Looking around the globe, it is amply clear that the existing models of economic, political and social development are either inadequate at best, or more often than not, abject failures. Despite vast investments of human, technological and financial capital, we continue to face ever-greater challenges at the personal, community and global levels. From debt, disease and discrimination to environmental destruction and armed conflict, seemingly intractable problems abound. All our solutions are targeted at attacking these problems individually. These problems, however, are symptoms of a much deeper malaise, one that requires an active reimagining of human society.

For almost ten years, I ran a for-profit social enterprise whose mission was to provide clean, safe, affordable housing to lower-income households, most of which were led by minority women. My team and I strove hard to make a positive impact, turning blighted communities into oases of hope for a demographic jaded by years of abuse, neglect and discrimination. But despite our best efforts, it soon became apparent that touching lives at the grassroots level was not enough.

Deep and lasting improvement requires institutional change. Contrary to popular belief, the failure to successfully create a more just, equitable, inclusive and conscientious society is not a limitation of, nor a characteristic inherent to, the human condition, but stems from a lack of imaginative, capable and bold leadership.

So the question arises: how does one cultivate a cadre of leaders and change agents so that they are enabled and empowered to create new institutional frameworks upon which the rest of society can build?

Requirements for effective leaders and change makers

At a basic level, leaders and change makers need three attributes:

1. A strong desire to make positive change. Happily, there is no shortage of well-intentioned and highly capable persons who are eager to improve their communities and their world. We see this in every community, in every nation, around the globe. And yet real and lasting change seems elusive.
2. The ability to effect change. Leaders and change agents need to have a set of core skills and traits that enable them to actually make the changes required. These can be learned and cultivated.
3. An understanding of how to effect real, meaningful and positive change. This means understanding with both mind and heart. In other words, they need both knowledge and empathy.

If the purpose of education is to serve humanity and help fulfill our collective responsibility as stewards of this planet, how do we best prepare change makers for this leadership role?

Any education geared towards tomorrow’s leaders needs to address three deceptively simple yet profound questions.

1. Where are we today, and how did we get here?

In order to be effective change makers, leaders need to have not just a broad and deep understanding of the world – of peoples, systems, institutions, and of the attendant problems – but also be able to view them in their proper historical, cultural, religious, political, economic and social contexts. Without this understanding, it is difficult, if not impossible, to make the best possible decisions.

This means having a holistic and transdisciplinary education and understanding. The world is not neatly broken down by academic disciplines, and nor should one’s education be thus compartmentalized.

Our technology-obsessed society is focused on hyper-specialization, which is the very antithesis of what leaders and change agents need to be effective and successful. By fragmenting our learning into academic disciplines, we have cultivated change makers who can only view problems and issues through the lens of their disciplinary specialty, and hence fail to enact the meaningful changes that real societal transformation demands.

2. Where do we want to go?

What do we want the future to look like – for ourselves, our communities, our planet?

Unfortunately, most people think of incremental improvements to existing systems. Few have the vision and creativity to think about reimagining entire societal systems, which is where, once again, we need visionary leadership.

This means conceptualizing and evaluating entirely new political, economic and social paradigms and the related institutions to support them. It means reinterpreting our notion of well-being and realigning our priorities.

3. How do we get there?

We can educate ourselves about our existing problems, and how we got here. We can come to agreement on what the future should look like. But the toughest part is figuring out how to get there, as there are undoubtedly many opinions and options regarding the path to progress.

Change makers need to be able to evaluate and examine alternative paths, to figure out the best courses of action, and to do so in an inclusive and holistic manner.

It should be clear from the foregoing that change agents need to be well-versed, or at least literate in, a broad spectrum of knowledge, from science and philosophy, to history and anthropology. This is why a true transdisciplinary liberal arts education – not what it has morphed into these days – is possibly the best education for change makers.

This needs to be augmented with key skills and competencies, and practices and experiences that enhance understanding and empathy, enabling change makers to maintain open minds and open hearts.

At the end of the day, how we educate our leaders to answer these three key questions will define the next stage of human progress and development.