The Problem Problem

We have a problem with problems. We're not very good at recognising them. But, on the other hand, we're brilliant at symptoms. Give us a symptom, and we're all over it because there's money to be made from symptoms. We spent 1.26 trillion dollars on pharmaceuticals last year, up 43% on a decade earlier, and it's forecast to increase to 1.595 trillion by 2024 - up another 27% in four years. The most significant categories address lifestyle issues, from obesity to mental health. There is far more money to be made from symptoms than problems - much less money to be made from healthy people than from selling the illusion of health to ill people.

The same is true of business. In pursuit of endless growth, we promote "scale" as a virtue, and end up with mass mediocrity rather than the true excellence of products and services that combine "enough" with function and beauty. Scale is a godsend to those in the symptom alleviation business - the pressure of scale and its complexity create a breed…