Surfing the Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business

In this breakthrough business book, Pascale, Millemann and Gioja troll the emerging science of complexity for ""ideas [that] can produce a concrete bottom-line impact."" Extracting key ""dynamics of survival"" from the life sciences, these three management consultants successfully show business leaders how to turn their companies into agile and adaptable ""living systems"" that achieve long-term vitality and sustainability in a swiftly evolving environment. Their four ""bedrock"" principles are ""Equilibrium is a precursor to death""; ""Living things move toward the edge of chaos""; ""Components of living systems self-organize"" in response to turmoil; and ""Living systems cannot be directed along a linear path."" Writing with clarity and verve, the authors illustrate these larger points by comparing the functioning of organic systems (e.g., Yellowstone National Park), the behavior of organisms (dental plaque) and of insects (fire ants) with detailed case studies of five companies (British Petroleum, Hewlett-Packard, Monsanto, Royal Dutch/Shell and Sun Microsystems) and the U.S. Army. Practical-minded readers will appreciate their nitty-gritty insights into the relative advantages of ""adaptive"" and traditional ""operational"" leadership, as well as their consistent distillation of concrete business guidelines. While the authors aver that ""there is no permanent victory in this eternal cycle of life and death,"" they make a persuasive case that ""understanding living systems does not decisively win the game but, most assuredly, it improves the odds."" (Nov. 1)