Do not bolt this on!

The goal: an adaptable, knowledgeable, rapid-response business model that can out-innovate the competition and out-adapt its ever-changing environment.

Here's a couple things that have to go: the world-view that has leaders quite literally as the head and the rest of the organization as the body. In this paradigm, it is thought that the only intelligence in an organization is at the head where the brain is and the rest of the organization serves to implement the instructions from the brain. Good communication, it stands to reason, is all we would need to improve the execution of strategy, just like the nervous system in a body. Good management, we hear, just requires "buy-in" so it can be "rolled-out."

We should have left this strategy framework in the last century. A better idea might be to stop trying to organize living systems as if they were children's building blocks. These ideas are remnants of the machine model where everything has identifiable causes and effects.

However, this model relies on the fallacy of predictable change. It requires the centralized all-seeing, all-knowing head to be able to react to infinite change at any pace. It is assumed that feedback loops can be bolted on to the "leaders as the head"model and everything will be fine, whereas the only advantage you get from this sort of strategic thinking is the ability to feel pain, without the associated ability to react more quickly.

There is intelligence throughout your organization. Orchestrate it. Nurture it. Connect it. Weave it together. Encourage it as it tends to take a direction you want it to take and discourage it when it tends to take a direction you don't want it to take. Use narratives to seed strategy throughout your living system and let it grow.

Above all, don't bolt this on. A machine model with a bolt-on is still a machine model.

Bruce Borup

What is this Chaos & Complexity Stuff?

Ok, let's back up and answer the obvious question: what on earth is this chaos & complexity stuff?

About a decade or so ago, I was introduced to "Surfing the Edge of Chaos" by Richard Pascale, Mark Millemann and Linda Gioja. This book literally shocked me, causing me to re-think EVERYTHING I thought I knew about business.

By EVERYTHING, I mean that I had just finished my PhD a few years before. My dissertation was on business planning and specifically on developing strategy for the fast-growth enterprise. At the time I was Asst. Professor of Entrepreneurship at Alaska Pacific University and I was teaching all this stuff at the MBA level.

With just my first peek at Chaos Theory & Complexity Theory I knew I had to start all over again. I literally had to throw my dissertation away. The economic foundation I had built to drive the development of strategy and the business planning process was riddled with holes - huge, gaping, complex, chaotic holes! This illusion of a foundation was based on the arrogant assumption that somehow we could use concepts of linear or deterministic economics to reliably predict the future. In traditional business planning we acknowledged complexity and chaos (without understanding them!) only in terms of risk that could be dealt with by means of crisis management plans. The more diligent of us wrote even more and better detailed technical plans in a mad scramble to cover every conceivable event only to have these dusty tomes relegated to the highest shelves in every corner office.

I researched more and more trying to rationalize my way out of dealing with these concepts: "you can't stretch these concepts from physics and biology to the social sciences," I pleaded with myself. "Economics doesn't behave this way!" Planning was comfortable. Pro formas were safe (just give them a haircut!). Stability was a goal! Strange Attractors, Fractal Forms, Bifurcation, Time Irreversibility, Sensitivity to Initial Conditions, Complex Adaptive Systems. It had to be drivel - probably just the stuff of consultants!

But I knew these concept would prove to be true. All of them. I knew it from the very first few pages of Surfing the Edge of Chaos. I even think the authors knew this would happen - they don't even start Part One until Chapter Two, as if they knew readers would need time to compose themselves.

So, what was I to do? I had to search through the debris of my dissertation to find something I could use to rebuild my theory of strategy development - someplace I could start. I settled on Collins & Porras. They were still right. Vision was still the basis of all strategy.

Collins & Porras described vision in two ways:

-       Core Values and Beliefs. An organization should be prepared to change EVERYTHING about itself at a moment’s notice EXCEPT its core values and beliefs. I absolutely concur. This is still the rock foundation we can stand on.

-       Purpose. Collins & Porras describe a technique known as the “5 Why’s” to divine purpose. It answers the simple question, “what’s the point of doing all this stuff?” Once again, I couldn't agree more. The purpose statement acts as a guiding star, never a destination. It should be unreasonable and unattainable.

