(W) Sensemaking – Tony O'Driscoll

Writing on Sensemaking

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How to Lead Organizations Through Uncertainty

The one-two punch of the global pandemic and the imminent threat of global war has made it increasingly difficult for humanity to maintain continuity with an ever evolving horizon of intelligibility. Simply put, humanity finds itself at the brink of an existential crisis because things just don’t seem to make sense to us any more.

Leading the Way to a Brighter Shared Future

Our continued inability to make collective sense of the world events since the onset of COVID is a significant source of existential risk for humanity.

The Space Between

Today, many of us feel like a trapeze artist hurtling through the air with no safety net, having let go of one bar and desperately reaching for another to avoid falling into the abyss. It is an uncomfortable place to be.

In Search of Collective Insight

How do we make sense of the liminal space where we’re caught between pining nostalgically for a past we know will never return and feeling overwhelmed with fear about a future that looks much more bleak than it does bright?

Making Sense of Our Shared COVID Circumstance

Becoming collectively unstuck from this liminal space requires that each of us face up to our worst fears, let go of our limiting preconceptions, open our hearts and minds, and embrace diversity of perspective.

How to Fly the Complexity Chasm

Successfully navigating a complex operating context is dependent on synthesizing multiple diverse perspectives in order to develop a collective holistic appreciation for what is actually going on.

The Final Frontier Between our Ears

Next generation leaders must work on the space between their ears to become Precise Perceivers, Subtle Sensemakers and Careful Choreographers.

Navigating Complexity: It’s NOT Complicated

To lead in a complex operating context, leaders must sense, learn, and respond; track assumptions and unknowns; identify patterns; develop insights; and discover high-leverage progression paths.

Overcoming Paradigm Paralysis

To successfully navigate paradigm shifts we must have the courage to let go of what we know, the confidence to step up to what we don’t and the confidence to hold on as we make the shift.

Productive versus Generative Learning

Productive learning is about helping people find out something that is already known. Generative learning,

on the other hand, is about figuring out something we do not yet understand.

Want Peace and Tranquility? Be like a Zebra

While gazing peacefully in the open savanna, the zebra’s mind is not busy imagining a future where a lion pops out from behind a tree to tear it to shreds, not is it busy digging through the recesses of its grey matter to find something in the past to feel bad about.