Uncertainty surrounds us. This is an election year where not only are outcomes of who will lead the United States is uncertain but what will the outcomes of the new leaders policies, decisions and other newly appointed cabinet produce.
The outcome will have a global effect. We are surrounded by the "chaos of the moment" and the outcomes seem uncertain. The chaos of the moment includes:
- The War in Irag
- The Mortgage Meltdown
- The Rising Price of Fuel
- Economic Pressures from the Markets
- The Cause & Effects of Global Warming
Businesses are already reacting to the uncertainty of the moment. Mergers and Acquisitions are typical reactions to markets looking for economies of scale during uncertain times. Corporate re-organization aimed at cost reductions and improved results are typical to times of uncertainty. Uncertainty breeds fear of the unknown for the people affected by change.
Change usually brings disruption and more uncertainty. During times of perceived uncertainty people usually look for certainty as a stabilizing force to help anchor the anxiety of the moment. Human and organizational behavior is predictable.
Where Do People Find Certainty?
When what appears to be chaos surrounds us we anchor ourselves in two ways, in our beliefs and in our relations. Beliefs drive our behavior and relations reinforce our beliefs. We tend to surround ourselves with "like minded people" which helps us reinforce our perceptions of reality, whether good or bad. During uncertainty pessimist become more pessimistic and opportunist look for solutions amongst the chaos. Our certainty is reinforced by the relations we keep and the subsequent conversations create the outcomes. Outcomes are efforts of combined relations aimed at controlling or creating certainty, for better or worse.
Certainty can be defined as producing a preferred state. A preferred state of certainty has common output behaviors that "collective relations" use to attempt to control the definitions and outcomes of preferred states. The collective force of united relations create a new certainty with possibilities during uncertain times. Conversations are what fuel the possibilities of the new certainty or rather solutions to that which seems uncertain.
Our virtual worlds have accelerated conversations fueled by the advancement of technology that connects the conversations. Reorganization of relations and the subsequent conversations is the power of the virtual web. Collective conversations are the mechanisms that is involved in learning and creating solutions. It closely parallels within the individual the processes of evolution by natural selection. However the selection of solutions by the people, from the people and for the people may fly in the face of traditional organizational, institutional and market selections of outcomes created by repeat behaviors of the past.
Want to create a new certainty, join the crowd.
What say you?