Nurturing reliable, creative, nimble organizations
In the financial crisis, we are not watching complexity at work; we are watching bureaucracy crumble that long ago successfully destroyed complexity. Complex systems are self-organizing and robust; they are duplicative and competitive. Our governments represent the antithesis of complexity, and they are causing this mess. [...]
Loyal customers do more than keep us profitable and provide invaluable feedback. They give us perspective and purpose. [...]
There is something inherently contradictory in the application of scientific method to the study of innovation and complexity, which at least partly explains the adjectives of mysticism hurled at complexity research, most assuredly as an insult. But is it? [...]
Imagine for example, an organization that can efficiently build a world class car even while it discovers and branches out into other related market niches, improving its profitability in the vehicle market as it progresses. Now imagine it doing so without clear leadership or hierarchy, able to successfully adapt to apparently disastrous scenarios such as the loss of half its staff, or the invention of an alternate fuel. [...]
The florist who opens her new shop in Ireland and then goes bankrupt because of a financial collapse in USA which causes a global recession is a good example of the unforseen effect of variable in an open system. Good business plans and models identify and quantify potentially devastating externalities. But no one is omniscient. [...]