Culture & Complexity (1)

Human organizations are incredibly complex; so it's no wonder that "culture" is such a mysterious, confusing topic. And a space inhabited by quite a few "expert" charlatans imo.

Complexity is a product of Numerosity and Connectivity — lots of things connected in lots of ways.

The human brain has an estimated 86,000,000,000 neurons and 100,000,000,000,000 connections. Our brains are so complex that they can't comprehend itself.

This is why we humans can find ourselves mysteries; St. Paul put it this way: "I do not understand what I do."

When we connect a few brains together by putting them on a team we get even more complexity.

Even the most homogenous team with the simplest job is one of the most complex systems in the universe. I find them endlessly fascinating and even beautiful.

Complex systems are non-linear (e.g. Butterfly Effect) and adaptive and can be incredibly resilient and even easy to repair.

Good culture starts with relationships that have empathy, trust, and psychological safety. These qualities are nurtured by taking the time to understand where other people are coming from — and when we feel understood ourselves.

Alexandra Jamieson and I wrote our book "Radical Alignment" to give people a few tools to use to fast track this understanding; and therefore strengthening relationships and improving team performance.

That's what Alex and I and a few special guests will be talking about tomorrow at changeforce's event in Tribeca (NYC). There will be drinks, food, and some very interesting people to meet — and a signed copy of our book for each attendee.

Please join us if you're curious. You can register here.

—bg