Reviews and Views

The Age of the Unthinkable by Joshua Cooper Ramo

Ramo in his new book lays out a compelling challenge about a world under change.  Though he speaks in terms of international diplomacy, much of his thinking can be applied to every organization and system.  If nothing else, he calls for preparedness because change is coming whether we wish it or not or want it or not.  What follows is a recap of some of his comments on the subject of change.

Change has always been around us and in our lives.  You may have sensed that the frequency of change has quicken.  Sometimes without warning, it “roars down upon us as an avalanche out of bounds and out of our control.”  These numerous changes are causing once-given landscapes to disappear or reshape into unfamiliar forms.

The time has arrived for adaptive systems and organizations.  The future will require flexibility and preparedness for the type of intense change ahead.  We will see “maladaptive systems (which) might look good for awhile, but when they are hit with the unexpected, they react in ways that doom them.”  These systems are “organized into instability.”  Many are “blinded by optimism and confusion (by) using out-of-date and unrealistic models of the world (their world).”  It is the small things that precipitate an avalanche of change that must run its course until its energy is spent.  Unfortunately, “we are probably not going to see it until it is too late.”

Any “change produces unpredictability and surprise.”  So when “we push for change – we have to prepare ourselves for the fact that much of what we’ll get is unpredictable.”  The time has come “to accept growing complexity and ceaseless newness as givens.”

Our future will require “harder truth telling” and experimentation that takes us right to the very edge of collapse.  We will need to focus on things that move & change and learn to ask unusual questions.  “We should do the work of crisis before crisis becomes a reality.”  Much of the change ahead of us “will be difficult.  It will involve tremendous sacrifice.”

Finally, you should realize that any discussion of this book will be highly frustrating because you will typically find “only incomprehension or dismissal in your audience.”  To understand what the central message of this book is about will require an “intellectual and spiritual leap” and for most that will be too much to ask.

This age is the only one we have.  It is now our time to face a changing world unlike anything those before us dealt with.  What will it demand of you and me?

Personal:  I highly recommend this book.  It should challenge your thinking and cause you to think thoughts that might surprise you.  Please don’t dismiss it’s message too quickly.  Bill Wyler

July 10, 2009 Posted by Bill Wyler | Economy, Security & Safety | 1 Comment