Tag Archives: complex systems

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Engineer or Gardener? David Hurst on AI, the Ecocycle and the Rigidity Trap

July 28, 2026 Mark Blackwell, Arkaro Senior leaders in mature businesses may know something is wrong. Their organisation is efficient, profitable and increasingly unable to move. What they lack is a language for what to do about it. David Hurst … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged adaptive cycle, change, complex systems, context, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecological rationality, ecology, ecosystem, metaphor, panarchy, predictive processing, rigidity trap, sensemaking, The New Ecology of Leadership | Comments Off on Engineer or Gardener? David Hurst on AI, the Ecocycle and the Rigidity Trap

Making Sense of Innovation in an Uncertain World

In 2026, as AI reshapes management and volatility defines markets, innovation demands more than data or disruption – it’s about perceiving possibilities and acting on them amid chaos. Four concepts – sensemaking, predictive processing, affordances, and emergence – offer managers … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged action possibilities, affordances, analogical thinking, change, community, complex systems, context, contingency, creativity, ecological perspective, emergence, gaze heuristic, innovation, Karl Weick, leadership, LLM AI, necessity, Peter Drucker, predictive processing, rational choice, Recognition-primed Decision-making, sensemaking | Comments Off on Making Sense of Innovation in an Uncertain World

Snakes and Ladders: Making Ecological Sense of Liberal Democracy

A Multi-dimensional Game of Snakes and Ladders There is a contradiction at the heart of liberal democracy: while democracy requires social equality, the engine of capitalism creates both wealth and inequality. While direct democracy – the purest form – thrives … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged capitalism, change, complex systems, democracy, ecological perspective, ecosystem, liberal democracy, narrative, renewal | Comments Off on Snakes and Ladders: Making Ecological Sense of Liberal Democracy

Toggling Between Two Worlds: Making Sense of Organizational Change (abridged)

“And twofold always. May God us keep From single vision and Newton’s sleep.” William Blake This is a summary of a longer article I have just posted on Medium to mark forty years since the publication of my first (and … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged adaptive cycle, change, complex systems, context, crisis, destruction, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecology, ecosystem | Comments Off on Toggling Between Two Worlds: Making Sense of Organizational Change (abridged)

Don’t Mistake Outputs for Inputs: The Folly of Trying to Plant “Cut Flowers”

Why does so much management advice sound reasonable but turn out to be of little value? Most readers will know what I mean. Take the following guidance on how companies can ‘accelerate their agile transformation’: Create a C-suite with an … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged change, complex systems, Drucker Forum, ecological perspective, Gary Klein, Kahneman, Peter Drucker, sensemaking, The New Ecology of Leadership | Comments Off on Don’t Mistake Outputs for Inputs: The Folly of Trying to Plant “Cut Flowers”

The Ecology of Organizing: A Management Course for the 21st Century

For the past six years or so I have been teaching what I call the “ecology of organizing” on masters-level programs at both McGill University in Montreal and the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University in Ontario. Here is … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged complex systems, complexity theory, context, embadtdegroote, embodied cognition, emergence, explanation, meaning, Naturalistic Decision-Making, Rational Choice model, Recognition-primed Decision-making, systemic thinking | Comments Off on The Ecology of Organizing: A Management Course for the 21st Century

Podcast “Lead Like a Gardener: An Ecological Approach to Wicked Problems

Last week I did a podcast with Toby Corballis of Wicked Problems. Toby is an agile business transformation specialist based in The Hague in the Netherlands. I had been attracted to his site by his earlier excellent interview with Keith … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Strategy | Tagged adaptive cycle, bureaucracy, complex systems, Dealingwith Darwin, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecology, ecosystem, Geoffrey Moore, hierarchy, narrative, navigating, panarchy, product lifecycle, The New Ecology of Leadership, Toby Corballis, wayfinding, wicked problems | Comments Off on Podcast “Lead Like a Gardener: An Ecological Approach to Wicked Problems

You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat!

Steven Spielberg’s 1975 movie, Jaws, tells the story of a seaside town whose shores are terrorized by a killer shark. After several fatal attacks, the town sheriff, played by Roy Scheider, sets out to hunt the monster in a dilapidated … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Adrian Wooldridge, change, complex systems, Dofasco, ecological perspective, figure and ground, Gore-Tex, human condition, humanistic management, Jaws, John Micklethwait, leadership, management theory, Peter Drucker, scientific management, Spotify, tensions, W.L. Gore | Comments Off on You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat!

Democracy, Capitalism and Donald Trump: An Ecological Perspective Part I: Midnight Reckoning

Back in November 2016 I wrote a blog in the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s election. As a Canadian I thought the Americans had had an awful choice to make but was just as surprised as many others were, when … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Uncategorized | Tagged change, click-bait, complex systems, Demockracy, Donald Trump, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecosystem, Lawrence Lessig, Lyn Nottage, narrative, Norman Orenstein, power, QAnon, Reading Pa., social enterprise, Sweat, systems trap, Thomas Mann | Comments Off on Democracy, Capitalism and Donald Trump: An Ecological Perspective Part I: Midnight Reckoning

Milton Friedman’s Philosophy: Invaluable at First but Deadly Afterward

2020 marks the 50th  anniversary of Chicago economist Milton Friedman’s famous (or infamous, depending on your point-of-view) claim that the only social purpose of business is to increase profits. This doctrine proved immensely popular among corporate managers but has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, argumentative theory of reason, Ayn Rand, change, complex systems, conglomerates, ecological perspective, Henry Mintzberg, innovation, leveraged buyouts, Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, Walter Bagehot | Comments Off on Milton Friedman’s Philosophy: Invaluable at First but Deadly Afterward ← Older posts