We live in an age filled with big ideas but devoid of any real consensus regarding how to prioritize them. Working with colleagues, I have attempted to systematically think about the big ideas that surround us: what they are, why they matter, the progress being made in adopting them and the obstacles preventing any particular big idea from moving to the next level. 

The big idea behind this research is that if we understood the world’s big ideas, we would be able to craft a better future. 

The 19th-century French novelist Victor Hugo wrote, “One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the invasion of ideas.” But apparently the invasion can be ignored. The first cognitive gut-punch I received in my research was that, in many organizations, the invasion of big ideas appears to have stalled.

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