The Wicked 7 Project seeks to understand the connections between the world’s most urgent problems and why we can’t seem to solve them.

  • The Wickedness of Wicked Problems

    The Wickedness of Wicked Problems

    BY ANN PENDLETON-JULLIAN & JOHN SEELY BROWN The following is an excerpt from Design Unbound. Designing for Emergence in a White Water World. In an era of “precarious terrain,” we are increasingly confronted with complex, dynamic, problem environments. These are environments rather than isolated problems, and they are socio-technological in nature. These prob­lem environments are often characterized…

  • The Alarming Decline in American Authentic Dialogue

    The Alarming Decline in American Authentic Dialogue

    BY CHRISTOPHER LOCHHEAD I fear the value of authentic dialogue is dying in America. Stanford research shows us that people are caring more about themselves and less for others. Clearly, social media plays a role. When you can swipe people away on Tinder or yell at people you will never meet on Twitter, a drop in…

  • In 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish

    In 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish

    BY JEF TEUGELS Introduction: Made in Belgium On November 17, 1909, the Belgium-born Dr. Leo H. Baekeland explained Bakelite at the Franklin Institute (Baekeland, 1910).  PlasticsEurope, the Association of Plastics Manufacturers, describes Bakelite as the first real synthetic and mass-produced plastic (PlasticsEurope, 2020). However, plastic is a form of fossil fuel since natural resources like gas…

  • From corona anxiety towards a new Enlightenment – Why a return to normal is not a meaningful option

    From corona anxiety towards a new Enlightenment – Why a return to normal is not a meaningful option

    BY GUIDO PALAZZO Why do societies collapse? Jared Diamond (2005) finds a rather simple, but frightening, explanation. When we are in a crisis and we do not know what to do, we tend to reinforce established routines. Sometimes, those routines make things worse. These might even be the driving force of the crisis and, as…

  • Designing for Justice

    Designing for Justice

    BY CHRISTIAN SARKAR How do you design systems so that the outcomes of these systems are just? The Design Justice Network gives us a few pointers. Let’s begin by understanding what is meant by the term “designing for justice.” Design justice rethinks design processes, centers people who are normally marginalized by design, and uses collaborative,…

  • The Wicked 7: The APO Interview

    The Wicked 7: The APO Interview

    Watch: The Asian Productivity Organization’s David Sehyeon Baek interviews Christian Sarkar >>

  • How to See: When Narratives Create Reality

    How to See: When Narratives Create Reality

    BY CHRISTIAN SARKAR AND PHILIP KOTLER In this video – more timely today than ever – James Baldwin explains that “reality” depends on our point of view: How you view the world is largely shaped by where you are in it. The cultural narrative we believe in dictates our understanding of reality: This makes our…

  • Interlock USA: COVID, Racism, the Economy, and Climate Change

    Interlock USA: COVID, Racism, the Economy, and Climate Change

    BY CHRISTIAN SARKAR & PHILIP KOTLER The USA is showing us how wicked problems are interlocked. How one feeds the other and the next and the next. In a society where power is corrupt, society loses its legitimacy. Not only is the social contract shredded, but so is our Constitution. The news is making our…

  • Mapping COVID-19 as a Wicked Problem

    Mapping COVID-19 as a Wicked Problem

    CHRISTIAN SARKAR & PHILIP KOTLER One way to map a wicked problem is to begin with a process of discovery. Begin with the current, observable facts and ask “why?” – going backwards in time to create a chain of causality. Remember, each cause is also an effect. To predict what will happen going forward in…

  • Towards a Virtuous Economy

    Towards a Virtuous Economy

    CHRISTIAN SARKAR & PHILIP KOTLER If anything, COVID-19 has opened our eyes to the startling weakness of our current economic system – both in the US and around the world. The “new normal” is simply another way of asking – what does a recovery, a return to business-as-usual look like? The economy was already failing,…

  • From Threat to Opportunity: Wicked Problems have Virtuous Solutions

    From Threat to Opportunity: Wicked Problems have Virtuous Solutions

    CHRISTIAN SARKAR & PHILIP KOTLER One of the criticisms we see for this project is that we are accused of focusing on the negative – on wicked problems that can’t be solved. John Hagel tells us that change movements will have much more impact if they shift from threat-based narratives to opportunity-based narratives. Good point.…

  • Selecting the Wicked 7

    Selecting the Wicked 7

    CHRISTIAN SARKAR & PHILIP KOTLER The process of selecting seven wicked problems was not one we took lightly. In our book on Brand Activism, we asked: What are the most urgent issues facing society? How did we get here? What are the root causes? What must be done now? How can we find common ground?…

  • Wicked Questions raised by COVID-19

    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…

  • What is a Wicked Problem?

    What is a Wicked Problem?

    CHRISTIAN SARKAR & PHILIP KOTLER To begin, here’s the article which introduced the world to the concept of “wicked problems” >> Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning by Horst W.J. Rittel and Melvin M. Webber.  In it, we learn about the 10 properties of a wicked problem: There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem. Wicked problems have no stopping rule.  Solutions to…

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