined by them. If meditation brings a person stillness by not being transported by thoughts, strategic foresight brings an organization stillness by not being transported by trends.

In practice, strategic foresight workshops can include meditations and exercises specifically designed around the detached observation of fleeting trends and events and their possible repercussions (or equally likely lack thereof) several years from now. The goal of this is not to let the organization be reactively transported by these phenomena.

The highest level of practice in many Eastern spiritual traditions usually involves reaching enlightenment. The nature of enlightenment changes between traditions and whilst transcendental forms of it (such as awakening that allows one to reach nirvana) may not be useful in the context of strategic foresight, a more down to earth, direct approach to enlightenment aims to reach ‘awareness of awareness’ without necessarily going through years of meditation. By contrast, this approach involves simply awakening to the mind-blowing reality of existence in some of the most mundane moments of our lives. Strategic foresight also acts in similar ways, as it spurs leaders to experience 'preparedness for preparedness' to multiple futures, abandoning the wish to control outcomes.

In practice, strategic foresight workshops can be reframed from exercises with the goal of controlling the future, to exercises with the goal of controlling leaders’ preparedness capability to cope with it. This emphasizes the skills leaders develop through exposure to scenarios, rather than the cosmetic strategic changes in response to scenarios. This is crucial in a world where scenarios are often used as a predictive framework, i.e. leaders may prepare only for the developed scenarios, expecting that one or more of them will occur. This is akin to an extension of prediction, while strategic foresight should instead be a solution to the limitations of prediction.

Blending Eastern principles like the ones above, among others, into strategic foresight is not just intellectually refreshing; it is an act of cultural inclusion. It reminds us that resilience and innovation emerge when organizations embrace diverse ways of knowing. Indeed, diversity must expand beyond representation in the workforce to include diversity of thought, culture and, most importantly, diversity of philosophies in the way we prepare for and shape the futures.

For leaders, this means moving beyond the logic of strategic foresight as an instrument of reactive control and opening themselves to the flexibility, wisdom and surrender embedded in Eastern views of the futures.