We Need to Talk About Complexity
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navigating complexity MPLEXITY CO 017 2 | 10 #23 Think:Act WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COMPLEXITY 2 Think:Act 23 "The internet exposed the latent demand for choice. We didn't have the mechanical ability to expose people to choice until the internet opened that up." CHRIS ANDERSON Tech visionary, former editor-in-chief michel christopher photo: of Wired magazine and author of The Long Tail read more on page 58 in this issue Think:Act 23 3 "I encourage researchers to go beyond using the human mind as their only, or even primary, template." ERIK BRYNJOLFSSON Artificial intelligence expert and co-author of The Second Machine Age read more on page 26 photo: getty images getty photo: 4 Think:Act 23 in this issue "Innovation is hard work. You can't force somebody to innovate; they have to volunteer, which is why you have to work to create a context that makes them willing." LINDA HILL Leadership guru and co-author of Collective Genius read more on page 70 photo: alastair fyfe alastair photo: Think:Act 23 5 "We know that because customers are laif / redux / busy, they are surprisingly likely to take whatever option is made the default." RICHARD THALER photo: photo: matt furman Behavioral economist and co-author of Nudge read more on page 45 6 Think:Act 23 "To survive in our increasingly complex world, we can seek inspiration from nature which doesn't try to manage complexity; rather it focuses on evolution by adapting its mechanisms to the changing environment." CHARLES-EDOUARD BOUÉE CEO of Roland Berger photo: jan voth jan photo: content 7 Think:Act the 12 You Are Here, And It Is complexity Complex as Hell. How Do You Find Your Way? The list of things issue that can go wrong is getting longer all the time. We take a look at how to break through the complexity and get 8 At a Glance 52 How Smart the facts you need Interesting stuff you need to Can a City Get? the most to spot know – in a snapshot. A tour of Songdo in South key trends – and Korea and a look at Vienna act on them. 20 Take a Lesson reveal how two different urban From Your Brain centers are teching up. How the brain controls the body holds the secret to better 64 Is China Ready business management. to Become the New Superpower? 26 Taking the A out of AI Recent political events have Erik Brynjolfsson and Jonathan people asking if China Whitlock answer our questions could become the next leader on creating thinking machines. for a globalized world. ustration: mark von ulrich von mark ustration: ill 28 70 Eureka? You're Wrong! Easily Solved! | Good news: You're not the Linda Hill wants you to forget first person to face complexity. about "a-ha" moments and These tried-and-true strategies focus on collective genius. can help. 34 58 74 The Right Side 42 Buying into Simplicity of the Digital Divide King of Hearts The Long Tale of These companies prove that Three companies – The New winning over customers is far York Times, Travelex and Ipsen How do you make a Man On Trend "simpler" than you may think. – reveal how they got ahead of complex operations Chris Anderson talks tos: hari adivarekar; pr 3d robotics pr 3d robotics adivarekar; hari tos: the digital curve. manageable and about how open- pho 46 Decomplexing the System affordable? Surgeon source tools are | Dirk Helbing offers some bold 80 Food for Thought Devi Shetty has some changing the idea of solutions to the complexity Take a deep dive and find out innovative solutions. entrepreneurship. that threatens our way of life. more in related articles and studies. 50 Keep It Simple, Smarty-Pants 82 Three Questions: Don't dumb things down – be Itay Talgam a simple genius instead. Gun ter Can a company be fine-tuned Dueck on how to be smart and like an orchestra? The cover illustration: mrzyk & moriceau mrzyk & moriceau illustration: cover keep the big picture in focus. Israeli conductor weighs in. 8 Think:Act 23 Think Food in for numbers Thought Are moral decisions as important 19 as financial ones in doing business? the number of g20 by David Jones country leaders who pledged their support to i don't actually think they are importance of socially responsible back the Paris Agreement business – Unilever's Sustainable at the summit in two different things, or disconnected. Germany in July of this If we learned one thing from the Living brands grew over 50% faster year. They will continue financial collapse of 2008, it was that than the rest of the business and their commitment the pursuit of profit purely for profit's delivered more than 60% of Unilever's despite US withdrawal. sake leads to