Creative entrepreneurial expression will take us to the future we deserve
By Alan Moore B
ank of England Director Andrew Haldane recently reported that the impact of the financial crisis on Europe is the equivalent of the devastation of a World War, impacting possibly several generations to come.
In the UK our current Government has set a target to reduce the debt of our nation in a single term of government – a process that has become known as austerity. In bringing our current government to power we acknowledged the debt, plus the pressing need to reduce it. Yet, it has become clear that austerity alone cannot create a roadmap for a better future, in which we need organisations that can perform at a higher level for much lower input costs, whether they are in the commercial or non- commercial sector. We face a real design challenge requiring creative entrepreneurial expression to either bring into existence entirely new forms of organisational capability or the transformation of our existing organisations that are relevant to the world we live in today. To sit on piles of cash, protect what is perceived as the status quo, or selling our public sector to the highest bidder is quite simply not an option. This is my small contribution as to why.
The last of our Kodak moments I am little sad of the passing of Kodak. Some of us, of a certain age, have piles of Kodak slides and snaps, uniquely connecting us to our childhood and personal histories. Hearing about Kodak’s recent demise and their filing for chapter 11 Bankruptcy also got me thinking about the current woes of other organisations and industries that struggle and fail as they are unable to adjust to what is to them an ambiguous and volatile world.
Living in a complex world When faced with disruption very few people embrace that
complexity. They don’t recognise its patterns,
understand its core DNA, listen deeply or think very hard about transformation – particularly how to transform and how to design for transformation. This is a challenging thing to do and few do it well, and increasingly more organisations are vicariously living in the groan zone as we transition from a linear world to a non-linear one – simple to complex.
I
would argue that our industrial world has reached the edge of its adaptive range. The failure of large corporations, the banking crisis, pensions, venture capital, healthcare, and media organisations crossing the moral rubicon by hacking into the voicemails of murdered school children to sell tabloid newspapers and harvest advertising revenue are all examplars. We are witnessing a systemic failure of many of the institutions that have brought us so much prosperity, health and the promise of better future and it is this convergence of failures that requires us to understand the challenge from a new perspective.
The institutions, organisations and systems that we still use were designed and built for a less complex world. Consequently, fault lines are running through our society as we are overwhelmed by a trilemma of social, economic and organisational complexity.
The design challenge
involved in resolving these questions comes because this non-linearity is causing a comprehensive restructuring of society at large.
But still there is deep institutional and cultural resistance to real change. And, as the forces of disruption increases, the resistance of organisations under threat does not abate but intensifies, until flailing against this unknown or misunderstood enemy they exhaust themselves. Take your pick from the slew of industry and organisational failures. Their demons are pretty much the same.
My challenge to organisations is that they need to reflect mindfully on the significant shifts in our society today, although new technologies are the tools for change. Our research shows that this is a social revolution, where in the face of institutional failure people are learning to get what they need from each other. So what do we as humanity need? We need, I would argue; greater opportunity, greater freedom, greater empowerment, a revitalised sense of justice, a world where mutualism and participatory cultures are the default setting, where openness is seen as resilience and diversity is understood as a good thing, where we have greater autonomy and that seeks a greater aesthetic in everything we do: beautiful buildings, civic spaces, organisational design, it is as easy to make something beautiful as it is to make it ugly, so why choose the latter over the former? In many ways these demands can be defined as a Human- OS (operating system).
This OS is the key driver to the systems change we are witnessing. I see this Human-OS in the transformational change of all the examples cited in my book No Straight Lines, from agriculture, hospital design, and healthcare service design, educational programmes, the response to complex civic challenges, manufacturing, NGO’s, the nature of finance, innovation and commerce itself. This OS is the story of why our networked world with its new Human OS is directing the shape of our post industrial future, which is why on the floors of our factories, in the waiting rooms of our hospitals, the classrooms of our schools, people are asking not what if? But how? How can we create a world designed around the wider needs of humanity, and that serves humanity in ways in which our industrial society no longer can?
To find out more on Alan’s insights visit
www.no-straight-lines.com
43 entrepreneurcountry
Our Digital Future
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