Innovation Toolkit: Cathedral Thinking
Explore how cathedral thinking can be employed in business to navigate post-pandemic uncertainty and create long-term value
Industries and businesses are facing a world increasingly characterised by VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), a situation of constant change requiring companies that are looking to innovate to adopt new mindsets to address complex and unpredictable challenges.
To navigate a world dominated by a fast-changing VUCA landscape, companies need to build adaptability, flexibility and resilience into their ways of working, enabling them to thrive and innovate in times of crisis and disruption.
Cathedral thinking, an approach originally applied to religious architecture and later space mission planning, employs long-term thinking to envision potential future challenges and needs in order to integrate solutions in the present. In the Middle Ages, for example, cathedral master planners would plant trees that would provide new timbers for potential restorations 500 years in the future.
Today, cathedral thinking offers businesses a tool for planning and investing long-term, taking into consideration the needs of future generations and the planet. Beyond integrating resilience in their operations, cathedral thinking allows companies to respond to growing consumer expectations that demand to see businesses leading change and creating solutions to complex contemporary issues, such as the climate emergency and socio-economic inequality.
Cathedral thinking offers a framework for brands to think long-term, integrating financial profits and long term growth with societal and environmental value. This enables businesses to align with stricter and more informed consumer expectations around the positive impact of brands on society and the planet.
What? Cathedral thinking is a long-term approach in which a brand begins to plan and build its legacy in the present. It requires companies to move beyond short-sightedness in business, addressing problems as they arise. Instead, embracing a long-term view in which the needs and expectations of future generations (for example, the right to clean air and water) are taken into consideration and balanced against long-term ambitions for growth.
Why? Consumers are increasingly placing their trust in businesses to solve contemporary problems, demanding leaders to focus on societal and environmental engagement, with the same resourcefulness and dedication adopted to deliver financial profits. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2021, 68% of 33,000 respondents from 28 countries think brands should step in to fix societal and local communities issues. Fixing macro socio-environmental problems requires businesses to think and plan long-term, driving innovative solutions able to provide social, environmental and economic value now and in the future. In 1959, Swedish automobile brand Volvo made the patent of its latest invention, the three-point seatbelt, available to competitors to make the road safer for everyone. Beyond saving the lives of thousands of car drivers, the long-term decision enabled the brand to be recognised as a leader in safety and security, ultimately shaping consumers’ mindsets and driving long-term trust and loyalty.
To employ cathedral thinking, brands should start by rethinking their mission as a business, aligning it with the future needs of people and the planet.
Business model: cathedral thinking requires companies to rethink their purpose and goals, combining financial profit with the creation of long-term societal and ecological value. One way to enact this is through integrating ESG standards into the core of business, regularly reporting on progress. Companies such as Patagonia, Allbirds and IKEA have incorporated sustainability value into every aspect of their business, from zero-waste design to traceable supply chain and transparency. Be authentic to your customers, ensuring social and sustainability commitments are shared. In June 2021, after being reported by British news media ITV for destroying unsold goods such as brand-new laptops and books, Amazon is facing political scrutiny and criticism from consumers, showing the negatives of prioritising short-termism over creating an equitable future.
People and the planet: as part of the long-term commitment to creating a better future, brands will need to focus on preserving and improving the working conditions and wellbeing of employees. Invest in accessible education and free upskilling. In collaboration with the UK government, Google launched a free tech skills programme for people looking to improve their job prospects. The initiative, which focuses around UX design and IT support and offers 9,000 scholarships across the country, will help build the workforce of tomorrow, contributing to a rapid and inclusive recovery.