Wicked Problems: What can we do in this Time of Collapse?
by Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler (with ClimateGPT)

all color, 386 pages
(8.5 inches X 8.5 inches)

IDEA BITE PRESS (March, 2025)

The English edition is available in the following countries:

US | UK | DE | FR | ES | IT | NL | PL | SE | CA

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK?

• Community Leaders who want to understand the interconnected nature of systemic crises and drive meaningful change in their neighborhoods, cities, and regions.
• Organizational Leaders – in business and non-profits – who want to navigate complex challenges and build resilient, impact-driven organizations.
• Government Leaders who seek to reform political systems that perpetuate wicked problems and work toward systemic solutions.
• Strategists, Marketers, and Innovators who are interested in new frameworks for tackling global challenges through systems thinking.
• Economists who want fresh perspectives on how power, corruption, and interconnected crises shape the global landscape.
• Individuals who are concerned about the world’s trajectory and want to understand how to drive change.
• Students who are frustrated with the status quo and want to explore new ways of thinking about leadership, governance, and impact.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler explore why the world’s most urgent problems remain unsolved, emphasizing their interconnected and self-perpetuating nature. They argue that traditional problem-solving methods fail against “wicked problems”—complex, systemic issues with no definitive solutions – not so much because they can’t be solved, but rather because the existing power structure doesn’t want to solve them.

• Systemic Failure, Not Broken Systems: Political and economic systems are not failing by accident but are functioning as designed, often preventing solutions to major crises.
• Cumulative Causation: Problems reinforce each other in degenerative cycles (Myrdal’s theory), making solutions difficult if not impossible.
• The Need for a Shift in Thinking: Moving from reactive to proactive mindsets (Scharmer & Kaufer) is crucial for addressing these challenges.
• The Ecosystem of Wicked Problems: Problems don’t exist in isolation; they are interconnected, requiring holistic approaches – these problems must be tackled simultaneously.

The book categorizes the world’s worst wicked problems as “Crazy-Wicked Problems”—those that, if unsolved, threaten human survival.

The authors also identified seven overarching problem categories (the Wicked 7) by mapping 162 global issues, focusing on power and corruption as the root cause of systemic failure. They argue that solving these requires systemic, regenerative transformation rather than fragmented, symptom-based interventions.

Along the way, we were introduced to ClimateGPT – a social intelligence interwoven with AI technology, to decode the complexities of our time. Each chapter has a contribution from this planetary scale AI.

Ultimately, Wicked Problems calls for a new way of regenerative strategy across all dimensions of human existence—one that acknowledges interconnections and prioritizes solutions that address root causes rather than surface-level symptoms.

Now, more than ever, the ideas in this book explain how we got ourselves into this mess – and how we can mitigate the effects of our folly.

WHAT’S THE DOOM + GLOOM ABOUT?

Don’t like the way things are going?

There’s still a chance to face the collapse – through regeneration.

Let’s face it. We have to fight.

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Fight.