# Introduction {% embed url="" %} Presentation given to the Systems Innovation Geneva Hub {% endembed %} ## Sailing Complexity: The Explorer’s Metaphor An introduction to sensemaking and complexity management for designers, managers, and decision-makers. ![](https://284402553-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MT6UxeiaGaUpHnD5fGe%2F-MTKdwbrC5S7P2OyUmeW%2F-MTKf7GdofP1rp023dCj%2Fthe-explorers-metaphor-cover.png?alt=media\&token=25570149-0e1b-4c5d-afb5-e2433a636f8e) ### An invitation to be explorers, not just problem-solvers We tend to see design and innovation as problem-solving spaces. This engineering and sometimes mechanistic approach is not bad in itself but brings a lot of limitations, one major being to quickly frame whatever challenge into a narrow, finite, solution. When facing uncertainty, designers, innovators, and changemakers might feel unempowered. We look for recipes and pre-packaged generalist solutions — “the answer”, that sells an illusion of certainty through the economy of speed — to help us **disambiguate our very specific contexts**. > Problem-solvers look for answers. Explorers look for better questions. Instead, exploration makes the invisible visible. This multi-layered understanding will add more potential to our *portfolio of possibilities*. > Problem-solvers reduce options. Explorers enable possibilities. New challenges are invitations to become *curious explorers*, in a world where everything is believed to be known, predictable, and ordinary. ### Reclaim a space for curious exploration ![](https://284402553-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MT6UxeiaGaUpHnD5fGe%2F-MT6XW-fg11OUKMCw3fe%2F-MT6sBInod0o3QuIX9OL%2Fthe-explorers-metaphor-topography-with-compass.png?alt=media\&token=7d943738-01cb-44a3-a135-b29605408bb2) ***The explorer’s framework*** is a set of ideas & concepts for practitioners to help approach challenges and problems in ways that add layers (rather than subtract), enable possibilities (rather than reduce), diversify points of views, and enable a portfolio of strategies & actions to tackle (complex) challenges (rather than single-point solutions). *Exploration* is not to be opposed to *conception* — it is a useful tension*.* Exploration should be pursued as a parallel ongoing journey with no clear end. It is the philosophy & ethics of the curious humble learner. ![](https://284402553-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-MT6UxeiaGaUpHnD5fGe%2F-Mf8jSJRYisp8o9ZXRJi%2F-Mf8lLi8rX5feAtjZ2_5%2F655338c996b7fc0b1c0a7e8df5c29c7d.jpg?alt=media\&token=7e4ecfdb-a194-4721-8d2f-327e0fd3962d) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://explorer.designcriticalthinking.com/master.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.