What lies at the heart of the problem

16 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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1:11

In this monologue, the speaker argues that organizations habitually concentrate on surface‑level solutions—models, procedures, consultants, and training—while neglecting the deeper, underlying causes of challenges. He stresses that true understanding requires digging down to the core myths, metaphors, and worldviews that shape both internal dynamics and external disruptions such as wars, genocides, and political upheavals. By only addressing the visible, top‑level symptoms, companies are ill‑prepared for the profound changes occurring in the broader world, making futures‑oriented interventions ineffective unless they confront these foundational narratives.

Chapters

So what is the problem here? The problem is that far too often we are focused only on the top. It's easy to look at the figures. It's easy, it's neat. There are models, there are procedures and processes, there are things we can put in place. We can hire a consultant, we can go on a training course, and we can change that stuff at the top. But in reality, what really needs to happen is we need to look deeper down. We need to go right down to the heart of what the problem is. And this is the business case for any kind of futures intervention, is that while we're looking at the top, we're not seeing what is really happening. And what is really happening is not just based on our own myths and metaphors, our own worldview, but what is happening in the rest of the world or in the country around us. So every disruption we're seeing in the news headlines at the moment about wars and genocides and politics and everything else, is at their heart something about myths and metaphors, and companies that are just trying to address the litany at the top are not going to be able to respond to the very real change in the world that we are seeing at the moment.