Blog Posts

It follows

Have you come across the horror-ish film ‘It Follows’? The premise is one of a slow-moving, but unyielding, creature that pursues the protagonists. This creature never speeds up, but never slows down or stops. It just… follows. You can travel any distance to escape it, but it’s always coming – relentless in pursuit – and…
A field manual for tempered radicalism

(Undercover change-making for the office rebel) Ever felt like a secret agent in your own office, trying to make things better without blowing your cover? Welcome to the world of tempered radicalism! This concept, introduced by Debra Meyerson and Maureen Scully in the 1990s, is all about being a change-maker while keeping your day job…
The world in a grain of sand: Clarity through complexity

Navigating Leadership Challenges: Balancing Reductionism and Holism I’ve found myself a bit stuck lately, between the good intention of keeping things simple, avoiding overcomplication, avoiding getting bogged down in the detail, and how to reconcile this with the unhelpful fact that some things simply are really complicated. I’m not sure I’ve solved this, but drawing…
The edge of chaos

‘The edge of chaos’ is a term borrowed from the study of complex systems. While it may evoke images of turbulence and disorder, this idea holds profound insights. It describes a state where a system is poised between order and disorder, where creativity and innovation thrive. In this delicate balance, ‘systems’ – whether they are…
Whoever has the most flexibility, controls the system (flexibility is power)

Another Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) expression: “Whoever has the most flexibility, controls the system.” While it might sound a bit abstract, this principle holds valuable insights for our wellbeing, personal resilience, and empowerment… What kind of Flexibility? In the world of NLP, this core tenet says that the person who can adapt their behaviour and approach…
The map is not the territory

“The map is not the territory”. This simple yet profound phrase (Google says first coined by Polish-American philosopher and engineer Alfred Korzybski a century ago), contains a powerful concept. And I keep coming across it: As a core tenet of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, more recently in Systems Thinking, and as a classic line from Robert De Niro…