Today’s managers are the shamans, magicians and jugglers of the business world. They are asked to perform feats of marvel: to make decisions that seem impossible to make, to steer processes which are careening out of control, to navigate the seemingly perilous rapids of change and to come out on top. No matter how large or small a company is, complexity is bound to arrive as regularly as the morning mail. Management traditionally reacts in a knee-jerk fashion to complexity, by attempting to reduce it. Managers thus confronted wish for fewer meetings, less wasted time, decreased pressure to decide and more time to complete their management duties. The revolution of change is forcing managers to rethink their mission. Business never was an undertaking for the meek. To be in business means to take risks, to be confronted with the unknown and to steer the uncontrollable. Both the entrepreneur and the intrapreneur have made an intrinsic decision for complexity.
Yet, what are the roots of this longing for a reduction of complexity? Why does management tend towards simple, yet often ineffective solutions? It is no wonder with the fast pace of business today which generates complexity that continuously challenges and often overwhelms with its constant demands. Contributing complexity factors are markets that require constant supervision, personnel that clamors for a sense of security, pending decisions that demand conflict skills and the public, which is going to judge by its own merits, regardless of the decisions made.
The book «CompleXellence – The revolution of change» will show you how to emerge from complexity fitter than ever. It will provide tips on how to maneuver in complex, living systems, how to use decisive soft factors to reach your goals, and where to apply the lever most effectively: The key is to co-design complexity rather than attempting to reduce it. This means parting with many of the beloved illusions of postmodern management. Seven primary themes lead to the understanding of CompleXellence:
CompleXellence will become the core competency for future leaders, particularly the ability to be a convincing communicator who can orchestrate complexity virtuously and almost playfully. The acknowledgement that we are human beings and not human doings is the decisive factor. As human beings we need recognition and love. Whatever meets these basic needs increases CompleXellence.
Hans Rudolf Jost
CompleXellence – The Revolution of Change
352 pages
Corporate Edition English and German combined
ISBN 9-905327-11-2
A & O Publishers, 2000