Thriving in our World of Uncertainty & Massive Change

Remember back in the 80’s when Tom Peters wrote a book entitled “Thriving on Chaos”?  He said then that today’s rapidly changing times are forcing a management revolution. Today we can see the same thing happening even if the issues are amplified and different. Things like climate change, maintaining institutional trust, global social/economic dynamics and even returning to the office are all things we need to think differently about. Tom Peters suggested being perpetually ready to innovate and there is an even greater urgency now. He predicted this rapidly changing world, fueled by new technology, will be unpredictable so companies must learn to thrive in times of chaos and uncertainty. He focuses on these 5 key areas:

1. Being responsive to customers (internal or external)
2. Constantly innovating in ALL areas of the business
3. Entering “partnerships” with everyone connected to your organization
4. Creating an inspiring vision based on change
5. Setting up controls that measure what’s most important.

At an even more rapid pace, uncertainty, chaos, and massive change continue all around us. The key continues to center around staying focused and moving forward.  As always, we have to continue to apply diversity of thinking to all challenges. Combining Tom Peter’s guidance along with the added step of analyzing our current state, offers the following walk-around:

Key Takeaways:

Obviously, we are living in a highly uncertain and disruptive times. We sometimes refer to this as VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous).  So how does this uncertainty and major change affect how we live and work, both today and in the future?  We can embrace these times by:

• Being prepared for constant change – things are not going to go back to some way they used to be. Change is the driving force of the 21^st Century and will affect all of us every day.
• Leveraging uncertainty as a creative force – change is dynamic and creates new possibilities as it tends to destroy old ways and conditions. It allows for creative responses, calling for possibility thinking that demands us to find entirely new solutions. Embracing that is a mind set for growth and opportunity or what we call growth mindset.
• Maintaining strong communities of colleagues, family, and friends. We are less and less able to succeed at much of anything alone. The need for supportive communities with shared values and goals is greater now than at any time before us. This will also mean fostering enhanced communication and collaboration in all we do on our teams and across organizations.
• Since change is the source and force of our future, we have no choice but to embrace it with optimism and creativity.

These are the themes that are dominating our work with corporations right now.  We are here to support your own innovative efforts with these and other challenges.  Please feel free to reach out and see what other customers have done when partnering with us.