The Power of Pragmatism

Photo by Lisa Baker on Unsplash

I don't plan what I blog to follow a particular theme, but sometimes, I notice one emerging. It is almost always of course something that has been hovering just below the surface, waiting for an opportunity to elbow its way into my consciousness, and it's no less welcome for that.

This time last week, I wrote about "fit for purpose" considering how, in the interests of efficiency, we train and educate ourselves into relatively narrow areas of interest. On Sunday, I considered the idea of "dissolving organisations," and the difficulty they have in keeping up with rapidly changing situations, owing to their natural desire for survival doing what they have come to know best.

If we train people, ourselves included, to thrive within organisations that our business ecosystem evolution is making obsolescent not just within our lifetimes, but increasing several times within our lifetimes, how do we respond?

It's an uncomfortable question; we like certainty in our l…