Leading in the Chaos of the 21st Century

While reading Toby Tetenbaum and Hank Laurence’s article “Leading in the Chaos of the 21^st Century,” I considered trying to live according to the chaos theory of everything. I did not feel the notion that corporations need to be able to look for and strive for chaos to be effective in this world. I think it is mainly because I spent my adult life with the structure of the military, and we have the top-down leadership model. Then I thought back to when I was deployed, and sometimes I was the one who made the decisions even though I was not the senior person there, only because I had experience with the convoy routes and knowledge of the area we were operating in.  I can see how this would help companies grow and change, help make them better, and stay relevant in this ever-growing world.

I think an adaptive structure allows anyone to make suggestions and then look at all the possibilities that could help move the company forward. I know times have changed, and what worked in the 1800s and 1900s should still not be the standard by which we decide things; information is more available than it was then and comes a lot faster. I believe that data-driven decisions should still be a basis for making choices and trying to create models for different seniors should be considered when planning the course. I will look at several other avenues of approach to reaching the goals and see which would work out the best.