Complexity
“Our world is naturally diverse and messy - full of complex interconnections and variability - where futures are uncertain and unpredictable... - Hazel Tiffany”
ENTANGLED
The success of our actions is influenced by local, national and international dynamics. Subtle shifts can create new possibilities, large scale interventions can result in countless unintended consequences.
So many things are interconnected. We touch and impact the lives of many people across the world as consumers and workers. We can influence the opinions and beliefs of people we have never met. Our choices and actions trigger multiple causes and effects.
We are all actors in a vast number of systems. Sometimes playing a leading part, sometimes a supporting role. We play good guys and bad guys often not even aware of our role or the effect we are having.
The way that we translate and act out our parts is influenced by a broad set of dynamics - perceptions, beliefs, history, fears, ambitions, local, national and world affairs. Our actions can have dramatic consequences - we can create new markets, change the shape of politics, save lives, condemn others to slavery, destroy natural environments, cause the extinction of species - and many more, positive and negative.
Most of the time we don’t see the systems, we see the effects but without appreciating the part we have played. In most cases it’s impossible to actually say what part any one of us played, those dynamics create many entangled pathways and we don’t act as one or in predictable ways
This is the world we operate in at work. A dynamic and unpredictable world. Exciting and overwhelming in equal parts. It’s not the world we lived in when the business models we (mostly) apply today were invented. They are based on a much more stable, predictable world where it was easy to define systems and follow standard rules and processes. A world of (perceived) certainty.
Our social world is no less complex and can be equally overwhelming, but somehow we seem to handle that complexity differently. The same can be said for the natural systems that most of us don’t even stop to consider but yet hold the most amazing insights into how systems really work.
Imagine if we stepped away from our personal silo’s and mindsets and looked at the way we operate, organise and work completely differently. It excites me to see that this is exactly what is starting to happen
“The fact is we can’t get away from complexity. We are all a part of the overall system of life. So, our resistance and inability to embrace it has significant consequences on all of us... - Hazel Tiffany”
