Cultivating futures wisdom for collective transformation

Abstract In a world that is dynamic, unpredictable, and profoundly interconnected, how should we act, lead, and relate? The dominant response has been control—identifying risks, quantifying uncertainties, and managing outcomes to create an illusion of stability. As this approach fails to account for the complexity and interdependence of living systems, in this study, we explore a shift from control to relationship, reframing stewardship embodied as futures wisdom in practice. That is, we consider futures wisdom as an evolving framework for transcending to an anticipatory, ethical, and co‐creative mode of engagement with the future. Building on Enqvist et al. who propose care, knowledge, and agency as the key dimensions of stewardship, we are integrating care ethics and future(s) consciousness. In doing so, we foreground wisdom as an evolving, participatory, and deeply relational engagement with uncertainty, transformation, and systemic interdependencies. Based on a set of international expert interviews and facilitated climate action sessions, examining how futures wisdom emerges in diverse contexts, our findings reveal three interdependent qualities of collective futures wisdom: generative dialogue, ethical responsibility, and individual transformation as a catalyst for communal change. These qualities position stewardship as a dynamic process that fosters dialogue, relational ethics, and anticipatory responsibility—expanding the stewardship paradigm and providing a transformative pathway beyond individualistic problem‐solving. With an emphasis on collaborative sense‐making and long‐term collective action, at its core, stewardship embodies futures wisdom, which then emerges through generative dialogue—a process that challenges entrenched assumptions, expands relational accountability, and bridges diverse knowledge systems. This paper does not prescribe fixed pathways but offers an explanatory analysis and contributes to sustainability discourse by transforming stewardship from a static commitment to protecting the present into a dynamic, participatory practice of shaping equitable and regenerative futures. What could be examined next is the practical applications of futures wisdom in governance, sustainability transitions, and policy strategies to better understand its transformative potential.