Chapter 9 The sacred geometry of higher purpose

AS BILL BERNBACH, CO-FOUNDER OF ADVERTISING agency Doyle Dane Bernbach, said, ‘An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it’. Maintaining presence in the hope that culture and engagement will miraculously fix itself is naïve and avoidant. To accelerate innovation, the culture of our organisations must evolve.

By this I don’t mean forcing radical change but, rather, adopting an incremental and continuous cycle of optimisation and innovation that enables the social and cultural fabric of an organisation to evolve, while investigating and addressing the most critical uncertainties.

The days of large-scale, heavily scripted ‘launch’ approaches to change are over. In place of this is a perpetually experimental and diagnostic mode of operation that goes against the grain of what many organisations feel comfortable with.

This new operational mode is highly inquisitive, and involves more tests and more risks, dynamic system management, and built-in feedback loops that challenge leaders and their organisations to embrace mess, complexity and variation as a daily way of working. It is a crucial ‘step forward’ to ensuring their place in the Emergent future.

Author Frederic Laloux posits in his 2015 book Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness: ...

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