The weapon that stands the test of time

How do we define what is stable and what is not? What is stable today, is governed by time and nature, with a tendency to turn chaotic and perish?

Is it survival of fittest then? What is fit? Is it being strong enough to fight the danger or smart enough to adapt or both?

Butterfly effect: A butterfly flapping it’s wings in Mexico can set a storm in Japan

The answer lies in what we don’t know rather than what we know. As chaos theory suggests, the complexity and interdependency which strengthens a company/ecosystem/culture, falls prey to a small glitch which snowballs into a disaster due to it’s own complexity.

Let’s look at the current pandemic. The world has come to a halt by an incident that began in one corner of the world. With all the latest technology, research, resources, we are way ahead than we once were centuries ago, to address an illness. Then why has it affected so many lives? It is because as we grew into a stronger race, built complexities in our global supply chain, travel, communication, business. Everything is so complexly intertwined that the effect of a small event, is difficult to comprehend and hence contain.

Albert Einstein said,

“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”

The bottomline is that however much we try and define something, there will always be room for an unknown which can flip the whole premise around. We try defining it better and make the equation more and more complex, hoping to leave no room for an unknown and actually create room for other unknowns.

In a business, global suppiers to reduce costs, JIT delivery, service virtualisation, etc. that contribute to a complexity, along with solving a problem for you, may introduce issues for the future. It also makes decision-making more and more difficult, due to indeterministic effects of these decisions in a complex system. Eg. If you are an independent consultant, do you need an office and all the complexities that come with it? If even a co-working space is unaffordable, is conducting sales in hotel common spaces and working from home an option? The office space budget is hence re-purposed and in case there are months with low income, you are not consumed by it’s effect. It helps you focus on your core product.

Thats why age old books, literature and even religions talk about a simple life being a happy life.

Simplicity is the strength that allows you to adapt and hence survive. One of the most complex theories have ‘simplicity’ as a lesson. Food for thought!