Subscribe to Our Newsletter

How do we see social problems at scale?

If I were an eagle I would be able to see 8 times farther than the sharpest human eye. Soaring 10,000 feet above the ground, I’d take in a sweeping 180-degree view of the beautiful panorama below me, lush forests, winding rivers, shifting patterns in the landscape. I’d see colours far beyond the usual reds and greens – even subtle shades like cyan and light cyan. But perhaps my greatest superpower would be the ability to shift focus in an instant, to be able to instantly zoom in from the big picture to a tiny mouse a mile away. 

If I were an ant, I’d see something entirely different. My world would be textured with dents, ridges, and gaps invisible from above. I’d notice how things interact with each other, how the tiniest crack can compromise a massive boulder with little effort and, other times, detect hidden fragilities and overlooked connections – the tiny hinge points that can make or break a system.

When it comes to solving complex social problems, we need both views.

Some change leaders see only from the ant’s point of view. They encounter every issue as a boulder in their path – concrete, urgent, and local. They build solutions that chip away at what’s visible, but often miss the larger system that keeps producing those boulders in the first place. 

Others see only the eagle’s vantage point – focusing only on systems, scale, and transformation, but fail to account for the dependencies and diversity needed to solve problems at scale, for everyone. They see the vibrant flowers but miss the worms that hide behind the leaves and eat up the plants. 

To solve social problems at scale, we need to cultivate the ability to shift between the eagle and the ant’s perspectives – to fly high enough to understand the “why,” and go deep enough to uncover the “what” and “how.” This is what System Orchestrators do. 

I spoke with Dr. Harish Hande, co-founder of SELCO Foundation, to understand how he embodies this dual perspective in his work bringing sustainable energy solutions to communities in India.

In the early days, SELCO was laser-focused on making solar energy accessible to rural households – installing solar panels, training technicians, and building financing models with banks. These on-the-ground efforts made a real difference, but Harish and his team soon realised they were winning small battles while the larger war raged on.

“We were solving for light,” he said, “but not questioning why energy poverty existed in the first place.”

That prompted a shift. Instead of focusing solely on delivering solar technology, SELCO began to examine the broader system: How healthcare, education, livelihoods, and financial inclusion were all affected by the absence of reliable energy. They reframed their mission – not just to supply energy, but to integrate it meaningfully into people’s lives.

Their approach evolved into three interconnected strategies for exponential change:

• Deep contextual grounding – Working closely with communities to co-create energy solutions that fit their specific needs – whether powering sewing machines for tailors or sterilisation units in rural clinics.
• Ecosystem building – Engaging policymakers, financial institutions, entrepreneurs, and service providers to embed energy solutions into the wider development narrative – not as an add-on, but as a core enabler.
• Capacity reapplication – Creating models, toolkits, and local talent pools that others can use to adapt “energy for X” approaches (where X is livelihood, health etc.) in new geographies, without starting from scratch.

This shift – from solar panels to orchestrating the system – was only possible because they knew when to zoom in like the ant and when to fly out like the eagle.

Einstein once said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.” 

He wasn’t exaggerating. The key to scale lies not in rushing to fix what’s visible – but in pausing to understand what’s really going on under the surface. 

How are you looking at the problems you care about? Have you flown high enough to see the broader landscape? Have you gone deep enough to notice the cracks, the connections, and the leverage points?

Want more inspiration?

Explore stories from System Orchestrators in our network – people who are learning to see differently, shift perspectives, and design solutions that grow and sustain at scale.

Because, real change starts with how we see.