As complexity amplifies, systems, people or cultures expand and evolve or they die. This is the undisputed law of nature.
We are in such a threshold or inflection point right now. Almost all of our institutional structures are in state of decay, disruption, and collapse. The complexity is overwhelming. Leaders everywhere are hungry for answers, tools – an edge.
The industrial era, from which almost all of our current tools for leadership, strategy and innovation emerge, was marked by principles of control, efficiency, and detached, analytical thinking. The digital era we live in now is about a loss of control, chaos, transparency, crisis and a special form of engagement with the unknown.
This situation creates and almost seems to thrive upon conflict, and only those that learn how to utilize the energy of this conflict can themselves thrive.
The tools and practices that supported leadership at its very best in the industrial past are often an unrecognized liability in a digital world. Leaders and organizations must now master a new domain. The bell is ringing – it is time to evolve.