as a system design challenge: you need a structure that allows local autonomy while maintaining systemic coherence. Decisions at one level can’t require perfect information about all others, yet they still need to nest into the broader context. Hierarchy works best when local optimization and global optimization point in the same direction.

During turmoil, organizational habits become malleable enough to both assign responsibility and create a more equitable balance of power. Crises are so valuable, in fact, that sometimes it’s worth stirring up a sense of looming catastrophe rather than letting it die down.