So maybe this journey through chaos and complexity is possible? We know, as an organization, what we believe in and we agree on the "Why." There's still a few more useful pieces from my dissertation lying around: BHAG's, missions, goals, business models, revenue models, commander's intent, positioning. However, it seems some of these tools might be more useful if they are used in different ways, so I'll come back to them another time. Let's walk through some of the concepts of chaos and complexity theory I mentioned above:

-       Sensitivity to Initial Conditions.  Initial inputs to a complex system can cause the system to react in unpredictable (and nonlinear) ways.  Using exactly the same or only slightly different variables in a model will not result in the same outcomes in a complex system. A sister concept is the law of increasing returns, such as Metcalfe's law (the value of a network is proportional to the square of the connected users.)

-       Time Irreversibility. In a complex system, there is never the same context twice. For example, this is one of the challenges of quality management, in that "you never step in the same river twice."

-       Strange Attractors.  Attractors are like the influence of gravity, sets of values to which a system migrates over time. Understand that organizations have "attractors" that cause the behavior of the organization to migrate over time. Guy Kawazaki in his phenomenal book "Rules for Revolutionaries" referred to some attractors as "death traps" for businesses.

-       Fractal Forms. A fractal is any curve or surface that is independent of scale. This is often referred to as "self-similarity,"where any segment, if magnified in scale, appears identical to the whole curve. In business we could say that different levels of an organization resemble or echo others.

-       Bifurcation. Bifurcation is the sudden appearance of qualitatively different solutions to the equations for a nonlinear system as a parameter is varied. In a complex adaptive system, this can explain why different solutions emerge from different groups within an organization. This can be a key tool for innovation and creativity for an organization.

-       Complex Adaptive Systems. Rather than control an organization, management should install feedback systems in the organization in order to “encourage those activities that would tend to accomplish a goal, or discourage those activities which would tend to detract from a goal. Understand the long-term behavior of an organization is unpredictable. Do not believe for a moment the arrogance of predicting an outcome. 

Now that we are marching down this path of chaos and strategy, I should stress that chaos is not anarchy. It is not random. Chaos is often defined as a pattern you do not recognize. This is not a concept reserved for poorly performing organizations. Indeed, the larger, more complex and most stable organizations in the world are probably the biggest candidates for this shift in thinking.

Bruce Borup

Bruce Borup: Rejection of Linear Economics

I categorically reject the concept of linear or deterministic economics. I believe it is arrogant to think we can reliably predict the outcome of a multi-variant equation as complex as modern business. How many times have you seen a business try to plan its way through the future without any idea what the future holds in store? It's as if modern business plans were some sort of railroad you could build to ride a guaranteed success train that could only be derailed by unforeseen circumstances and natural disasters.

Business just doesn't work that way. A good friend of mine once said there ought to be a CEO's prayer, "please Lord, just one day without something going wrong!" You live and compete in a fog every day, making decisions with incomplete information and facing unpredictable competitors and global market conditions that change at a moment's notice. Under those conditions, what makes you think you can just pick a direction and achieve what you set out to do? Just how well do you have to execute to make a typewriter survive in today's marketplace?

The way you develop strategy has to change. The way you plan has to change. The way you manage has to change. How you do business is as important as what you do. The speed at which you do business is important. You have to recognize how you interact with your competitive landscape. Your ability to adapt is as important as what you make. Even how you communicate is a strategic advantage.

Your first step in building a strategy in today's business environment is for you, your board, your management team, your employees, your shareholders and all your stakeholders, to admit that you don't know everything and that you only have the tiniest clue of what the future holds in store. As a leader, that is the reality you must define for your enterprise. Everything else is arrogance! Then, and only then, can you begin to build a strategy.

Bruce Borup

The ups and downs in the corporate world: Bruce Borup and calculating business risks and rewards

Seasoned entrepreneur Bruce Borup believes that “life is governed by probabilities, not uncertainties.” And much like in life, businesses should also consider the probabilities that may help or hinder their success, which falls under the business approach called risk management.

Bruce Borup Photo Credit: Theinstitute.ieee.org

The book Enterprise Risk Assessment and Business Impact Analysis shares that risk management can be defined as the process of identifying risks, the probability of its occurrence, and its impact on the business. The process is an important aspect of preparing for the future and something that affects how entrepreneurs or business managers make sound judgments and decisions.


