Depending on the day, we are immersed in news of economic optimism and pessimism, and technological progress and regress. The narrative always ends up being over reduced and the nuance missed but underneath the headlines are an emergent set of themes that are simple to recognize but incredibly difficult to take advantage of. They are that our world is becoming dramatically more complex, and it is becoming dramatically more sensitive.
The complexity is self evident. Traditional boundaries that used to delineate domains that provided leaders reliable heuristics are continuing to crumble and the contingent nature of of these domains continue to create cascades of effects throughout organizations and their associated stakeholders. While financial markets are leading indicators of these effects, finding the root cause of the of any contagion is becoming almost impossible. Private actions are made public, public actions are have private effects, technological advances are accelerating and institutional knowledge is being automated. Furthermore, more tasks are being digitized and modelled and the seemingly untouchable domains of work are being challenged. There is no simple narrative that can capture the true nature of these complexities, this is especially true when we test the limits of statistical regression, reinforcement learning and the millions of permutations we are generating computationally.
In conjunction with this increasing complexity is a sensitization, or tension, in our systems that are creating perturbations into our economic, organizational and social structures. From societal and financial inequities to technological and economical rises and falls the sensitivity of our systems or organization are more sensitive than ever and the constant reorganizing of corporate orientations in light of these effects are mind blowing. The dynamism required to be aware of these changes let alone take advantage of these changes are largely elusive. Even the most nimble of organizations cannot react fast enough. Compound this sensitivity with the arrogance of corporate (and start up) actions and you have a set of outcomes that could quickly cascade throughout our financial, social and supply-chain networks almost instantly.
While it is quite easy to see these two emergent themes as being overtly negative the truth is that it is subjective. Subjective in what you see when you see the effects of the increasing sensitive complexities. What is critical for us to all recognize is that bound up in these sensitive complexities are value. Value in not only financial terms but also in social ones. Capitalizing and socializing that value is what’s critical to build not only a growth-oriented organization but also one that’s resilient to these effects. The paralysis that many leaders face in these new realities in entirely normal. Where to turn to action is what counts. And as far as many can see just increasing ones cash position in the face of these sensitive complexities is a strategy with limited effects (and viable duration). There is growth to be had out there. The first step is knowing what you’re dealing with.