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About the event

Adapt to complexity with insights from government, city design, leadership and corporations

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Grasping the concept of Wicked Problems is crucial for tackling the complex problems facing our world today, by identifying interconnections and approaching them with greater empathy for solutions that are both effective and sustainable. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Gain a deep understanding of wicked problems, their complexities, and interconnections to identify them more effectively in various domains. 

• Learn context-specific actions and tools to address wicked problems, moving beyond traditional approaches and embracing empathy-driven solutions. 

• Benefit from diverse perspectives and real-world examples shared by esteemed speakers, inspiring participants to apply innovative approaches in tackling wicked problems. 

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About the Speakers

Bernice Ang, Chief Alchemist at Zeroth Labs

Bernise is a systems innovation lab that aims to make science more usable for complex societal challenges. They tackle “wicked problems” by supporting developing countries and cities to make sense of the messy underlying system dynamics that make their policy challenges the way they are.

Her work at Zeroth Labs involves blending disciplines from anthropology, data science, design, behavioural science, foresight methods and system dynamics in order to bring clarity to complexity. Besides a previous corporate life in private equity, Bernise also founded a youth development nonprofit Syinc, from which alums have gone on to become Forbes 30Under30 and Ashoka Fellow awardees. In international policy, she co-created processes for the development of civil society policy positions at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and UNFCCC.

Bernise is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and serves as external faculty at the National University of Singapore on complexity and systems thinking. 

 
David Isaac Mathews, Founder of Brandspace Advisory, a Causality company.

David has a vision for Aligning Monetisation, Marketing & Product Strategy to Customer Experience for ASEAN startups and corporate ventures. David has been a management consultant, corporate strategist, GM, business designer, entrepreneur and is an experienced venture builder with 18 years in cross-functional digital product and marketing. Leveraging first principles from growth models, David supports the C-suite to deliver more reliable growth for their “What’s Next” strategic business initiatives.  

In product-led growth, David aligns corporate strategy, company strategy-driven positioning and product-market fit for the modern CMO and CPO.  
To de-risk venture building and go-to-market, he develops a base of product-market fit testing and customer experience mapping to reduce the gaps between strategy and implementation, working backwards from the monetisation targets of stickiness and scale.   

David covers venture building, leveraging strategic synergies within investment portfolios and the alignment challenges that impact the delivery of business metrics.  
To de-silo the C-suite and the teams they oversee, David has productised the most effective methodologies as applied by hypergrowth companies to solve common growth challenges. He is a hands-on business leader and individual contributor who deploys this comprehensive, rigorous and agile approach, for effective and impactful execution in today’s product-led companies. 
 

Sarah Grigsby, Executive Coach, Advisor & Founder of Cultivating Wholeness

Sarah has 10+ years of experience coaching senior leaders in MNCs through individual and organisational transformations across Asia, Europe and North America. Increasing their resiliency, agility and adaptability in this complex and volatile environment both at an individual and organizational level.

She is a catalyst for leaders in building a world on regenerative principles where people thrive, do business consciously, lead with compassion, where production is based on circularity and design inspired by nature.

Grounded in science and ecosystemic approach, she cultivates leaders and business in stepping into a future-fit paradigm and ways of working that thrives in complexity.  She does so by leveraging her passion for nature and understanding of the human nature and psyche all combined with her unique personal development experience whilst healing from cancer and other adversities she’s faced. 
 

Jules Yim, Senior Consultant at Cognitive Edge

For the past 14 years, Jules has helped public, private and third-sector organisations grapple with their very wicked problems in human systems – societal resilience, political polarisation, food security, conflict resolution.

What little free time she has left is spent mulling over computational linguistics, urban planning and governance, futures and foresight, climate change, narrative, and the role of the rising Global South in the next century. 
 

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Understanding wicked problems is essential to progress.  

Complex social or cultural problems lack clear solutions, are highly resistant to resolution and often have ripple effects that extend beyond their immediate impact. For instance, climate change affects not only the environment but also social and economic systems.

It is crucial to understand wicked problems because these problems are not only complex but also have significant impacts on individuals, communities, and the world as a whole. For example, poverty, terrorism, social inequality, and global pandemics.  

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If we do not have a clear understanding of the dynamics of wicked problems, we run the risk of applying ineffective solutions or further complicating the problem.

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Understanding wicked problems helps develop more effective strategies for tackling them and enables a more comprehensive approach that considers all the relevant factors involved, including misaligned stakeholders' interests and values.

Understanding wicked problems is crucial for tackling the complex problems facing our world today, understanding the root cause of the problem to approach them with greater empathy for solutions that are both effective and sustainable.

Event location will be shared with successfully RSVP'd guests; Subject to Space Availability.