Is leadership the solution to the wicked problem of climate change?

Abstract

This media review piece considers the climate change emergency as an example of a Wicked Problem, a problem type which has no clear solution but requires the collective to address, if we are to save the planet. It also provides a mechanism to link the media debates about climate change to leadership. It first sets out a typology of problems and decision styles, and then explores the cultural theory of Mary Douglas as a way of understanding why we have such difficulties addressing Wicked Problems, but what we might do about them. It then proposes we need to focus beyond Leadership as a decision-making category and to consider the role of Management and Command. Finally, it focuses on several elements of the issue to understand where the blocks to action lie, and they include the nature of language, the role of time, and the recognition that ultimately no consensus is likely to emerge.