Change

when people see relevant stakeholder change they are inclined to try to initiate responses to adapt. Thus we called these winning cultures “adaptive.”

The uncertainty index that we presented in the introduction of this book clearly shows a sharp upward trend well before COVID-19 ever infected a single human being.

Too often, “leadership” and “management” are still thought of as positional (though the research on this point says it is not).

What we can predict, based especially on the evidence of the last few hundred years, is that we will continue to see more unanticipated events that include threats (and sometimes huge threats) and opportunities (and sometimes huge opportunities).

if we continue to improve our capacity to adapt and change only incrementally, we are taking a huge and unnecessary risk.

a few people at the top of the hierarchy provide leadership and a much larger group in the middle of the hierarchy provide management.

the concept of “culture,” which tended to be defined very broadly.

The lesson from the current pandemic, and the high levels of uncertainty we are all feeling as individuals and organizations, is that increased rapid and complex change is becoming the new normal.

The third area is the actual study of modern organizations and the people in them trying to lead change, with commentary on outcomes and speculation about causality.