Courage is an essential yet understudied component of innovation and ethical leadership, especially in the STEM fields. This paper introduces the ecological system model of courage, inspired by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, to conceptualize courage across five levels—micro-, meso-, exo-, macro-, and chrono-courage. The model illustrates how courage develops within nested systems, from individual acts of bravery to collective, long-term societal transformation. We argue that transformational courage is vital for addressing global challenges such as climate change, public health crises, and systemic inequities. This paper highlights the importance of fostering multilevel courage in educational, professional, and societal settings for sustained impact and resilience.

Currently, most education for the gifted, including STEM education for the gifted, places great emphasis on the development of knowledge, analytical skills, and less often, creative skills, but little or no emphasis on the development of wisdom-related skills. We argue that this failure to emphasize the development of wisdom is a serious mistake. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics can be used for good ends, but too often, are being used for bad ends by gifted individuals whose education and reward systems do not prepare them for the challenges the world faces today. The goal of this article and of this special issue is to encourage STEM education for gifted students that recognizes, develops, and rewards STEM wisdom—the seeking of a common good over the long- as well as the short term.

Anthropogenic climate change adversely affects our societies’ health, economy, and natural and built environments. In several regions, these adverse effects are compounded by non-climatic stressors, further elevating risks to various sectors. Previous studies have shown that historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities (HUSVCs), which face pre-existing barriers and have historically been excluded from the decision-making process, disproportionately suffer from the negative impacts of climate change. Therefore, in an era marked by rapid climatic changes and numerous non-climatic stressors, the need for societies to become more resilient while promoting equity and justice has never been more pressing. This chapter explores how transformational wisdom, an advanced form of wisdom aimed at improving the world, offers a viable pathway to contributing toward this goal. Unlike conventional wisdom, which focuses on resolving immediate conflicts and problems, transformational wisdom strives to create positive, meaningful, and enduring changes in the world. We employ the Polyhedron Model of Wisdom (PMW) to establish a roadmap toward employing transformational wisdom to empower society to become more resilient under the combined effects of climatic and non-climatic stressors while fostering equity and justice by prioritizing HUSVCs with lower risk thresholds and adaptive capacities. Specifically, we explain the continuation of different components of the PMW, including knowledge management, altruism, moral maturity, openness, tolerance, sound judgment, decision-making, intelligence, creative thinking, and dynamic balance, to guide us toward an equitably resilient society. Through this holistic and action-oriented approach, we can build resilient communities that can withstand today’s challenges and thrive in the face of tomorrow's uncertainties.