Leadership in Chaos
-Leaders Digest

Leadership in Chaos: 8th edition. both sides now, candour in chaos, feel the stones. “To lead people, walk behind them.” Lao Tzu Change: both sides now. We live with the constant tension of today, vs tomorrow. Of what we are, vs what we might become. Of our roots, and our wings. This is life, and business.…

Leadership in Chaos: 7th edition. choices, the middle, self-beliefs. “I can’t understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ideas.” John Cage Change: choices. Evolve or die. That’s the opener for PwC’s recently released 26th Annual Global CEO Survey. They heard from 4,410 CEOs from 105 countries. The data, not unsurprisingly, reflects the chaos leaders…

Leadership in Chaos: 6th edition. miners, kindness, framing. “Don’t be in such a hurry to condemn a person because he doesn’t do what you do, or think as you think. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.” Malcolm X. Change: miners. Change is tough. It’s scary and uncertain. So we hate…

Leadership in Chaos: 5th edition. ambiguity, human touch, balance. “Asking what, gives you constraints. Asking why, gives you springboards.” Rory Sutherland (author, columnist, vice chairman of Ogilvy UK). Change: ambiguity. At the turn of the 20th century, the impressionist art movement wanted us to see a world where nothing was certain, or fixed. They wanted us…

Leadership in Chaos: 4th edition. Career bending, toleration and shared experiences. “A man may keep very busy indeed without doing any thinking at all, and the easy course—the course of least resistance—is to keep so busy that there will be no time left over for thought”. Harvey Firestone, “Men in Rubber”. Change: career bending. The world of…

Leadership in Chaos: 3rd edition. Emergent discovery, positive dissent and output vs input. “Listen to others, you will be wise. The beginning of wisdom is silence”. Pythagoras Change: emergent discovery. The secret of change, Socrates said, “is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but building on the new”. Innovation therefore, is critical. And achieving it,

Leadership in Chaos: 2nd edition. Fortitude vs resilience, beyond the hero and disengaged. “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius— and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.” E.F. Schumacher. Change: fortitude vs resilience. Resilience is a popular word these days.…