Wicked Questions raised by COVID-19

CHRISTIAN SARKAR & PHILIP KOTLER

Sitting in lockdown, we started making a list of questions about WHY? >>

  • Why is it that our institutions are failing us, and the common good, precisely at the moment we need them most?
  • Why does the economy treat its “essential workers” so badly? 
  • Why is no one talking about the whale in the pool: the failure of the for-profit healthcare system in the US?

This, in turn, led us to WHAT?

  • What do countries with the best COVID-19 responses have in common?  And the worst?
  • If COVID-19 is the wakeup call, what wicked problems should we think about next?
  • What can we do to find (or create) an approach to explore the root-causes of wicked problems, rather than just the symptoms?
  • What would the world look like if we listened to the voice of the planet, and collectively decided to redesign the existing socio-economic paradigm to rebalance society, to respect nature and the interdependence of all things?

Fundamentally, COVID-19 demands new answers. We can’t go back to the “economy-as-usual.”

So WHERE and HOW do we begin? With the Wicked 7.

Stay tuned.