Download this excerpt from my forthcoming book, Grand Challenge, How Leaders Turn the World’s Biggest Challenges into Extraordinary Opportunities.
The term grand challenge has dual meanings; it can be used to refer to an intractable, systemic social problem, as well as to any bold, multidisciplinary, systems-oriented initiative developed to tackle such a large-scale concern.
Einstein said that our problems cannot be solved with the same thinking that created them, but in an increasingly complex world, we may need to look through the lens of the problem in order to see more clearly back to its roots. Modern dilemmas have multiple causes, multiple symptoms, and manifold impacts. To set about slowing, preventing, or resolving the stubborn crises of our time, we must begin to see and think and communicate about
them in entirely new ways. We must be willing to take a multidimensional, or systems view, and to embrace shared models for understanding and leadership
And we have to be willing to ask ourselves hard questions and respond with hard truths.
