Managers tend to treat organizations as if they are infinitely plastic. They hire and fire, merge, downsize, terminate programs, add capacities. But there are limits to the shifts that organizations can absorb.

Quote by Kevin Kelly

Topics: Kevin Kelly Quotes

The way that organizations and organisms anticipate the future is by taking signals from the...

The way that organizations and organisms anticipate the future is by taking signals from the...

The great advance of personal computers was not the computing power per se but the...

The great advance of personal computers was not the computing power per se but the...

Everything that we are making, we are making more and more complex.

Everything that we are making, we are making more and more complex.

The most interesting thing about change in the environment is that for the most part...

The most interesting thing about change in the environment is that for the most part...

It's more along the lines of raising a child: we train the system to a...

It's more along the lines of raising a child: we train the system to a...

Changing things from the top down works when things are stable.

Changing things from the top down works when things are stable.

An organization's reason for being, like that of any organism, is to help the parts...

An organization's reason for being, like that of any organism, is to help the parts...

An organization is a set of relationships that are persistent over time.

An organization is a set of relationships that are persistent over time.

It's generally much easier to kill an organization than to change it substantially.

It's generally much easier to kill an organization than to change it substantially.

The system continually has to make this choice: it can either continue to exploit a...

The system continually has to make this choice: it can either continue to exploit a...

We are infected by our own misunderstanding of how our own minds work.

We are infected by our own misunderstanding of how our own minds work.

And they discovered something very interesting: when it comes to walking, most of the ant's...

And they discovered something very interesting: when it comes to walking, most of the ant's...

But in a turbulent environment the change is so widespread that it just routes around...

But in a turbulent environment the change is so widespread that it just routes around...

The organization and the environment are in concert.

The organization and the environment are in concert.

Complexity that works is built up out of modules that work perfectly, layered one over...

Complexity that works is built up out of modules that work perfectly, layered one over...

This is actually a very important principle that science is learning about large systems like...

This is actually a very important principle that science is learning about large systems like...

The nature of an innovation is that it will arise at a fringe where it...

The nature of an innovation is that it will arise at a fringe where it...

A brain is a society of very small, simple modules that cannot be said to...

A brain is a society of very small, simple modules that cannot be said to...

One of the functions of an organization, of any organism, is to anticipate the future,...

One of the functions of an organization, of any organism, is to anticipate the future,...

It has become evident that the primary lesson of the study of evolution is that...

It has become evident that the primary lesson of the study of evolution is that...