NSL Blog

No Straight Lines keynote @PINC

May 19, 2013

It was a real joy to speak at PINC this year in The Netherlands, here is my small contribution based on the No Straight Lines project.

No Straight Lines: making sense of our non-linear world from Alan Moore on Vimeo.

Today and tomorrow we all face a complex design challenge, in transforming existing organisations and economies from a linear to a non-linear economy. We must be able to thrive in a world of constant change and be able to create and lead agile organisations, No Straight Lines has six framing principles a philosophy and practice of how to design organisations and economic models for a non-linear world.

1. Ambiguity – learn how to gain a deeper insight into a complex world by engaging in systemic networked narratives as a form of diagnostic.
2. Adaptiveness – learning to learn how to become agile in a world that is rapidly evolving.
3. Openness – premised upon the insight that natures default setting is open, openness as a principle and practice offers new capabilities, higher organisational performance, trading models, amongst other benefits.
4. Participatory cultures & tools – human nature is designed to work collaboratively. By designing organisational capability with this insight, executives and leaders can accelerate innovation, create breakthrough systemic change, re-define business models, offering a more empowering and legitimate form of leadership.
5. Craftsmanship – how the concept and practice of craftsmanship is as relevant for the individual as it is for an organisation enabling a deeper, more finely tuned approach to learning and the craft of innovation, providing an ethical framework and values based approach to commercial and business practice.
6. Epic – how to design for transformation, how to design for multiple outcomes, how to convert novel ideas into tangible reality, and assert the future.

More information on Transformation LABS