The Deep Challenge of Navigating Complexity
Problem-solving institutions—government agencies, social movements, military alliances, philanthropies, community organizations, municipalities, international coalitions, working groups, and many others— exist to navigate public challenges in their domains, often with support from academic research. At their best, these institutions mobilize knowledge and coordinate action to address the problems they were created to solve. And the most effective decision makers know that, to be at their best, these institutions need to be:
• capable enough to solve problems with known or knowable solutions, and
• curious enough to acquire the knowledge needed to address the rest.