Experts believe that understanding and taking calculated risks is important for a business to grow. The step enables companies to veer away from status quo and equilibrium, which, as entrepreneurs like Bruce Borup believe, should be challenged once in a while.

Bruce Borup Photo Cerdit: Jonnywalthall.wordpress.com

The rewards of taking risks


Sustaining risk management has helped countless of companies reach high level of success. The book Managing Business Risk: A Practical Guide to Protecting your Business shares the story of how companies, like Toyota, took risks and managed to get by the tough competition in the industry through sustainable innovation.

Bruce Borup Photo Credit: Blueprintsforbiz.com

Loss of profit and other unfortunate events are common probabilities in the business world. Thus, experts recommend business leaders to always take the worst-case scenario into consideration because only by doing so will the company be prepared for what’s about to come, when it comes.


Bruce Borup is the Director of GSC International. Visit BruceBorup.Livejournal.com for more about him.

Bruce Borup: CEO of Eckso Bionics

Bruce Borup was the CEO of Eckso Bionics from May 2008 - February 2010.

Founded in Berkeley, California in 2005, Ekso Bionics aims to help people rethink their physical limitations through applying the latest technology and engineering in the manufacture of exoskeletons and bionics. The company has received grants from the U.S. Department of Defense and has formed partnerships with the University of California at Berkeley and other world-class institutions. Its technology is licensed to the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Bruce Borup Photo credit: eksobionics.com

Berkeley Bionics and Lockheed Martin jointly developed the military and industrial (HULC) exoskeleton for military use.

From Photo credit: eksobionics.com

Today, Ekso Bionics is one of the pioneers in the development of exoskeletons to aid in human mobility. More information on the company and its range of products is available here.

From Bruce Borup

Read more about Bruce Borup and his accomplishments in this and other companies on LinkedIn.

Bruce Borup: Disrupting equilibrium to achieve organizational order

Surfing the Edge of Chaos:

Adaptive leadership disturbs equilibrium:

a)     Communicate the urgency of the issue

b)    Establish a broad understanding of the roots of the problem - explain why traditional solutions won’t work.

c)     Holding stress in play until guerrilla leaders come forward with solutions.

Adaptive leaders can disturb equilibrium by:

a)     Overloading the organization beyond its business as usual carrying capacity

b)    Using deadlines, public scrutiny and other action-forcing events to sustain disequilibrium

c)     Identifying the adaptive challenges BUT NOT stepping in to fix them

 Bruce Borup does not rely on age-old, conventional business standards in his white paper "Ruminations on Strategy."  Instead, he has laid out his own ruminations which reflect the ideas of modern thinkers such as Richard Pascale, Mark Milleman, Linda Gioja, M. Mitchell Waldrop, James Collins, and Jerry Porras.

Borup’s White Paper delves into the idea that chaos is an essential element in the survival and success of an organization. This is founded on the idea that linear principles no longer serve the purpose of modern enterprises. Instead, organizations must be readily flexible to face challenges and accept them openly. Although crisis is commonly perceived as something negative, it is a time when innovation flourishes.

From Bruce Borup

More information on Bruce Borup’s professional achievements can be found at www.linkedin.com .

Bruce Borup discusses strategy, innovation, and process improvement

Dr. Bruce Borup is a businessman, educator, and U.S. Army officer with over 25 years of experience in business management and leadership. He earned the first rank in INC 500’s 2007 list of fastest-growing defense contractors in the country. He helps numerous companies ramp up quickly and guides them in navigating the complexities of federal acquisition regulations. Due in large part to his years of experience in the business arena, Dr. Bruce Borup has a lot of insights on strategy, innovation, and process improvement. He believes that for businesses to be successful, it is important to be watchful of radical breakthroughs, and proactively optimize current processes. He believes that life is not governed by certainties, but rather, by probabilities, and that people must understand frozen accidents and how little actions trigger bigger ones that become irreversible – like an avalanche.

From Bruce Borup

More information on Dr. Bruce Borup can be found on his Linkedin profile.