We all want to make the world a better place in one way or another.

We are recei
ving a great education, we put this knowledge to use solving real-world problems
, and we are using the fact of being in a very privileged position to serve a go
od purpose. We are seven billion people ready to cooperate and collaborate in or
der to solve the world s most biggest problems.
Even though the two words cooperation and collaboration sound familiar, the unde
rlying actions are not the same. While cooperation is adivision of labour among
participants, collaboration is a more elaborated form of mutual engagement of p
articipants in a coordinated effort to solve the problem together and thus creat
es an additional value. In collaboration, a group is more than the sum of its pa
rts, and synergy is the ability of a group to outperform even its best individua
l member.
If we want to harness the power of the crowd, how do we get all seven billion pe
ople on the same page? For this, we need to share a vision a representation of s
omething greater, a belief that gives us a purpose and a cause. It needs to be b
oth flexible enough to meet the needs in different cultures, and specific enough
to be applicable and understandable for all, striving for the same goal. Before
we find answers for how? we do this and what? it is that we do in particular, w
e need to get a clear definition of our why? why it is that we pursue certain go
als, the purpose that drives our actions. It makes sure that even if the circums
tances change and the execution of a project must be altered along the way, the
eyes are still set on the bigger goal.
Why?
Asking why is about questioning everything we know. It s about investigating the s
tatus quo, our habits, and normative perceptions. Why is it that we are so passi
onate about changing the world? It s because we believe that it s worth making the w
ord a better place and that every one of us deserves it not just because human d
ignity is the basis of Human Rights Law. Our belief is the reason we care, the r
eason we get out of bed in the morning.
How?
Asking how we do something is a next logical step, it is a a manifestation of ou
r purpose on a more concrete level. Answering the questionhow we follow our goal
s provides answers about good leadership, it s set to inspire and motivate others
to achieve the goals we set before. Putting our how to action is best done gloca
lly thinking globally, acting locally, and working in multidisciplinary teams. T
his model has been implemented by successful organizations like the MIT Center f
or Collective Intelligence to solve problems that affect us all so-called wicked
problems that do not have a right or wrong solution , the ones we need to tackle
together.
What?
What we do can range from eradicating poverty and hunger to fighting for gender
equality, but the process of defining what we do in particular does not matter m
uch, as the answers to our what? are a result of the systematic previous develop
ment. We can be creating schools, improving medical conditions to reduce child m
ortality, or be building an app for cleantech solutions in smart homes and by th
e way, wejust happen to be solving some of the world s most basic, yet most critic
al problems.
About the author:
Juli Sikorska was a student speaker at the South American Business Forum 2014. S
he cares about human interactions in their environments, and combines insights f
rom her studies in communication science, psychology, and computer science. She
tries to incorporates design thinking into daily life in order to tackle the big
problems around education and climate change. After SABF 2014, she joined the M
IT Center for Collective Intelligence as a Visiting Student Researcher.