Together, these two cornerstones—systemic understanding and strong lateral connectivity—grounded shared consciousness. Both diverged wildly from the MECE, reductionist doctrines we had spent most of our lives upholding, but, in this new setting, against this new threat, they worked. The two strains of shared consciousness also paralleled the ingredients that, at a lower level, had ensured the success of our small teams for decades: “seeing the system” is essentially a macro version of the “purpose” that gives our operators the context and commitment to persevere in volatile situations, and the
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