Organizations of all size seek stability. A condition that values order over chaos and the known over the unknown.
But stability - whether benevolent or despotic - is unsustainable, because its presence comes at the expense of change.
And change, as events in Egypt have proved today, is as inevitable as a freight train.
Which ironically makes organizations that incorporate change, infinitely more stable. A reality that Hosni Mubarak is coming to terms with today.
For as he has learned, revolutions build imperceptibly. A string of decisions taken over a period of time that in the short term produce acquiescence and the illusion of stability, but in the long run combust explosively and instantly. Two weeks, after all, being an instant when placed in the context of 30 years.
Incorporating change into an organization requires embedding the capacity for evolution. The process being less violent, the results more predictable, and the risk to those that lead it relatively minimal.
This creates a new kind of stability. One that is both aspirational and sustainable because it invites discussion and values collaboration.
The alternative is to place ourselves at the center of the universe and surround ourself only with those that agree and that which pleases us, while walling off every droplet of dissent.
Which will work for a while.
But the tsunami, when it comes, will wash us away in an ocean of possibility. And the deserted island on which we land, will be one of our own making.
Stable.
And entirely silent.
