Creativity is central to solving today's most vexing problems. Our challenge is that so many of our leaders and institutions are locked into political, mechanistic structures that serve only short-term, narrow interests. It would be hard to devise less creative cultures than Congress or many of our largest corporations. Yet these are the very entities we expect to solve massively complex issues such as genocide or global warming.
What did the 9/11 Commission say prevented the U.S. from anticipating the disastrous events of September 11, 2001? "The most important failure was one of imagination," they wrote in no uncertain terms. (p.9, Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States).
Ten years ago, IMD in Lausanne teamed with the Danish company Lego to create a "science of serious play" used by organizations to engage in more effective strategic and scenario planning. After all, young Lego enthusiasts and Hollywood film makers have long been destroying toy skyscrapers for play and entertainment, but the idea was simply unimaginable to our leadership.
In the case of World War II, the Allies' imaginative choice to launch D-Day at Normandy was deemed so implausible that the Germans left that part of the French coast relatively unprotected. Could such a surprise, high-stakes maneuver be even possible in today's politicized, media-frenzied world?
Some see "strategic imagination" as a key to unlocking the creativity needed in such complex, audacious times. These were the points raised by Alexander Manu, the founder and director of the Beal Institute for Strategic Creativity at the Ontario College of Art & Design, in his 2006 book The Imagination Challenge: Strategic Foresight and Innovation in the Global Economy.
This point is also well understood by the extraordinary people at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Earlier this week, the Foundation announced MacArthur Awards for Creative and Effective Institutions. My friend Aly Kassam-Remtulla helped create this new initiative for honoring small, agile organizations that use creativity to solve social problems.
These awardees will each receive $500,000 at ceremonies in Chicago this June:
- Action Health Incorporated, Lagos – Protecting the sexual and reproductive health of young Nigerians.
-Institute for Law and Public Policy, Moscow, Russia – Championing constitutional and legal reform in Russia.
- Instituto para la Seguridad y la Democracia (Insyde), Mexico City – Reforming police and improving public security in Mexico.
- Kartemquin Educational Films, Chicago – Filming documentaries and changing society.
- National Housing Law Project, Oakland – Advocating housing justice for America’s most vulnerable.
- Resources Himalaya Foundation, Kathmandu – Protecting biodiversity where earth meets sky.
- Society for Education, Welfare and Action, Jhagadia, India – Saving the lives of mothers and their babies in India; and
- Woodstock Institute, Chicago – Increasing and protecting the financial assets of low-income people and communities.
When we lament the lack of leadership these days, we need to think small. Better said, we need to think small in order to think big. These small organizations can have a gigantic impact by teaching our larger, traditional leadership that complex problems are not insoluble. It just takes some creativity.
What did the 9/11 Commission say prevented the U.S. from anticipating the disastrous events of September 11, 2001? "The most important failure was one of imagination," they wrote in no uncertain terms. (p.9, Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States).
Ten years ago, IMD in Lausanne teamed with the Danish company Lego to create a "science of serious play" used by organizations to engage in more effective strategic and scenario planning. After all, young Lego enthusiasts and Hollywood film makers have long been destroying toy skyscrapers for play and entertainment, but the idea was simply unimaginable to our leadership.
In the case of World War II, the Allies' imaginative choice to launch D-Day at Normandy was deemed so implausible that the Germans left that part of the French coast relatively unprotected. Could such a surprise, high-stakes maneuver be even possible in today's politicized, media-frenzied world?
Some see "strategic imagination" as a key to unlocking the creativity needed in such complex, audacious times. These were the points raised by Alexander Manu, the founder and director of the Beal Institute for Strategic Creativity at the Ontario College of Art & Design, in his 2006 book The Imagination Challenge: Strategic Foresight and Innovation in the Global Economy.
This point is also well understood by the extraordinary people at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Earlier this week, the Foundation announced MacArthur Awards for Creative and Effective Institutions. My friend Aly Kassam-Remtulla helped create this new initiative for honoring small, agile organizations that use creativity to solve social problems.
These awardees will each receive $500,000 at ceremonies in Chicago this June:
- Action Health Incorporated, Lagos – Protecting the sexual and reproductive health of young Nigerians.
-Institute for Law and Public Policy, Moscow, Russia – Championing constitutional and legal reform in Russia.
- Instituto para la Seguridad y la Democracia (Insyde), Mexico City – Reforming police and improving public security in Mexico.
- Kartemquin Educational Films, Chicago – Filming documentaries and changing society.
- National Housing Law Project, Oakland – Advocating housing justice for America’s most vulnerable.
- Resources Himalaya Foundation, Kathmandu – Protecting biodiversity where earth meets sky.
- Society for Education, Welfare and Action, Jhagadia, India – Saving the lives of mothers and their babies in India; and
- Woodstock Institute, Chicago – Increasing and protecting the financial assets of low-income people and communities.
When we lament the lack of leadership these days, we need to think small. Better said, we need to think small in order to think big. These small organizations can have a gigantic impact by teaching our larger, traditional leadership that complex problems are not insoluble. It just takes some creativity.