![[zdenek-machacek-OMRaYnGjgX4-unsplash.jpg|banner+small]] ## Welcome Welcome to Evolutionary Potential; a site dedicated to exploring the latest theory-informed practice for building sustainable business growth in an increasingly uncertain, complex, and unpredictable world. A world requiring a transition, from leadership practices created by a mechanistic, engineering orientation, to leadership practices derived from the natural sciences and applicable to [[Complex Adaptive Systems]]. The site represents my intellectual journey. One I'm starting with this general sense of direction, and a hope to discover and synthesise novelty along the way. It's an evolving mix of my own thoughts, and the thoughts of others on which they stand (sources). The collection continues to grow and is inherently incomplete, so the site will be permanently "under construction". I explore a diverse and growing range of concepts and tools inspired by leading thinkers in this field, including [[@Colonel John Boyd|John Boyd's]] [[The OODA Loop|OODA Loop]], [[@Dave Snowden|Dave Snowden's]] [[The Cynefin Framework|Cynefin Framework]], and [[@John Turner, Nigel Thurlow, and Brian Rivera|John Turner, Nigel Thurlow, and Brian Rivera's]] [[The Flow System|Flow System]]. I like to know [[First Principles|what's going on under the covers]], so I also dig into antecedents and adjacent concepts. ## The fundamental question in strategy In his [[1976]] paper [[Destruction and Creation by John R Boyd|Destruction and Creation]], [[@Colonel John Boyd|John R. Boyd]] gives us the fundamental strategic question we all face, that is: > [!important] The Fundamental Question > How do you (or your team, or your business, etc.), remove or overcome the obstacles to improving your capacity for free and independent action? Everyone faces this same primary strategic goal, because we're all constrained by the same simple truth; we operate in a world of scarce resources and skills. Consequently, we have to compete for those resources, and as one individual or group improves their capacity for free and independent action, it constrains the same capacity in others. As one company grows, it constrains the growth in other companies addressing the same markets. ## Constraints as causes Organisations are [[Complex Adaptive Systems|complex adaptive systems]]. As such, a fundamental error in strategy is to try and design an idealised future state. While there's no perceivable cause and effect in complex systems (if I do this, then that will happen), [[Constraints|constraints]] act as causes. [[Constraints]] are relational properties that govern or enable the probability of possible futures. [[Constructors]] are a special type of constraint that produce consistent, replicable, and reliable outcomes (e.g., a process or mechanism). Mapping [[Constraints|constraints]] highlights what can and should be changed, what for practical purposes is unchangeable, as well as what needs to be stabilised and contained. ## Good strategy Good [[40 Slipbox/42 Seed/Strategy|strategy]] is coherent action derived from a set of guiding [[Heuristics|heuristics]] developed to overcome specific challenges identified by diagnosis of current context. These three elements 1/ diagnosis (explains the nature of the problem), 2/ guiding [[Heuristics|heuristics]] (principles for acting on the constraints at play), and 3/ coherent action (orchestrates and reinforces the asymmetric allocation of energy), form the core of good [[40 Slipbox/42 Seed/Strategy|strategy]]. If any one element is missing or glossed-over the result will be failure. --- ## Thinking out loud This site is inspired by the [[Zettelkasten]] note taking method, made famous the German sociologist [[@Niklas Luhmann|Niklas Luhmann]] and described in the book [[How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Arhens]]. In the spirit of the subject matter ([[70 Evolutionary Potential/The Vault/Complexity|complexity]]), it's a non-linear, dynamic, and interconnected collection of atomic notes (where I try to keep each note constrained to a single idea)--somewhat similar to a Wiki. As the collection grows key, and new, concepts will emerge; I just can't predict what they will be! This is me, "thinking out loud"; in the hope others will gain value from it. --- Banner photo by [Zdeněk Macháček](https://unsplash.com/@zmachacek?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/a-colorful-bird-flying-through-the-air-OMRaYnGjgX4?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash)