Trista Harris on why we should ‘stop loving the problem’

Trista Harris still remembers her surprise when she learned that families in Sweden were sent home from daycare with a ready-made dinner, prepared by the centre’s chef. 

When she asked why, the answer was simple: parents of young children are busy, and cooking after a long day can be difficult. For Trista, an American mother, the response raised another question: why did the centre feel responsible for making life easier for families? 

“It was such a cultural mismatch,” she says. “There was a problem, and they were trying to fix the problem because they wanted families to be happy and healthy.”  

The experience became a powerful example of the kind of future-focused thinking Trista encourages communities to embrace. Rather than accepting existing systems as fixed, the Swedish approach demonstrated how public services can be designed around wellbeing.  

“I’ve been so conditioned to think that children are an inconvenience and that the most important thing is work,” Trista reflects. “Then someone says, ‘the most important thing is that you have this new baby in the world and you need to help them survive.’ And you realise, of course, that is important. We just haven’t prioritised it in that way in my country.” 

Trista was visiting Sweden as part of Field Trips to the Future, a program run by her organisation, FutureGood, which takes leaders to communities that are successfully tackling challenges others hope to solve themselves.  

Trista is a renowned philanthropic futurist who advocates for the use of futurism to address critical community challenges worldwide. She will be speaking about her work and inspiring others to navigate rapid technological, environmental, and social change at Conference 2026 on the panel Future Proofing Generosity: From Uncertainty to Action.   

Stop loving the problem 

Trista, who describes herself as “ruthlessly optimistic”, encourages people to “stop loving the problem”. To spend less time analysing challenges and more time focusing on solutions. While many focus on crises and disruption, Trista points to breakthroughs in technology and healthcare that would have seemed impossible just a decade ago.   

“I really focus my energy on what does it looks like if it’s fixed, and what are we doing right now that will get us to that state?”  

“We are literally living in an age of miracles. Things ten years ago that we felt impossible are happening every single day right now.”  

That optimism extends to the social sector, despite major funding cuts in the US and globally. Trista believes the breakdown of existing systems creates an opportunity to build something better.  

“If just one system broke, we would rebuild it in the same way that it looked before … But our great benefit is that most systems are breaking … it creates clear ground where you can create what’s next.”  

She argues the social sector is well placed to help shape what comes next and is already seeing communities turn to local solutions as trust in federal institutions declines.  

Trista believes philanthropy has an important role in supporting long-term thinking and helping organisations imagine a different future. She encourages funders and nonprofits to dedicate five per cent of their time, funding or communications to thinking about what’s next – as without a clear destination, organisations risk spending all their time responding to immediate problems rather than making progress toward long-term goals.  

“The future is something that isn’t this terrible thing coming towards us, but one that we create with the decisions we make today.”