Everywhere I look, there are broken parts.
Not just in the physical world, the cracks in our infrastructure, the shortages, the delays but in the ways we, as humans, have built and continue to build. The faster we go, the stronger our expectations become, and the more pressure we put on our surroundings.
I’m not talking about the planet this time, we already understand at least broadly the environmental damage we’re creating. I’m talking about us: the systems, behaviours, and expectations that underpin how we function day to day.
Take supply chains as an example.
As consumers, we’ve normalised instant gratification. We expect broader product ranges, swifter delivery, and frictionless convenience. We represent consumerism at its most demanding and its most unhealthy.
The Pressure Cooker of Modern Systems
Behind every one-click purchase sits a complex web of people, policies, and processes all stretched to meet our accelerating appetite. The cracks show up as driver shortages, inconsistent regulations, non-cohesive ways of working across ecosystems, policy avoidance, and misaligned targets.
Each issue on its own is manageable. But together, they point to a much deeper problem: we’re optimising individual parts of a system that’s no longer coherent as a whole.
I’ve been part of so many discussions recently that attempt to diagnose these problems deep dives into root causes, operational bottlenecks, data models, and workforce pressures.
And yet, what’s often missing is a holistic lens.
We talk about logistics in one meeting, sustainability in another, digital transformation in the next. Rarely are these conversations linked. It’s as if we’re trying to fix a broken machine by tightening one bolt at a time, without ever stepping back to see how all the parts interact.
The Absence of a Holistic View
The question, then, is: which approaches actually land change?
Who is reframing the system end-to-end? Who is looking not just at the visible problems, but at the interdependencies that create them?
So far, I’m not seeing many. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist — but they’re hard to find and often operate in isolation.
A few bright spots are emerging:
- The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is reshaping design and consumption through circular economy principles.
- The World Economic Forum is exploring cross-sector supply resilience.
- Cities like Amsterdam are experimenting with “Doughnut Economics”, a balance between human needs and planetary boundaries.
- Some forward-thinking companies are linking consumer education with transparent logistics and ethical sourcing.
But these are still islands of progress, not yet a connected movement.
Where Change Will Come From
Real change won’t come from one organisation or policy shift. It will come from systems literacy the ability to see how everything connects.
To rebuild what’s broken, we’ll need to:
- Reframe efficiency from “how fast” to “how balanced.”
- Treat human well-being and resilience as metrics equal to profit and performance.
- Align policy, technology, and consumer behaviour under a shared vision rather than competing agendas.
This isn’t just an operational challenge, it’s a cultural one.
We have to slow down long enough to look at the full picture, to ask whether the systems we’re sustaining still serve us or whether we’re merely sustaining their dysfunction.
Everywhere I look, there are broken parts. But maybe that’s not a reason for despair maybe it’s a signal. A signal that it’s time to stop optimising the fragments and start redesigning the whole. A redesign that requires collaboration internally, externally and across industries.
I’d love to hear from others exploring this. Who do you see taking a truly holistic approach to systemic change?
Kelly Hobson, MD Shape Tomorrow