Ideas
Short pieces on how organisations really run, drawn from the book Omnicomplexity. One idea at a time, in plain language. Each is a taste; the book follows the argument the whole way, to what you can do on Monday.
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The calm you are proud of is being paid for
From the doorway the floor looks calm and ordered, the way a spinning plate looks still. Just out of your eyeline, a few people have their whole hands under it. What that steadiness really costs, and what happens the day one of them leaves.
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The say belongs where the facts are
Somewhere in your building, someone can see exactly what should be done and has no permission to do it. Why the authority to act drifts away from the people who can see the work, and what that gap costs you.
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Nobody transforms anything
A transformation programme is a method, packed for travel and addressed to everyone. It spoils on the journey to your context. Why imported change keeps failing, and what actually moves an organisation.
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Who changes the rules?
Every organisation runs on rules nobody remembers choosing. The person a rule bites is rarely the one who can change it. The rule does not live above you; it lives elsewhere, held by people with names.
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