From Foresight to Action: Your Strategic Decision-Making Playbook - Hardcover

by Joana Lenkova (Author)

Turn foresight into action with practical tools for strategic decision-making in uncertainty

In a world where the future arrives faster than planning cycles, leaders face a critical 'Decision Gap' between knowing what might happen and making confident choices today. From Foresight to Action by Joana Lenkova solves this problem by transforming futures intelligence into concrete strategic action.

From Foresight to Action provides five Strategic Future Labs that function as flight simulators for decision-making under uncertainty. Each Lab addresses critical strategic questions through plausible scenarios, dilemmas, and practical tools. Readers will build a complete Futures Strategy Canvas, where choices across customer, product, risk, innovation and strategy are brought together into a coherent, outside-in view.

In the book, you'll find:

• Five standalone Strategic Future Labs with practical tools including The Future Relevance Assessment (framing decisions on product relevance under future conditions), The Strategic Decision Tree (helping leadership teams turn important external forces into explicit choices), and The Future Opportunity Mapping (translating future pressure into opportunity spaces)
• A complete outside-in strategy model connecting future customers to products, opportunities, strategies, and organisational capabilities
• Actionable checklists and 'Next moves' guidance applicable immediately to your own strategic challenges
• Frameworks for understanding decision patterns, cognitive biases, and risk posture in strategic choices
• Practical methods for embedding foresight into culture, leadership, governance, and planning processes to build continuous strategic adaptation

Ideal for executives, managers, strategists, leaders, and decision-makers across organisations, From Foresight to Action transforms the way you approach strategy by treating the future as something you shape, not something that happens to you, providing the practical tools to make better decisions in an uncertain world.

"One of the most thoughtful books on foresight I've read in a long time, connecting futures thinking directly to real decisions."
--Lia Arvidsson, Futurist, H&M Group

"Not theory dressed up as strategy - this is a playbook for leaders making decisions without perfect information."
--John Sanei, Futurist and Global Keynote Speaker

Front Jacket

Joana Lenkova, a strategist and a professional futurist with over 20 years of leadership experience at the LEGO Group, The Walt Disney Company, AB InBev, and Soci?t? G?n?rale, delivers an interactive tool kit for turning futures thinking into concrete strategic action. From Foresight to Action connects foresight methodology with real-world decision-making, placing readers inside real strategic decisions where they rehearse the trade-offs and experience the consequences of their choices before committing to them in practice.

Unlike traditional strategy books, From Foresight to Action uses a choose-your-own-path structure. You can read it cover to cover, or jump straight into one of five Strategic Futures Labs--each built around a leadership question your team is already facing. You navigate plausible future scenarios, confront trade-offs under uncertainty, and build the judgment needed to act decisively when the stakes are real. The book blends immersive exercises with actionable frameworks, transforming abstract foresight into practical futures intelligence you can apply immediately within your organisation.

Each chapter offers ready-to-use tools and frameworks designed for immediate application in business contexts. Where most futures books stop at scenarios, this one picks up--turning foresight into the decisions, trade-offs and commitments that actually shape strategy. The book is built for collaborative use, enabling leadership teams and cross-functional groups to work through exercises together rather than relying on solo reflection.

Written for business leaders, strategists, and educators seeking to build future-ready organisations amid rapid change, From Foresight to Action provides the structured methodology and hands-on practice needed to move from anticipating disruption to responding with confidence. Whether you lead a startup, guide a global enterprise, or teach the next generation of strategic thinkers, this playbook equips you to shape outcomes rather than react to them.

Back Jacket

Praise for FROM FORESIGHT TO ACTION

'One of the most thoughtful books on foresight I've read in a long time--connecting futures thinking directly to real decisions.'
LIA ARVIDSSON, Futurist at H&M Group

'This is not theory dressed up as strategy; it's a playbook for leaders under pressure to decide without perfect information.'
JOHN SANEI, Recognised as the World's 4th Top Futurist

'Future generations depend on the decisions we make today. This book is essential reading for business leaders navigating long-term uncertainty.'
DEREK WALKER, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales

'This book powerfully demonstrates that futures work only matters when it is embedded into the everyday realities of strategy, operations, and culture, turning uncertainty into deliberate, resilient action.'
JOSEF HARGRAVE, Director of Arup University

'Few match Joana's passion and commitment to foresight--she brings tremendous value to how organisations navigate uncertainty.'
HERNAN ESTRADA, Former SVP Strategy & Business Development, EMEA, The Walt Disney Company

'Joana is one of the most credible voices in corporate foresight, translating complex methodology into practical action.'
SERHIY KALINOVSKY, Strategic Foresight Global Lead, Mondelēz International

Author Biography

JOANA LENKOVA is the founder of Futures Forward Ltd, a London-based consultancy, a strategist, and a professional futurist with over 20 years of international experience. She served as the LEGO Group's first Futurology Director and held leadership roles at The Walt Disney Company, AB InBev, and Société Générale. She is an alumna of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and serves on advisory boards across the global foresight and intelligence community.