Megatrend 1: Big Problems

Why are traditional approaches to problem solving and organization increasingly leaving us wanting as we try to grapple with many of the problems we face? One of the reasons is that the problems we need to solve are actually becoming more challenging. Some have called these increasingly difficult problems “wicked problems.”* Others think in terms of what it takes to solve such problems, and refer to efforts to tackle them as complex endeavors.†What makes some situations or tasks so daunting, and some problems so difficult to solve? Answering this question can help us understand why our existing institutions, familiar approaches, and available tools might be inadequate. It can also point us to ways of avoiding or coping with these situations, accomplishing these challenging tasks, and solving these seemingly intractable problems. Success requires both knowing what to do and being able to do it. As we see, some of our difficulties lie in not being able to formulate a solution strategy. In other cases, we know what to do, but we cannot actually do it. There are also times when we know what to do and it is possible to do it, but we cannot organize effectively and efficiently enough to get the job done.