Everyone is talking about "complexity" and "change." Everything is changing faster than ever before. What does this mean? Let’s briefly look at what "complexity" means to us. According to Webster’s, things are "complex" when they have many varied interrelated parts, patterns, or elements. As humans evolved from nomads living in self-sufficient clans that communicated through story telling to 20^th century industrial nations competing through multinational firms that disseminated information through the post and telefax, the number and frequency of interfaces we each have with other humans increased drastically – from never seeing more than 20 people in a lifetime and talking to them 2-3 times a day, to knowing hundreds of people and heavy daily communication with colleagues world-wide.

As we enter the 21^st century, we are experimenting with virtual organizations, where we have organized around virtual teams that come together and disband as needed, and we communicate with large groups almost instantaneously 24-hours a day. The number and frequency of interfaces we each have with other humans today is astronomical and increasing daily.

Click here to see what we do at the Institute for Strategic Clarity to intervene in this same decision making process to strengthen the decision makers ability to understand and make decisions within complex environments.