From time to time I am invited to speak at The Stoa, a group that got together at the start of the pandemic and has continued since. Always an interesting group although some of their sessions verge on the esoteric end of new-age fluffy bunnydom. I did a whole series for them on Naturalising Sense-making […]
Of people, roles and ritual (1 of n) Read More »
I can’t imagine that anyone interested in complexity in organisations will not know the work of Ralph Stacy, or not be saddened to learn of his death earlier this month. The Complexity & Management Centre, which he founded, at the University of Hertford, published this brief obituary earlier this month and his early history is
Ralph Stacey 10/9/1942 – 4/9/2021 Read More »
The road to hell, they say is paved with good intentions and nothing is more frustrating in the general field of sense-making and complexity work than when you encounter said practice. To a degree, this picks up and extends my post of a few days ago, albeit it with a substantially more polemical style. In
Prevarication by platitude Read More »
The love of wicked men converts to fear, That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both To worthy danger and deserved death. Richard II Act V Scene i 59-68 I thought through this post, keeping notes on the iPhone as I walked from Salcombe to Torcross on the South West Coastal Path. I
20 years on, some memories Read More »
If you go back in time then two books could be considered to have laid the foundation for what I have termed the ‘systems thinking’ era which runs from the 1990s and is now (hopefully) starting to run out of steam while leaving much of value. They are Hammer & Champy’s 1993 Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto
Learning: an anthro-complexity perspective Read More »
Carwyn Edwards sent me an interesting link via social media the other day. It was to an article by an anthropologist at Dartmouth College on the link between great thinking and obsessive walking which starts with a wonderful quote from 1861: “Moreover, you must walk like a camel, which is said to be the only
… which ruminates when walking Read More »
Back from holiday (of which more tomorrow) and a chance to pick up the blog agai as well as to reconnect with ‘civilisation’ in general. Part of that return was marking 2nd September 2022 (not that is not a typo) in the diary for the release of Amazon’s mini-series based on the Silmarillion. I’ve been
…the eye was bewildered Read More »
If you’ve been following us for the last few years, you’ll know we’ve been developing our Citizen Engagement & Democratic Innovation programme. So it’s a well established hive of activity and expertise. Now The Cynefin Company is proud to announce we’re launching a white paper to explain the theory and thinking that underpins the programme.
We’re launching a Citizen Engagement & Democratic Innovation Programme White Paper Read More »
So on this day, 15 years ago I wrote my first ever blog post. I was just settling into staff accommodation at Nanyang University (The banner picture I grabbed from Google Street View but I can’t remember exactly which one) for a three-month sabbatical. In keeping with an overall theme over that period my second
This post picks up on the idea of shallow monogamy in my post of a few days ago looking at some of the obstacles to the adoption of complexity thinking. The other two types were lotus-eating, meaning a retreat from reality, and the Magpie who collects bright and shiny things with little or no understanding of their use,
Too fast, too soon? Read More »
