A jigsaw puzzle has a solution. There’s even a process for arriving at the solution – corners, edges, middle.
Knowing what the puzzle looks like can help you solve it faster, but even without the picture, we can [eventually] solve a jigsaw. Once all the pieces are in place – it’s done. Complete. Finished.
But lots of other things don’t have neat and tidy solutions – they don’t have a clear ‘end’. They are messy and difficult, and just when we think we’re getting close to the finish – something else gets added to the mix.
Complex challenges don’t have solutions. We can’t ‘solve’ culture, or relationships, or the climate – and taking that approach will likely make things worse.
Instead, we can respond to this type of challenge. We recognise there is uncertainty – we don’t [can’t] know everything, and our response is the best we can do at that time, with the information we have.
Not every challenge has a solution.
But there is always a response.
