Thinking rationally? OK, great. What now?

You've probably come to this blog having watched Prof Eddie Obeng's TED video, “Smart failure for a fast-changing world”. You may even have visited the World After Midnight website, which goes further in explaining how the world switched from relative stability to constant change. It's quite likely that you're now thinking: “OK, so the world changes too fast to keep up with. What do I do now?”

The next step is to see if you and your organisation are ready for the New World^TM. The easy way to check is to find out whether you're following Pentacle's 12 New Rules for the New World:

1. Is your solution integrative? Say AND, not OR.
2. Does your solution recognise the need to tailor actions to meet different populations/needs? FAIR = DIFFERENT.
3. Is your solution capable of self-governance? Change DEPENDENCE to INTERDEPENDENCE.
4. Is your solution designed to ensure focus on delivering to your goal of making money (delivering benefit to society)? Do NOTHING of NO USE.
5. Is your solution designed around the people who have to deliver it and live with the results? STAKEHOLDERS RULE OK!
6. To what extent have you made or scoped your solution to the possible rather than the ‘nice to have’ impossible. Make Time FIT.
7. Have you reduced the scope to de-risk your solution appropriately? CHUNK it or JUNK it.
8. Have you ensured that your solution appropriately uses new technologies? All constraints into TOUCH SPACE.
9. Have you ensured that your solution appropriately uses new knowledge? Unlearn EVERYTHING.
10. Have you taken into Account the overall impact of change on your ability to deliver results? Don't Change ANYTHING.
11. Is your solution self-sustaining? LOOP it UP.
12. Have you developed a solution with powerful results, which relies on an approach, which is not popularly adopted? Go VIRTUAL.

If you'd like to learn more about each of these rules and how to implement them, you can read the full story here: New Rules for the New World: Cautionary Tales for the New World Manager.