Tag: resilience

Seeing complexity

THE SECRET WEAPON IN PLAIN SIGHT

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There is a quiet assumption that sits at the heart of modern organisations. It is rarely stated, yet widely believed. The assumption is that direction determines outcome. That those at the top, by virtue of their position, clarity, and authority, shape not only the strategy of an organisation, but also its culture, performance, and ultimately its success.
This assumption has served us well in simpler times. In systems where causality could be traced, where decisions could be followed through with reasonable predictability, where the distance between intent and outcome was manageable. In such systems, it made sense to look upward for explanation and downward for execution. But most organisations today no longer operate in such conditions. They operate in complexity.

LISBON AND THE CONCEPTUAL EARTHQUAKE OF RESILIENCE

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In recent years another intellectual development has been reshaping how scientists think about systems and disturbances. Complexity science, systems thinking and ecological research have revealed that many natural and social systems operate through dynamic interactions, feedback loops and adaptive processes.

THE REEF AS SOCIETY: ONTOLOGY BEFORE ECOLOGY

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“The problem for nature is the foundation of societies which are structured with high complexity and at the same time unspecialised.” — Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality There are moments when language must change before anything else can. The way we speak about the Great Barrier Reef, […]

A New Language for Climate Adaptation: Framing Climate Adaptation Beyond Linear Modelling

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Climate models offer valuable scenarios, but they are still bounded by known variables and assumptions. When these scenarios are treated as definitive futures rather than possibilities, adaptation strategies risk becoming rigid and obsolete as new emergent conditions unfold. This fosters a tendency toward reactive planning, where strategies prepare for specific anticipated futures rather than a range of possible, unknowable futures.