{"id":919,"date":"2012-12-06T17:46:34","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T00:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/?p=919"},"modified":"2012-12-06T18:09:17","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T01:09:17","slug":"to-survive-a-shock-to-the-system-become-an-unplanned-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2012\/12\/06\/to-survive-a-shock-to-the-system-become-an-unplanned-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"To survive a shock to the system become an unplanned organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"waterby\u00a0<\/span>robin_24<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

What Happens When We Shock A System?<\/a>\u00a0
[Via\u00a0Chaotic Ripple<\/a><\/span>]<\/p>\n

Have you ever noticed that some things in the world like to be disrupted?\u00a0 Rogue militant groups set out to garner counter-attacks that distract their opponents while draining their resources.\u00a0 Viruses encourage multi-cellular organisms to activate their immune systems in attempts to wipe them out.\u00a0 Teenagers seek the disdain \u2014 and occasional wrath\u2014 of authority figures in their lives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

These seemingly counter intuitive behaviors are the centerpiece of Nassim Nicholas Taleb\u2019s new book, Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder.\u00a0 They are the \u201cteachable moments\u201d that enable us to truly understand the driving dynamics of systems that undergo shock.\u00a0 Indeed, there are entire categories of systems that benefit from disruption.<\/p>\n

As a first example, consider the wave of new startups that arise in the aftermath of economic collapse.\u00a0 The entrepreneurs who have long awaited the opportunity to step out from under the constraints of a prior paradigm are free to explore and create anew.\u00a0 We are seeing this all around us in the exploding field of social entrepreneurship today.\u00a0 Those companies whose legacy has been to rape and pillage, laying waste to vast ecosystems of the natural and social worlds, held the attention of financiers for decades.\u00a0 And now that many core institutions of the old world order \u2014 particularly the financial ones \u2013 have deteriorated to the point of ruin, those among us who strive to create business and have a moral conscience at the same time are able to step in and fill the void.<\/p>\n

[More<\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As a biologist by training, so much of what Joe Brewer describes here is indicative to me of the messiness of biological systems \u2014 the ability to deal with fragility in a robust way, to bend without breaking, to deal with shocks in ways necessary to survive, etc. It reminds me of\u00a0Margret Wheatley’s work on the Unplanned Organization<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

I wrote a series about The Synthetic Company a few years ago that\u00a0incorporate Margaret’s ideas.<\/a>\u00a0One aspect that I think is critical for any anti-fragile system is what she calls a leader-full organization.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

I also want to emphasize that emergent organizations are leader-full, not leaderless. Leaders emerge and recede as needed. Leadership is a series of behaviors rather than a role for heroes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Part of what allows these groups to deal with unforeseen shocks in a resilient way is that the appropriate leader can rise up to take control and then become a follower later on when the shock recedes and another type of leadership is needed.<\/em><\/p>\n

We see this again and again throughout history, as well as in our most entrepreneurial companies: the person who is best suited for dealing with one sort of shock (war, raising capital) is seldom the best for dealing with another shock (peace, shareholders, etc.) Since we cannot know what shocks are in store, nor what is really fragile in an organization, a robust solution to a world of shocks is to create a group of diverse and somewhat redundant talents with leadership dispersed in a way to allow the right talent to rise up when a particular shock hits the system.<\/em><\/p>\n

Full of leaders who can follow when needed. Full of followers who can lead when required.<\/em><\/p>\n

And, not too surprisingly, this organizational hierarchy collapses into something that resembles not only the biochemical networks seen in living cells but also the computer networks seen on the Internet. It seems that almost all systems that need to deal with fragility, robustness and the shocks of a rapidly changing world begin to look alike in some ways.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Smallworldnetworks\"<\/em><\/p>\n

I believe that this is a hallmark of the sorts of organizations that will thrive in the 21st century, that can deal with the shocks of rapid change in ways to advance and grow.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0robin_24 What Happens When We Shock A System?\u00a0[Via\u00a0Chaotic Ripple] Have you ever noticed that some things in the world like to be disrupted?\u00a0 Rogue militant groups set out to garner counter-attacks that distract their opponents while draining their resources.\u00a0 Viruses encourage multi-cellular organisms to activate their immune systems in attempts to wipe them out.\u00a0 Teenagers … Continue reading To survive a shock to the system become an unplanned organization<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[22,24],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe2yp-eP","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":941,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2013\/07\/15\/consider-the-facts-is-a-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":0},"title":"\"Consider the Facts\" is a go.","date":"July 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My RocketHub crowdfunding research project is now up and going. I plan on making some changes around this website as it moves forward.","rel":"","context":"In "21st Century Company"","img":{"alt_text":"How the asteroid saved mankind","src":"https:\/\/amanwithaphd.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/how-the-asteroid-saved-mankind2.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1038,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2014\/05\/11\/balance-we-need-both-authoritarian-hierarchies-and-distributed-democracies\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":1},"title":"Balance - we need both authoritarian hierarchies and distributed democracies","date":"May 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 How do we shift to a more agile organization? Podio a Case Study[Via Robert Paterson's Weblog] Most people would agree that many organizations today are too stiff, too slow and too disconnected to do well in the complex world we live in now.\u00a0 Many large organizations have placed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "21st Century Company"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":820,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2011\/08\/31\/jobs-videos-demonstrate-how-to-run-a-21st-century-organization\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":2},"title":"Jobs' videos demonstrate how to run a 21st century organization","date":"August 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"He sets up what was wrong with Apple before 1997. \"The total is less than the sum of the parts.\" Things had to be restructured. The customer was being led to the altar of tech instead of the other way around. Great engineering, bad management. Focused on the tactics, not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "21st Century Company"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":749,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2011\/05\/08\/describing-a-21st-century-company\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":3},"title":"Describing a 21st century company","date":"May 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Codifying asymmetry: How Apple became Jobsian [Via asymco] Any student of organizational theory must struggle with the question of how to assign weight to the influence of the leadership of a company. In the case of Apple, the question is: Is Jobs is the embodiment of Apple or is Apple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "21st Century Company"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":865,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2012\/01\/03\/there-is-a-reason-techno-libertarians-do-not-run-everything-yet\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":4},"title":"There is a reason techno-libertarians do not run everything yet","date":"January 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0jurvetson How Technology Will Change Governments, Corporations, and the Rest of Our Stubborn Institutions[Via American Times] Can technology overcome and change institutions otherwise overcome by inertia and stagnation? Will technology help overcome tyrants and change the relationship between state and citizen in positive and hopeful ways, or will it enable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "21st Century Company"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/1-3-2012jetsons.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":801,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2011\/08\/24\/apples-positive-returns-beats-samsungs-negative\/","url_meta":{"origin":919,"position":5},"title":"Apple's positive ecology beats Samsung's negative","date":"August 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by tibchris Samsung Galaxy smartphones banned from sale in Europe in Apple suit[Via AppleInsider] A Netherlands judge ruled on Wednesday that Samsung's Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and Ace smartphones are in violation of Apple patents, and ordered an injunction against sales of the devices across the European Union. [More]\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "21st Century Company"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":924,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions\/924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}