a very bad place. That growth in 2016. economic meltdown took business in Financial success walks hand in hand a more socially responsible direction. with social responsibility. They are Smart CEOs now understand that not mutually exclusive options. Doing 100 morally good decisions are invariably good is good for business. Social the number of days financially good ones too. media has taken corporate social Tesla boss Elon Musk has This is being driven in large part by responsibility out of the silo and put promised it will take to Millennials – we see these young it in the profit and loss account. install the world's largest leaders coming through One Young lithium-ion battery in World and they are much better Australia. It aims to protect against energy informed than any preceding gener- blackouts and stabilize ation, much more socially reponsible the energy network. and they will use social media to punish companies that don't live up to their expectations. Equally, the most socially responsible companies benefit from social media as they gather david jones is former CEO of Havas, positive advocates who spread the founder of the world's first brandtech word about their brand or business. group You & Mr Jones and co- billion dollars. 3.2 The best business leaders, such as founder of One Young World. He is The valuation of tech Unilever's CEO Paul Polman, who has the author of the best-selling book company Jawbone in 2014. Now in liquidation, put social responsibility at the core Who Cares Wins: Why Good Business it is the second-largest of their business strategy, know the is Better Business. international sources: bbc; reuters; euromonitor pr oneyoungworld. images; getty photos: failure among venture- backed companies and an example of Silicon Valley "death by overfunding." 1 million plastic bottles are bought globally every minute, causing a massive waste and pollution problem. The figure is set to jump 20% by 2021, which could lead to an environmental crisis some campaigners say is as serious as climate change. AT A GLANCE at a g Lance Think:Act 23 9 Re- Thoughts to Thinking Live By Buzzwords Get to grips with new "We always industry lingo in a flash with our stripped-down over estimate the explanations of the change that will latest jargon. "Catalytic occur in the next questioning" Hal Gregersen's great alternative two years and to brainstorming is a five-step procedure to help you ask the underestimate right questions to get to the heart of a matter. The process helps a group center on a problem and the change that winnow the irrelevancies and flex its "questioning muscles." will occur in the next 10. Don't let yourself be lulled solutions." into inaction." unlock to skill "essential an it there's more to it. Gregersen calls calls Gregersen it. to more there's asking questions. But maybe maybe But questions. asking — Bill Gates just er, like, suspiciously sounds Microsoft co-founder, investor all That solution. a Find 5: and and philanthropist questions" "catalytic Identify 4: 3: Engage in question talk, talk, question in Engage 3: 2: Choose the right problem, problem, right the Choose 2: 1: Get around a whiteboard, whiteboard, a around Get 1: So what are those five stages? stages? five those are what So 10 Think:Act 23 at a g Lance the Deep Work: Rules for Focused Act act ual Red ed Success in a Distracted World cost Read by Cal Newport. 304 pages. Grand Central Publishing. $28. Work, 3. quit social media. you buy a cup of coffee. Social media is a distraction While licking the first bit work, work that reduces your capacity to focus. Stay off social media of warm, frothy milk from your Too busy to read the except when you can see a upper lip, did you ever pause strategy books? We have tangible benefit to your career. to consider that coffeeis one of the it covered for you. Here's smallest cost components in Cal Newport's new offer 4. drain the shallows. Stop working late. Committing cut down to its essentials, producing your morning to an early quitting time cappuccino/skinny latte/flat white/ in the style of the original. reduces your opportunity to waste time doing shallow work latest coffee takeaway fad? why can't you get more during the day. In the end, if Although that can change if the done at work? Maybe it's you replace the shallows with bean is small batch and single because you don't do enough more deep work, you may deep work – professional actually be more successful. source, the biggest factor activities performed in a remains the smiling barista. state of distraction-free Think about that before you tip concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to the (or sip).