PinnedEnabling coherent explore spacesThe difficulty of complex thought is that it must face messes … interconnectedness among phe- nomena, fogginess, uncertainty, contradiction. (Edgar Morin, On Complexity, 2008: 6) I have written before about the need to embrace messyness. Specifically to shift from seeking alignment and neat categories to messy coherence (or coherent heterogeneity…Complexity16 min readComplexity16 min read
Jul 17On getting lostBeing really and truly lost triggers primal survival anxieties. Michael Bond writes: “Lost is a cognitive state: your internal map has become detached from the external world, and nothing in your spatial memory matches what you see. But at its core, it is an emotional state. …Complexity3 min readComplexity3 min read
Jun 23Complexity is not supposed to be complexLife is complex: an ever-changing tangle of joy and pain, failure and success, beauty and despair. Sometimes it sucks, like watching your mother fade away into dementia, or losing a beloved dog. Sometimes it is so beautiful it brings you to tears, like dancing with soul friends under a sky…Complexity6 min readComplexity6 min read
May 2Trust, confidence & complexityWhere do confidence and trust come from? How do we develop faith in ourselves and others? And what role does complexity play in all of this? These are questions a client recently asked me to develop a workshop around as they have found it increasingly difficult to cultivate trust and…Trust2 min readTrust2 min read
Mar 7Complexity lessons from my garden.Growing up in Africa, I’ve always been a nature lover and keen birder. So, I dreamed of creating a garden that would be a haven for wildlife in the middle of the city. Our neighbourhood was brand new when we built our house in 2001, so there were no established…Complexity11 min readComplexity11 min read
Feb 19Wayfinding the complexities of hybrid workCo-authored with Michael Göthe. As we emerge from the exceptional conditions of the pandemic, the topic of distributed work (WFH or work from anywhere) vs on-site at the office has been the hot topic during client meetings and lunch discussions at training events. There are always many differing, even divergent…Hybrid Work9 min readHybrid Work9 min read
Jan 30ChatGPT doesn’t quite get complexity (at least not according to Einstein!)Update: Before reading on, a warning. ChatGPT creates references out of thin air and presents them with great confidence as factual. You cannot trust a reference provided by the bot, you HAVE to double check. I found non-existant papers attributed to real authors; real papers attributed to the wrong authors…Complexity8 min readComplexity8 min read
Nov 11, 2022WaitingThere are about 10 unfinished blog posts that I try to avoid seeing every time I open my laptop. Every time I sit down to write, I end up with half-finished paragraphs. …Writing2 min readWriting2 min read
Apr 20, 2022Crossing thresholds.“Everywhere I go, I find a poet has been there before me.” — Sigmund Freud Anyone who reads my blog probably knows that I have a love for Celtic poets. One of my favorites is John O’Donohue. I have several of his books on my bedside table, and last night…Ritual6 min readRitual6 min read
Apr 8, 2022Re:Membering the futureThe future used to be synonymous with dreams, exciting new things, and bucket lists. Yes, it was always uncertain, and I always knew many of the things I dreamed about probably wouldn’t become a reality, but it was energising to plan for “one day”. Now, thinking about the future, I…Hope3 min readHope3 min read