Think Forward EP 143 - Rivers, Cities and Invisible Futures with Sherman Cruz

We explore why fear-based futures work narrows imagination and how an indigenous lens replaces control with respect for the unknown. Sherman shares how futures literacy, decolonizing foresight, and relationship-centered thinking change the way leaders prepare for crisis, technology, and the long term.

• Sherman’s journey from governance and risk work to full-time futures studies and strategic foresight 
• How Future Shock shaped a generation’s view of disruption and adaptation 
• Why we do not get to choose our crises and what that means for preparedness 
• Weak signals, Black Swans, and the limits of “safe futures” thinking 
• Dreams and Disruptions as a futures literacy card game for fast scenario building 
• Uncertainty as a learnable environment that surfaces hidden assumptions 
• Leadership archetypes inspired by Sarkar and what they reveal about organizations 
• Decolonizing foresight as power awareness and reclaiming diverse ways of knowing 
• Global South Futures and the idea that relationships are reality 
• Rivers as living entities and what regenerative cities demand from long-term thinking 
• A critique of utilitarian foresight and AI as hyper-optimization built to sell 
• Practical advice for the next generation of futurists centered on improvisation

You can find us on all the major podcast platforms under www.thinkforwardshow.com as well as on YouTube under Think Forward Show.

Order your copy of SuperShifts: www.bit.ly/supershifts

ORDER SUPERSHIFTS! bit.ly/supershifts

🎧 Listen Now On: 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/think-forward-conversations-with-futurists-innovators-and-big-thinkers/id1736144515

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IOn8PZCMMC04uixlATqoO

Web: https://thinkforward.buzzsprout.com/

Thank you for joining me on this ongoing journey into the future. Until next time, stay curious, and always think forward.