Autonomous Transformation

CHAPTER 8Systemic Design and the Lost Art of Synthesis

As individuals and organizations, there are three ways to move into the future. The distinction between them lies in their ability to effect outcomes, without an assignment of moral or ethical obligation. The first is passive, watching as the future unfolds day by day. The second is active, responding to change and charting a course from one problem to the next. The third is also active, imagining a future in which the individual or organization would like to exist, and designing the means by which that future may be actualized.

Although some organizations and leaders are moving passively into the future, the default setting is reacting to change. This results in backing into the future rather than advancing into it, and justifying action only in response to a problem. There is evidence of this scattered through organizational presentations, startup pitch decks, and marketing collateral. Investments are justified in response to changing market conditions, competitive headwinds, or increased prices.

The COVID‐19 pandemic is a perfect example of this dynamic in action. Organizations that had either been unwilling or unable to empower employees to work remotely mobilized almost overnight. Organizations whose core competencies were adjacent to a need arising from the pandemic retooled their warehouses and approved investment plans in a fraction of the time and with less information than ever before. Organizations and individuals ...