Finding the right conversation

We've been brought up with a pretty linear approach to solving problems. Define, measure, analyse, improve, control. Find a subject matter expert, and off we go. Whilst that is a sound approach in a world of complicated, it is of much less use as complexity, with occasional chaos, becomes the order of the day. In a world defined by "wicked" problems that morph and adapt to any effort to manage them, linear doesn't work, and there are no subject matter experts.

In a "wicked" world, the challenges we face are ours - we have a unique perspective on them and equally special abilities to address them, but we cannot outsource them to others. In such a place, the insight we need rarely lies with others in the same environment but rather in those who can give us a perspective from a different place altogether. Not with those who charge a fortune for expertise, but rather with those who have similar values and purpose operating in a different arena entirely.

On an everyday basis, I see people fr…