How might we develop ecological frameworks of complex questions to co-create a fair-free-flourishing-future and restore the health of the planet?

How might we, as equity leaders, trainers and muses, design scalable learning platforms to develop a laser focus on solving our complex web of self-inflicted wicked problems in the 21st-century?

Updated episodically based on new insights: based on an ongoing, open peer-review process of collaborative learning. Candor and feedback welcomed.

As equity muses, we ask complex questions to open-align-inspire our mindsets to launch Equity Moonshot: co-design and build an equitable, regenerative and sustainable future.

These questions represent a masculine–feminine continuum of challenge-support-nurture inquiries about how to do good for the commons, the common good, humanity and the health of the planet.

Working together as Socratic Sherpas, we ask complex questions with the mission of developing learning communities, networks, and networks of networks to work on Equity Moonshot question. Each and every one of us can play a part.

Just pick one question that speaks to you. Explore the meaning and purpose of one question to its depth. Contemplate and discuss the meaning of this question before engaging in generative dialogues within learning communities. Take the time for slow thinking.

The outcomes of generative dialogues include new ideas, insights, perspectives, breakthrough understandings, collaborative transformations and social innovations that contribute toward solving our complex web of self-inflicted wicked problems in the 21st-century. Rinse and repeat with another question.

Why do we need ecological frameworks of complex questions?

This framework (described below) provides holistic opportunities to engage in lifelong intergenerational learning journeys across different levels, systems and sectors needed to work on the Equity Moonshot quest.

How might we, as equity leaders, trainers, muses, executive coaches, academics and educators, design scalable learning platforms to:

• Develop a laser focus on what matters to all of us?

• Redress why our rigged, dystopian systems are designed for an inequitable, non-regenerative and non-sustainable future?

• Mobilize a #UniteEquityMuses movement of transformational change agents to build launch pads for #EquityMoonshot?

How might we weave tapestries of networks to build launching pads for EquityMoonshot?

Equity Moonshot is a humanitarian-technological metaphor for co-creating ecological frameworks of complex questions designed to transform our mindsets and design virtuous systems to do good. 

How might we, as equity muses, leaders and learning designers, enable and mobilize people and their leaders to:

• Align ethical, systemic, regenerative, ecological, complexity and human-centered design thinking to co-create a fair-free-flourishing-future for the benefit of all?

• Integrate East-West indigenous-modern wisdom to solve our wicked problems?

• Deploy the ethical use of technology to build ethical networks of virtuous networks, open innovation hubs and entrepreneurial ecosystems to implement equity governance?

All metaphors have strengths and limitations that can liberate and constrain our mindsets in addressing wicked problems. No one metaphor is adequate enough to solve wicked problems.

• How might we, as equity muses, combine our use of metaphors in ways that enhance their strengths and redress their limitations in synergistic ways to mass mobilize people to embark on the #EquityMoonshot intergenerational lifelong learning journeys?

As equity muses, we need to deploy a tapestry of metaphors, ask questions and evoke news ways of thinking that enable people to gain new insights into the complex challenges of redressing systemic influences for our wicked problems.

As catalytic change agents, we ask complex questions to mobilize people and their leaders to build launch pads for EquityMoonshot. The mission is to weave tapestries of self-organizing, self-governing, self-sustaining and self-regenerating networks of interconnected learning communities. These integrated networks are essential for perpetuating the intergenerational lifelong learning processes to collaborate on the Equity Moonshot quest.

In turn, our collaborative learning communities amass, coalesce and align in transforming our mindsets to solve the wicked problems of restoring planetary and redressing escalating inequities. This calls for building story movements to redress the unfairness of inequities and to cultivate the fairness of virtues. (The metaphors in the following questions below are bolded.)

How might we, as hives and swarms of equity muses, build a million launching pads to:

• Co-elevate synergistic upward spirals of virtues and vitality to scale up ethical personal and systemic transformations?

• Cultivate the emerging conditions needed to cascade critical mass chain reactions?

• Exponentiate the impact of Equity Moonshot?

How might we liberate and mobilize millions of butterflies to:

• Generate an abundance of collaborative learning communities?

• Develop deep partnering relationships across our diversity of value systems?

• Orchestrate seismic shifts in transforming our mindsets?

• Regenerate the soil to cultivate mycelia network power to transform our amoral and immoral systems into virtuous thriving communities and flourishing cultures?

How might we work on wicked challenges to prevent wicked problems?

The #EquityMoonshot quest aims to cultivate anti-fragile capacities needed to take on wicked challenges and to develop resilient capabilities in redressing our wicked problems,

Wicked challenges and problems are opposite sides of the same coin.

How might we, as equity muses and leaders, ask complex questions to:

A. Take on the long-sighted mission of working on wicked challenges

• Develop equity governance, ethical stewardship, distributive leadership, political integrity, and sociocratic democracy to assure planetary restoration, human rights, equality and fair opportunities for all?

B. Redress the short-sighted reasons for our wicked problems

• Understand how deep root causes, dysfunctional systemic influences and negative leverage nodes interact to exacerbate our wicked problems?

The depth of our self-inflicted wicked problems is a direct measure of focusing on short-termism: such as, the neoliberal market-driven economy enabled by reckless corporatocracy and the maniacal for-profit drive with thoughtless disregard for stakeholders, community and planetary health.

• How might we generate 100 ideas to flip from the theory of planned obsolescence with hyper-consumerism and personal ownership of products driven by our addictions to neoliberalism to the "built to last" models with hypo-consumerism and the non-ownership of leased products guided by equity governance, economics, stewardship and distributive leadership regenerative economics?

Imagine ... resurrecting the old green idea of producers being responsible for the full life cycle of their products.

• How might we generate 100 ideas to flip from the short-termism of linear economics to the long-termism of regenerative economics?

Short-term gains driven by short-sighted ego-centricity inflict long-pains for communities and the planet. Our governance, stewardship and leadership failures arise from our shortcomings in confronting our lack of moral courage in responding to questions needed to launch #EquityMoonshot. Our addictions to neoliberalism deny us the discernment needed to address our inadequacies in solving our self-inflicted wicked problems.

How might our political-public-privates sectors (governments, corporations and civil societies) collaborate to:

• Overcome our neoliberal addictions to short-sightedness and short-termism and enable long-sightedness and long-termism?

• Address the leadership dilemmas of maximizing the long-term gains of working on wicked challenges while minimizing short-term pain of redressing wicked problems?

How might we awaken the shadows of unwokeness?

Unwokeness is unawareness about understanding our the complexities of wicked problems. An ecological framework of complex questions provides a process for facilitating lifelong intergenerational learning processes for working on wicked challenges and problems.

• How might we (as equity muses, leaders, thought leaders, executive coaches, academics, educators, scientists, artists, musicians, creators, ethicists, philosophers, educators, virtuous influencers, moral connectors, open innovators, social entrepreneurs, virtuous influencers, moral connectors, mavens and ethical marketers) amplify the light of virtues to take on our pressing wicked challenges and to illuminate the shadow and the dark side needed to redress our monumental wicked problems?

How might we best use ecological frameworks of complex questions to work on our complex web of self-inflicted problems in the 21st century?

A. Metaphysical inquiry: experience the equanimity of transcendence to navigate transformational changes

B. Meta-inquiry: cultivate equity governance

C. Stewardship inquiry: develop distributive leadership

D. Community inquiry: build equity learning networks of social entrepreneur hubs and innovative ecosystems

E. Inter-being inquiry: co-create generative dialogues for transformational collaboration

F. Intra-being inquiry: facilitate awareness, growth & development