Global Brain (2.1)

Multi-Faceted Strategic Responses

Every month on REFRAME Magazine, we tackle a Wicked Problem (a complex challenge that seems to grow worse with each attempt to solve it) and reframe it as a Wicked Opportunity (transformative visions of what is possible) by leveraging the tools within Strategic Foresight. We at The Futures School know that Wicked Problems are only seemingly impossible due to our outdated mindsets, and it’s up to us to Map multi-faceted strategies that are Adaptive, Resilient, and Transformative.

VUCA Leadership

We live in a world where “that’s how it’s always been done” doesn’t work anymore. Many of our Wicked Problems stem from the old way of doing things; old economies, old organizational models and old consumer habits are at least a partial source of the quagmire and collapse that we are seeing now. And it is harnessing and leveraging the growing complexity that will reveal the answers to these problems that would have otherwise remained hidden behind the veil of the outdated “way that it has always been done.”

Mapping multiple, alternative futures allows us to be multi-faceted in our present-day decisions.

In this new world, we need to think in multiples. Linear projections are useless in an ever-changing landscape. Further, we need our leaders to embody mindsets that are as future-empowered as the strategies they employ.

Content One

Listen to this week’s podcast to Map three multi-faceted strategic responses that encompass the full spectrum of this month’s issue: Zombie Apocalypse to Global Brain.

Download the transcript here.

Content Two

A time lapse of Alice Edy creating this month’s Map.

Visualize the movement from today’s Wicked Problem – Zombie Apocalypse – toward the transformational Wicked Opportunity – Global Brain. The map tells a story of the data points we’ve uncovered during this month’s thought leadership, including root causes, environmental scanning, strategic responses, and future prototyping.   View the full map to envision a world impacted by the Global Brain!