Naming the Adaptive Challenge

We often assume people will be automatically motivated by the issue we are trying to solve, whether it is housing, economic mobility, desegregation, or global warming. But they have their own list of urgent concerns. We have a better chance of getting people’s attention when we show how our issue connects to the bigger challenges and opportunities on the horizon. Leaders who are skilled at naming those bigger adaptive challenges — like disaster resilience or workforce changes or public health — and connecting the dots to solutions will generate support from a larger number of people.