A State of Fragility
Business fragility, thoughts on anti-fragility and the spectrum in between; the challenge for leaders today
These days it can feel like we are living on a knife edge. It could go either way. Today, freedom; tomorrow lockdown. Today, growth and full steam ahead; tomorrow scrabbling to replace a resigning team. Today, feeling full of zest; tomorrow flat out languishing.
If I was to pick one word that describes life today, it is ‘fragile’.
For leaders, decisions we make, our confidence that they’re right, and the intricate balance of systems that allow our businesses to operate from wherever they may be located. It feels fragile.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb identified a spectrum of fragility, in relation to disorder.
He wrote that:
“Anti-fragile is when something is actually strengthened by the knocks”
Whilst researching for this post I’ve been enjoying thinking about this model in the context of leadership and business.
Ask most people what the opposite of fragile is, and they’ll likely say: strong, robust, resilient, unbreakable.
And prior to the pandemics onset, the word ‘resilient’ was hot in business. Leaders I worked with spoke a lot about resilience and we debated what a resilient team and business should look like, what we would do to be more resilient, how we’d know when we actually were and what difference it would make.
Anti-fragility is a new concept for me. But as the turbulent world we’re currently living in shows now sign of slowing pace, I wonder if being able to operate in an anti fragile state is the ONLY option for survival and growth.
It leads me to the following questions. Where are you and your team on this spectrum of fragility? Where is your ideal state? What will you do to move along this spectrum towards it? And what are the biggest challenges that you’ll need to navigate? Answers on a postcard.
Thanks for reading this. If you found it thought provoking and an interesting read, please share it with someone you know.
With thanks,
Rebecca
You’re reading this, the first in a series on leadership. If you’d like to read more, I’d love it if you hit the button below.