The thermodynamics of organisations

Those who will survive disruption, are those who understand how organisations respond to the natural laws of thermodynamics. Those who know when to be frozen and when to be fluid. Just as a large multinational cannot survive by being fluid and agile alone, it will start to slowly die if it stays frozen. The real trick is to be only frozen when you need to manage for the long term and for greater efficiency. And, at the same time, you have to keep parts of your organization, parts of its skill base, in a fluid state, while allowing room for experimentation, room for understanding the agility of the markets and room to innovate fast enough to outsmart the market. That is how you thrive in the age of networks.

Justin Kern  Flickr  Thermodynamics

See how you can survive disruption here or read Peter Hinssen's opinion piece about the thermodynamics of organisations here. Buy Peter Hinssen's The Network Always Wins, the book that inspired both here.