As AI changes the world around us, the big challenge that leaders face is to bring their organizations into one part of storms and tumultuousness. There is something paradox here because organizations need to change to survive in a changing world. If so, what will remain constant on that journey? What is it that unifies businesses and other organizations from time to time, every day, every year, and every year, and every year, and every day, with changing market conditions, physical exercise, staff turnover, and even changes in names and ownership? What currently means decisions that will affect the future performance of your business?
Answer, the red thread that connects the snapshot over time is the purpose. The purpose is to provide the business with the foundation that is the existing reason. It is the source of its value and the foundation for working meaningfully for employees. The faster the world moves, the faster we move through it, the more important it is to have something safer that we can navigate. The purpose plays the role of teaching.
Please double-check your purpose. Everything continues and we'll return to this.
Navigate with purpose
Maneuvering by purpose is to accept continuity and change simultaneously, and to search for one with the other. To create an organization that can not only survive, but also thrive in an age of deep uncertainty, we must:
Use your imagination. Project your company's purpose into the future and explore hypotheses. Think about the changes that AI can bring. Push your imagination and embrace even the most unlikely options. You can't plan every contingency, but a bit of speculative fantasy can help you inoculate you to the shock of dramatic and unexpected change. If you can avoid the paralysis that comes with surprise, you can move quickly to take advantage of new situations.
Continue to constant monitoring on the horizon. Uncertainty about the future does not imply epistemological freedom. Sometimes events come out of the fog and there is little time to respond. However, as long as you are still vigilant about them, you will be able to fully identify the changes that are often inevitable. Move quickly, add new AI capabilities to your innovation portfolio, and adapt your organization to serve its goals as the technological environment changes.
It develops emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to strongly recognize your own emotions and their impact on any kind of personal or professional relationship. Responding to AI, while often referred to as an intellectual and technical challenge, is also an emotional challenge. We live with uncertainty, are exposed to dramatic changes, finding our way through fear and dreams of the future. To successfully lead such a time, emotional intelligence is required as the absolute minimum. Emotional intelligence helps you manage your own emotions and your response to them, and also helps you guide your team and organization through inevitable upheavals.
We will adopt a “beginner's mind” approach. “In the mind of a beginner,” writes Zen monk Shunryu Suzuki. “There are many possibilities, but very few experts.” In the AI context, this attitude can be considered to remain open to ignorance by accepting the unknown. For leaders, this means getting used to the lack of all the answers. This way you will be able to respond appropriately when you are unimaginable.
It slows things down despite the world speeding up. When things are constantly changing, the old answers don't work, and yesterday, when everything is urgent and important, our natural instinct is to respond at speed. However, the stoic philosopher Seneca points out something important about this response. “The faster you go, the more you get, the more you become.” This is a useful wisdom for living in an evolving, AI-driven world. It is certainly a maze, and perhaps the most complicated maze ever created. Instead of rushing it, instead pay to take the time to walk and consider it. There is always more time than you think.
We aim for rebound rather than stability. Nassim Nicholas Taleb's notion of “repulsion” encapsulates the power that can arise from accepting uncertainty.“Vulnerability” can be defined as acceleration sensitivity to harmful stressors. This response is plotted as a concave curve, mathematically more harmful than the benefits of random events. “Reactivity” is the opposite, creating a convex response that leads to more benefits than harm. ”
Rebellious organizations are organizations designed to not only survive, but also thrive in uncertain times.
Adapted/published with permission fromIt transcends'Faisal Hoque (Post Hill Press, Hardcover, April 8, 2025). Copyright 2025, Faisal Hoque, All Rights Reserved.
