Beyond resilience: Developing organisations that benefit from volatility

Thursday, 27 February 2014, 8.15am to 10.00am

This topic was explored by reference to the ideas of Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan and Antifragile. Here is the link to the slides and below are other relevant links.

• Taleb’s website, fooled by randomness where there is a video of him in conversation with Daniel Kahneman.
• Reinventing Organisations, the just-released book by Frederic Laloux that studies the French manufacturer, FAVI and others.
• Case study on FAVI published by Cornell University.

The increasing complexity of organisations makes them more susceptible to the effects of small changes within the systems in which they exist. Being resilient ensures that organisations will not be negatively affected by those changes. But is there an approach that goes beyond resilience and actually increases the probability of growth as a result of small and large shocks to the system?

To consider the question, we will draw on the writings of Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan and Anti-Fragile to discuss organisational resilience. The topics we will explore will include:

•  What are the leadership competencies that result in the sustainability and success of organisations despite systemic shocks?
•  Where are the examples of organisations that by design or default are anti-fragile?
•  What policies and systems can HR leaders incorporate to enhance their organisation’s anti-fragility?

Join our speakers Mario Ferraro, Director Human Capital at Deloitte and Louise Kovacs, CEO of Madston Black for what we anticipate will be a thought-provoking conversation that links the writings of one of the world’s leading thinkers on risk and probability to the domain of organisational development.