ONLINE COURSE
Futures Thinking for Strategic Decision-Making
Reimagining Strategy in Times of Uncertainty
In today’s volatile world, static plans and incremental thinking fall short. Futures Thinking for Strategic Decision-Making, a six-week online course from Stanford Online, combines strategic foresight and design thinking to help leaders anticipate change, envision multiple futures, and translate foresight into action. Through self-paced materials, two live sessions with the course instructor, weekly live office hours, interactive exercises, and a futures-focused capstone, you’ll move from reacting to change to shaping what comes next—building resilience, imagination, and long-term strategic strength.
Key Takeaways
During this course, you will learn to:
Anticipate change through horizon scanning and trend analysis.
Imagine multiple futures with scenarios, world-building, and storytelling.
Make the future concrete through the use of artifacts.
Develop a futures narrative to recruit team members and advocates.
Embed foresight into organizational planning and culture.
Course Outline
Recognize why futures thinking is emerging as a critical strategic capacity for navigating change, uncertainty, and complexity.
Identify how futures thinking helps leaders engage more effectively with volatility and ambiguity.
Understand the core elements of long-term thinking.
Understand how the "official futures" developed by organizations can be expanded to incorporate multiple perspectives and futures.
Apply the futures cone framework to your own area of work.
Distinguish between internal and external forces impacting your organization and shaping outcomes.
Apply the STEEP model to conduct horizon scanning and trend identification.
Use tools like the futures wheel to explore ripple effects of external forces.
Use storytelling and narrative as tools to communicate compelling futures.
Explore world-building, science fiction, and experiential futures as strategic tools.
Examine how imagination drives strategy and inspires organizational innovation.
Understand the history and practice of scenario planning as a foresight tool.
Apply visual frameworks such as the rapid 2x2 to test critical uncertainties.
Develop and share scenarios that prepare organizations for the unknown.
Embed foresight practices into organizational planning and culture.
Strengthen teams and processes with futures-oriented frameworks.
Design strategic conversations that turn foresight into sustained impact.
Capstone Project
The course includes a futures-focused capstone project where you will apply tools such as horizon scanning, futures cones, scenario planning, and storytelling to your own organization or sector. This project allows you to synthesize everything learned in the program and translate foresight methods into practical strategies that strengthen innovation, resilience, and long-term decision-making.
Who Is This Online Course For?
Leaders and executives seeking to enhance their strategic foresight capabilities and strengthen long-term decision-making
Managers and decision-makers looking for proactive, adaptive approaches to planning and strategy in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments
Professionals aiming to build anticipatory leadership skills to identify emerging opportunities and embrace complexity
Individuals seeking to develop resilience, curiosity and adaptability in the face of rapid change and disruption
Those in roles focused on strategy, long-term planning, or innovation management who want to move beyond traditional methods and develop future-ready practices
Program Walkthrough
Live faculty sessions for real-time engagement
Self-paced learning with a manageable commitment of 4–6 hours per week
Assignments to apply futures tools to your own organization
Case studies and interviews with experts from Stanford’s d.school
Interactive office hours, hands-on exercises, and a futures-focused capstone project that bring your learning to life
Certificate of Achievement from Stanford Online
Featured Course Elements
Practice with frameworks like the Futures Cone, STEEP scanning, and scenario planning to anticipate signals of change and expand your strategic horizon.
Use narrative techniques, world-building, and experiential futures to translate imagination into compelling, actionable strategies.
Develop futures artifacts that help translate abstract ideas into tangible representations, enabling you to test assumptions and explore potential outcomes.
Industry Insights
78%
2.5x
65%
Instructor
Futurist in Residence and Lecturer, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford University
Lisa Kay Solomon is a Futurist in Residence and Lecturer at Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (known informally as the Stanford d.school), where she leads futures ...
Certificate of Achievement from Stanford Online
All learners who successfully complete this course will receive a Stanford Online Certificate of Achievement delivered as a digital badge. In addition, they will also earn 4 Continuing Education Units.
To obtain CEUs, learners must complete the accreditation confirmation, which is available at the end of the course. CEUs are calculated for each course based on the number of learning hours.
FAQs
Learning with Stanford Online gives you access to live faculty-led sessions, interactive exercises, and practical assignments you can apply directly to your professional context. You’ll also engage with peers from diverse industries, enhancing collaboration and perspective.
Yes. All participants who successfully complete the Futures Thinking for Strategic Decision-Making course will be awarded a Stanford Online Certificate of Achievement delivered in a digital badge format and verified on the blockchain, along with Continuing Education Units (CEUs). This credential validates your mastery of futures thinking and its application to organizational strategy.
No prior technical background is required. The course is designed for leaders, managers, and professionals across industries who want to strengthen foresight and adaptive planning skills.
This course is ideal for executives, strategists, innovation managers, and decision-makers who want to move beyond short-term fixes, embrace complexity, and design proactive strategies to guide their organizations in uncertain environments. If you have any doubts or specific questions about whether this course is right for you, schedule a call with a program advisor who can help.
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