Leaders must adopt emergent leadership in a rapidly changing world with new workforce expectations, technological advancements, and increasing competition. Becoming intentional, aware, and capable of sense-making is key, alongside viewing actions as experiments and monitoring for unintended consequences, thus necessitating continuous dynamic adaptation and a cultural shift away from rigid planning towards empowerment and engagement.
Leo Szilard, in his book – The voice of the dolphins, and other stories has a short story titled The Mark Gable Foundation. In this short story, there is a conversation between two characters, one of who thinks that the pace of scientific change is too fast and is seeking ideas on how to slow it down. Here is their exchange: “I’m thinking of setting up a trust fund. I want to do something that will really contribute to the happiness of mankind; but it’s very difficult to know what to do with money. When Mr. Rosenblatt told me that […]
When we are leading a team in an environment that is complex and full of uncertainty, it is important to understand that every decision we make will always have unintended and unpredictable consequences. As leaders, we need to not only expect that but go looking for it to ensure that the unintended consequence is not something that can have a significant negative impact on what we set out to achieve. In the early years of the last century, Hanoi had a rat problem. The French colonial government wanted to solve this persistent problem. After trying to exterminate the rodent by […]
