By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 16 Jul 21
Yesterday I raised the idea of using a colony of different organisms that have evolved to collaborate as a single entity as a metaphor for new forms of organisation. In that first post in respect of physical workspace I referenced using the familiar, in a modified context to cope with the familiar. I started there as the question of physical and virtual options is at the heart of much current discussion on what I think is wrongly titled hybrid working. I reminded readers of my definition of resilience (which includes as a subset those designed anti-fragile) as survival with continuity of identity
Yesterday I raised the idea of using a colony of different organisms that have evolved to collaborate as a single entity as a metaphor for new forms of organisation. In that first post in respect of physical workspace I referenced using the familiar, in a modified context to cope with the familiar. I started there as the question of physical
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 15 Jul 21
I am indulging myself a little with the title to this post. For those who don’t know it describes a type marine entity which, while it appears to be a single organism is in fact a colony of different zooids that are different morphologically and are functionally specialised. One of the best examples is the Portuguese man o’war pictured left. They have no means of propulsion but drift with the tides and if washed up can cause a beach to be closed as they are very poisonous. That is the theme of The adventure of the Lion’s Mane one of the
I am indulging myself a little with the title to this post. For those who don’t know it describes a type marine entity which, while it appears to be a single organism is in fact a colony of different zooids that are different morphologically and are functionally specialised. One of the best examples is the Portuguese man o’war pictured left.
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 12 Jul 21
From time to time I get very frustrated at the ability of consultants and academics to correctly diagnose reasons for failure or success with the benefit of hindsight but fail to realise why the diagnosis of itself is not enough to make a difference the next time round. The latest example of this is a useful article in the HBR titled The Power of Anomaly. The authors are all Boston Consulting Group and as a sidebar I am noticing a trend in HBR to be, shall we say ‘more open’ to such authors. One of the reasons why I have
From time to time I get very frustrated at the ability of consultants and academics to correctly diagnose reasons for failure or success with the benefit of hindsight but fail to realise why the diagnosis of itself is not enough to make a difference the next time round. The latest example of this is a useful article in the HBR
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 11 Jul 21
I originally intended to publish this post way back in May and got all the notes together but a mixture of work pressure and ill health (a bad foot infection now resolved) have hit the backlog. If you have to spend two weeks with your foot elevated and iced taking strong anti-biotics its too easy to neglect things but they never go away!. When that follows a pivot in your own company’s strategy with new staff to take on it gets even worse in terms of time to reflect and write. But I’ve been making notes in this draft post
I originally intended to publish this post way back in May and got all the notes together but a mixture of work pressure and ill health (a bad foot infection now resolved) have hit the backlog. If you have to spend two weeks with your foot elevated and iced taking strong anti-biotics its too easy to neglect things but they
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 7 Jun 21
I’m going to assume that everyone who frequents this blog and is a regular reader of Dave’s work is very familiar with general concepts of evolution, both as a biological fact and as a metaphor. In the Cynefin framework, evolution appears most prominently in exaptive practice, associated with the complex domain. Exaptation in that context is defined as radical repurposing and it is key to how innovation often happens in complexity. The term exaptation was proposed as an additional process to adaptation by the evolutionary biologist (and a personal favourite) Stephen Jay Gould, most famously outlined in a 1982 essay
I’m going to assume that everyone who frequents this blog and is a regular reader of Dave’s work is very familiar with general concepts of evolution, both as a biological fact and as a metaphor. In the Cynefin framework, evolution appears most prominently in exaptive practice, associated with the complex domain. Exaptation in that context is defined as radical repurposing
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 7 Jun 21
Anthro complexity I’m going to assume that everyone who frequents this blog and is a regular reader of Dave’s work is very familiar with general concepts of evolution, both as a biological fact and as a metaphor. In the Cynefin framework, evolution appears most prominently in exaptive practice, associated with the complex domain. Exaptation in that context is defined as radical repurposing and it is key to how innovation often happens in complexity. The term exaptation was proposed as an additional process to adaptation by the evolutionary biologist (and a personal favourite) Stephen Jay Gould, most famously outlined in a
Anthro complexity I’m going to assume that everyone who frequents this blog and is a regular reader of Dave’s work is very familiar with general concepts of evolution, both as a biological fact and as a metaphor. In the Cynefin framework, evolution appears most prominently in exaptive practice, associated with the complex domain. Exaptation in that context is defined as
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 9 Apr 21
From time to time someone, knowing my interest in narrative sends me a link to yet another website collecting people’s stories. One popped up in slack as I was writing this offering a “magic formula” to change the world. It has some powerful stories all carefully curated by the design team. They are organised into categories and you can find ones suited for their need, and then you can sign up children (as long as an adult is present) to follow the four-stage magic formula to create more of the same. All worthy, all valuable in its way but I
From time to time someone, knowing my interest in narrative sends me a link to yet another website collecting people’s stories. One popped up in slack as I was writing this offering a “magic formula” to change the world. It has some powerful stories all carefully curated by the design team. They are organised into categories and you can find
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 29 Mar 21
I first used the illustration to the left last November when I was updating the whole Flexuous Curves Framework (FCF). I don’t intend to repeat the material of that earlier post or to be completely consistent with it, but I recommend a quick skim before proceeding. This used to be known as the Apex Predator Curve but I realised that the Apex idea was just one aspect of a wider re-wilding idea; where I have yet to write part 2 of my initial post last January. This wider concept needs a different name. It is not finally settled yet, but
I first used the illustration to the left last November when I was updating the whole Flexuous Curves Framework (FCF). I don’t intend to repeat the material of that earlier post or to be completely consistent with it, but I recommend a quick skim before proceeding. This used to be known as the Apex Predator Curve but I realised that
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 28 Mar 21
In recent times I’ve been engaged in a series of interesting exchanges with Dr Mike Jackson OBE, hereinafter referred to as Mike. I have a visiting chair at Hull University where he is Emeritus Professor and as well as a fair number of mutual friends including Yasmin Merali and Gerald Midgley. I have been provisionally scheduled to give the Mike Jackson memorial lecture in 2023, Peter Senge gets the slot in 2022, so there will be some interesting contrasts to be made. This year will see Carlo Rovelli is leading a symposium on the work of Alexandr Bogdanov whose work
In recent times I’ve been engaged in a series of interesting exchanges with Dr Mike Jackson OBE, hereinafter referred to as Mike. I have a visiting chair at Hull University where he is Emeritus Professor and as well as a fair number of mutual friends including Yasmin Merali and Gerald Midgley. I have been provisionally scheduled to give the Mike
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 17 Feb 21
An alternative title for today’s post could have been sometimes necessary, rarely sufficient with the same subject namely the legitimate discussion of competence and its role in decision making as well as questions arising from the more nefarious areas of competence standards and certifications. the proximate trigger for this was the publication on Sunday of GAPPS Guiding Framework for Leadership in Complexity one day after our Field Guide. The mapping between them and the radical contrasts illustrate the growing divide between complexity approaches and those which go under the general banner of systems thinking. The GAPPS document is also a consensus document that
An alternative title for today’s post could have been sometimes necessary, rarely sufficient with the same subject namely the legitimate discussion of competence and its role in decision making as well as questions arising from the more nefarious areas of competence standards and certifications. the proximate trigger for this was the publication on Sunday of GAPPS Guiding Framework for Leadership in Complexity one