Some Simple Thoughts about Complexity
So, it’s a new year, and still hanging over us are the four horsemen of the Apocalypse called Uncertain, Unknown, Unpredictable, and Unprecedented. And let’s not forget their cousin New Normal. I do not intend to make light of the global pandemic and the misery it has caused, yet these states are not unique as they also describe the experience of not-for-profit leaders working in complexity. The same complexity leaders faced pre-pandemic and will continue to need to work within no matter what is happening in the local, national and international environment.
In the last couple of decades, the Leadership Academia (kind of like the Illuminati of the leadership world) has provided us with a plethora of research and literature on what leading in complexity is all about. They have provided us with some valuable insight into mindsets, behaviours and tools for leaders to best navigate the complex systems that are so fundamental to how our communities and organisations function.
However, I have in mind the words of renown investor Peter Lynch: “never invest in any idea you can’t illustrate with a crayon” and I would like to offer up some simple suggestions found in the literature, on how to support your leadership in complex times.
Be vulnerable: Understanding that you don’t have all the answers and solutions is a sign of a competent leader
Don’t go it alone: collaborating and cooperating with others is the best way to make sense of complexity and to design a way forward that will make a difference
Focus on what matters: Please don’t sweat the small stuff – watch the World News. Enough said
Be present: If you regularly give yourself some space to just be, it will enable you to be attentive to your family, friends and colleagues
Be flexible: Just like your first baby – as soon as you think you have it sussed, everything changes
Learn: Curiosity is key to progress for individuals and societies. Complex systems are constantly shifting and so must our understanding, mindsets, and worldviews.
Finally to start the New Year, I would like to offer up a quote from Bruno Marion In Chaos: A User’s Guide:
“Never in the history of humanity has a single human being had so much power. Never in the history of humanity have YOU had so much power!
Optimistic or pessimistic, it is like being a spectator of a film of which we seem to know the ending, whether happy or unhappy. Today one must cease to be a passive spectator but an actor in this fast-changing world.”
— Bruno Marion
Sandy Thompson, LEAD Director & CEO