Leadership in Chaos: 35th edition.
octopus org, give up, consensus.
“Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. It’s all about taking in as much of what’s out there as you can, and not letting the excuses and the dreariness of some of the obligations you’ll soon be incurring narrow your lives. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.”
Susan Sontag
Change: octopus org.
We’re not in Kansas anymore. That’s for sure. But lots of businesses are still operating like the Tin Man from Oz. Rigid. Clumsy. Slow to move and react. And full of rusty parts, that lack initiative. Businesses have long been seen as machines. Designed for efficient, predictable outcomes. To minimise risk and eliminate variation. These Tin Man orgs were built on standardisation and control. For a stable world. But the world has completely changed. Which is why to succeed in the future, you need to become an Octopus Org. The octopus is remarkably adaptive, curious, and intelligent. Their arms can think and act independently, yet work harmoniously (two-thirds of its neurons are in its arms, which can literally think for themselves while coordinating with the central brain). Octopus orgs tap the intelligence of their people, but empower them to work and think autonomously. They sense subtle signals, learning and shifting course at speed to navigate uncertainty.
A thought for leaders: Becoming an Octopus Org isn’t about a framework, a playbook or a step-by-step plan. Because becoming one isn’t linear or tidy. As they write, “Lasting change comes from shifting how people see the world and behave. Like building a strong marriage or family, it’s a messy, emergent process, not one realised by following a blueprint. It requires a fundamental shift in mindset”. Three principles, they say, however, help to guide that shift: 1. Make changes with people, not to them. 2. Entwine learning and impact, and 3. Do less to achieve more. That’s how to be more Octopus in 2026.
Performance: give up.
As we turn the page in our calendar, New Year’s resolutions are inevitably looming. Yikes. Time to start thinking about 2026 goals, to push yourself. Goal setting is healthy for self-improvement and optimisation, right? Yes, but….new evidence suggests that ditching tough-to-attain goals can actually be good for us too. According to a recently published review about the benefits of giving up, adjusting our goals in response to stress or challenges, rather than grinding on, is often “a more appropriate and beneficial response”. We’re raised to believe quitting is weak. But perhaps it’s weaker to persist with something that has little chance of success. As Adam Grant said, “Success isn’t about finishing everything you start. It’s about knowing when to grit and when to quit”.
A thought for leaders: Maybe this year is less about what you’re going to do, and more about what you’re not going to do. Or, what you’re going to give up doing. Fewer, bigger, better, works for goals too. And if you are struggling with a goal this year, don’t be a slave to sunk cost fallacy or commitment bias. Get gritting, or get quitting.
Culture: consensus.
In 1951, psychologist Solomon Asch ran an experiment with students. They believed they were being tested for vision and were shown three lines of obviously different lengths. Then, they were asked which one matched the target line. Unaware that they were part of an experiment, and that everyone else in the group would give the wrong answer, 75% gave the wrong answer too. That’s the power, and the danger, of consensus. Most of us prefer to risk being wrong than to oppose the majority. We’re hard-wired to conform. It can literally turn us around. John Stuart Mill had warned a century before Asch’s experiment of “the tyranny of prevailing opinion”. It often works quietly and invisibly. Without overt force or threat. Just the felt vulnerability of setting oneself apart. The fear of holding the “wrong” view, or for simply not broadcasting the “right” one. For healthy businesses and teams, this can be suicide.
A thought for leaders: Margaret Thatcher once said, “consensus is the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects.” And Norman Mailer said, “Reaching consensus in a group is often confused with finding the right answer”. As a leader, you must maintain a healthy relationship with conformity, and concensus. To constantly question and test. To avoid the trap of “that’s the way it’s always been done” or “everyone else is doing it. Hard to manage but, better a pack of strong minded wolves, than a flock of helpless sheep.
Podcast: EP 44: Do The Right Things
You can listen to it here.
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P.S. This month’s featured artist is Brooklyn-based photographer Brooke DiDonato. The artist creates seemingly tranquil images with soft colours and soothing textures. But surreal details, like a pair of stilettos on the sidewalk that melt into a patent leather puddle, or a gender-bending figure seated on a bench, make each photograph an object of intrigue. DiDonato’s images stretch the boundaries of what is possible, asking us to look at domestic settings, landscapes and everyday objects again.
