Book Titles

It is hard, if not impossible, to draw a firm line separating the complicated from the complex.

…we can think of a phenomenon as exhibiting complexity over a given time frame if there are so many interactions that one cannot reasonably forecast the outputs based on the inputs.

Complexity means that, in spite of our increased abilities to track and measure, the world has become, in many ways, vastly less predictable.

…the ritual of strategic planning, which assumes ‘the future will be more or less like the present,’ is more hindrance than help. – Gary Hamel

In complex environments, resilience often spells success, while even the most brilliant engineered fixed solutions are often insufficient or counterproductive.

In a complex world, disturbances are inevitable, making such a capacity to absorb shocks increasingly important.

…a robust protection against a known threat is not always sufficient; in complex systems, threats can flow from many places.

Resilient systems are those that can encounter unforeseen threats and, when necessary, put themselves back together again.

…we are… increasingly susceptible to unforeseen and unforeseeable disruptions. To survive them, we need to become both robust and resilient.

The key lies in shifting our focus from predicting to reconfiguring.