We have talked a lot about industrial society’s transition towards a knowledge society, its risks and opportunities. We’ve already posted some videos on that. Take a look at it.
But now it is important to assess the virus impact within this transition process. Because it is speeding up this process exponentially a process that was already fast. Accelerated Transition DO NOT WASTE THE CRISIS The virus speeds transition because it makes us feel the inefficiency of command standards and control management which lulled us into a sense of security until recently.
The virus calls this very control mechanisms into question for it doesn’t stem from mechanisms, but rather from organisms! From where life begins. From the biology world.
It questions the mechanical standard that is so deified in our culture. Think about it: we call the human body a perfect machine. Our reference is the machine!
When we want to say a woman is beautiful we call her a rocket. We talk about the “government administration machine”. When a company is successful we say it runs like clockwork.
And when someone is healthy, we say they are healthy as a whistle! This culture, that deifies machines, is blind to the virus, and it doesn’t acknowledge its importance. This virus, which comes from the world of living systems, has a very simple, very practical, very Darwinian message for us: Bring biology and mechanics together!
Because mechanics alone can't deal with this complex reality. Ok! We get the message.
So, let's use biology to understand how living systems make transitions. Have you ever heard of butterflies’ imaginal cells? I learned about this cell in a book I got from Jorge Nishimura from the Jacto Group.
Imaginal, visualizing and creating the future of education. By Thomas Rudmik, published by SENAI. We are all familiar with the caterpillar that turns into a butterfly, and that the transition happens in the pupa, inside the cocoon.
Right. Let's take a look at what happens inside the cocoon, to learn something about transition, according to nature. After the caterpillar weaves itself into the cocoon, it starts producing enzymes that will destroy everything inside, except for the imaginal cell.
This cell holds the butterfly design, it holds the vision of the caterpillar's future when the transition is over. Which is to become a butterfly. It is this vision of the future that ensures the success of the transition.
The transition is safe, because it is clear that it is an evolution from caterpillar to butterfly. If we think of a company, will it continue as a machine or will it become a living system? Shall command and control policies live on as they always have?
Or shall they evolve into leadership and negotiation? What will the structure be like? The processes, the internal and external interfaces?
What’s the organization's design like? What is the most strategic skill necessary in this design to work in a complex agile and unpredictable scenario? This idea of a living system advocates for Flow of information!
The flow of information should capture information quickly, from the ongoing scenario to update the operation, the value proposition and go back to market. Notice that the idea is not the caterpillar becoming a leaner, more agile and innovative caterpillar. rather it is about evolving, to become something else, to have a different relationship with the environment thus ensuring its survival and perpetuity.
Consider the differences: For the caterpillar eating is important eating a lot! Eat, eat, and gather enough mass to then go into transition, combustion. That is not so for the butterfly.
Being light and able to fly is most important to be able to view the whole, seek nourishment, pollinate procreating, laying eggs and perpetuating the species. It is sheer genius! It is a major inspiration that comes from nature.
We are now in the pupa! Undergoing transformation! The mechanics phase has been tamed.
Now we must design and manage society and its institutions as living systems, interactive and adaptive. The briefing is: Living system. The good news?
Transformation is already underway. For example: when we introduced squads to companies, agile methodologies, innovation ecosystems, flexible working relationships. .
. all of that was destroying the status quo, and it is creating new dynamics, new contracts, new bonds. What you need to know is we're not just getting more agile and innovative, we’re turning into something else: a living system that evolves and strengthens in an uncertain scenario.
In order to be inspired by nature, consider biomimetics. Bio standing for life and mimetic meaning to mimic, to imitate. In English we call it biomimicry.
Nature has been there for over 4 billion years showing us how to solve complex issues very efficiently. I close with on an optimistic note, that can help us get through the transition. It's something I read at the NY Museum of Natural History, in the butterfly garden, that talks about the feeling of the caterpillar, bewildered, in the midst of all that destruction.
What the caterpillar sees as "the end", the rest of the world sees as "butterfly". I wish us all a good transition! From the industrial society, to the knowledge society.
It is a humanization process for society. Let's go through it together. I’ll see you next time.
