Abstract: In his keynote address at GEO Eng 2000, Professor N. R. Morgenstern pointed out and discussed that the global geotechnical profession had three challenging issues: inadequate performance, inadequate compensation and inadequate recognition. The issues are examined, and a technical cause of the three issues is proposed. The technical cause is the inadequately expanded application of the theory of soil mechanics. The theory is developed under and for the state of soil in completely compressive and shear stress condition (i.e.,). However, the theory has been incorrectly applied and inadequately broadened to the general stress state of soil including and/or. Consequently, failures in engineered geotechnical works are not uncommon. Fees for geotechnical engineering can be low and inadequate. Geotechnical engineers have to put their time and effort in preventing soil failures. This cause can be used to technically resolve the three challenging issues.