Seiko Shirasaka: The Power to "Think About How to Think"

2022/11/29

Have you heard of the term VUCA? VUCA is an acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. Today is called the VUCA era, a time when the future is unpredictable and things do not go according to plan. In other words, ways of thinking that worked in the past no longer apply today, or will cease to apply in the near future. The pace of this change has become very fast. Until now, it was enough to learn a successful way of thinking and repeat it. From now on, even if you learn a way of thinking, it will quickly become obsolete. Furthermore, life expectancy has increased, leading to what is called the "100-year life" era. Assuming a graduation age of 22, one works for nearly 40 years after graduating and then lives for another 40 years. What we must acquire in such an era is the "power to think about how to think," which remains effective for a longer period.

To "think about how to think," two major, distinct abilities are required. One is the "ability to decide on the goal to aim for." This can also be called the "ability to formulate questions." The other is the "ability to design how to achieve that goal." These two abilities are treated as completely different fields. However, in the current VUCA era where environmental and technological changes are rapid, if you do not know what technologies can be used and how, you cannot set the goals to aim for, nor can you judge their feasibility. In other words, it has become necessary to handle what were previously two different fields in an integrated manner. Furthermore, since current situations and environments differ completely, the paths toward goals also differ entirely. This is precisely why "thinking about how to think" is necessary.

For example, even for something as simple as "coming up with an idea for a new healthcare service," few people have a framework for deciding whether to start with brainstorming, fieldwork, or searching for existing services on the internet. However, these are things that can be learned and acquired.

For the sake of the coming era, I want to continue advancing research and educational practices so that more people can acquire the power to "think about how to think."