It is now four days since the attacks in Paris and, unless we were directly involved, our emotional reactions have had a chance to die down.
We are living through the greatest time of change humanity has ever experienced. The globalisation that began in the 1970s has increased our population, pushed us up against each other, made us realise that other people think differently from us, and led to more demand for fewer resources. The resulting time of churning will continue for a while.
We all have a choice as to how we respond.
With each new ‘incident’ we can respond with counter-attack, which will lead to counter-attack.
Or we can give up.
Or we can find a better way forward.
The first volume of The Churning provides tools that help us quickly to steady our emotions when situations like Paris arise, and make clear sense of the circumstances.
Other tools enable us to find the opportunities in the situation, choose the one that suits us best, and turn that into an inspiring vision.
Used together, these tools make us ‘antifragile’: we become able not only to survive this time of change but to thrive because of it.
And the really interesting, optimistic and exciting thing, for me, is that the book shows that through all this time of change, the organisations and individuals that will do best, that will shape the future we are living towards, are those that put People, Purpose, and Values at the heart of everything they do.
The news may seem dire, but we are living towards a better future.