Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness

by Frederic Laloux

The paradigm of predict and control naturally prompts us to look for perfect answers. If the future can be predicted, then our job is to find the solutions that will reap the best results in the future we foresee. Predictions are valuable in a complicated world, but they lose all relevance in a complex world. Jean-François Zobrist at FAVI found insightful metaphors to explain the difference. An airplane like a Boeing 747 is a complicated system. There are millions of parts that need to work together seamlessly. But everything can be mapped out; if you change one part, you should be able to predict all the consequences. A bowl of spaghetti is a complex system. Even though it has just a few dozen “parts,” it is virtually impossible to predict what will happen when you pull at the end of a strand of spaghetti that sticks out of the bowl. Making predictions gives us a comforting sense of control. But the reality is that organizations and the world we live in have become complex systems. In such systems, it becomes meaningless to predict the future, and then analyze our way into the best decision. When we do, out of habit, we only waste energy and time producing an illusion of control and perfection. Teal Organizations make peace with a complex world in which perfection eludes us. They shoot explicitly not for the best possible decision, but for a workable solution that can be implemented quickly. Based on new information, the decision can be revisited and improved at any point.