Navigating Complex Systems

Rory Sutherland suggested that the host of Simplifying Complexity have me on his podcast a while back. In that interview, I was critical of those who peddle ‘complexity’ as a new paradigm in economics. It's not. It's a bunch of new models. But the idea of 'complexity' as some new lens really runs rampant in numerous discourses around society and, for instance, new approaches to social disadvantage. The idea is constantly peddled that the current system is blinkered in its thinking. The word 'linear' will be thrown around.

However, to me, this misdiagnoses the problem. The reason existing systems don't work very well is that they're not, ultimately built to work for users. They're built to address the needs of those building the system. Building them so they do work takes more than some consultants coming in with a new 'holistic' view of the problem. And if the consultants do have a better view of the problem and how to fix it, how are they going to get it to stick and to grow once it's been developed and all the forces that produced the initial dysfunction remain.