There is no solution

I’m not saying we should stop trying to make things better. Not at all.

But the problems we face are complex, whether at a global, national, corporate, even personal level. As such, they have no “solution”, and any attempt to impose a “solution” is bound to fail and ignite more problems.

Politicians, company bosses, you and me, should not ask, “What is the problem and how can we fix it?”

To ask that is to put faith in Big Plans, and to fire the gun on a race among utopian solutions, leading to more conflict and problems.

There is no one way to end poverty, save the NHS, make the industry more productive or [insert issue here].

Instead we should ask a profoundly different question, which is, “What’s working around here and how can we do more of it?”

That question unifies. It ignores competing utopianisms, stops us dehumanising our “enemies”, and directs our energy toward practical efforts to make things better.

It’s a mindset necessary for delegation, too, because it turns us away from the fruitless pursuit of the ideal, and points us toward the possible. It gets us going.