Tim and Ben have previously drawn extensively on Dave Snowden’s material as a means of sense-making in complex environments. And here he is in person (virtually). In particular, Snowden’s Cynefin (pronounced ‘kin-ev-in’) framework has proven consistently to be an incredibly useful and intuitive sense-making tool for leaders in all contexts.
In the period of heightened COVID-19 risk it has been highly instructional to the management teams that Tim and Ben work with.
In this episode, Dave joins us from the UK and speaks to not only Cynefin, but also complexity.
BYO notebook for the knowledge from this one!
Intelligence Summary (INTSUM)
03:20 Dave and Ben’s first meeting at the SAS Regiment back
04:00 Dave provides an overview of his Cynefin framework
04:50 The domains – simple, complicated, complex and chaotic
09:20 Leading in complex environments – parallel probes
11:25 Every intervention into a complex system fundamentally changes it
12:00 ‘Nudges’ towards ‘adjacent possibles’ – stepping stones towards better results. An alternative to trying to predict the future
13:45 The key to operating in complexity – know where you are and the rough direction you want to head
14:20 What can you control in a complex system?
17:00 Negative boundaries – teaching through failure, not success
18:20 Commander’s Intent – ‘metaphorical examples with counter-factuals’ – Dave’s Gettysburg example, taken from his time at DARPA
22:25 Are contemporary Western militaries doing ‘mission command’ well?
23:25 The Black Lives Matter protests through a Cynefin lens
27:00 Using ‘trios’ to validate decision-making in complexity
28:45 Neuroplasticity and its impacts in various stages in life
32:20 Why Dave got thrown out of the Pentagon
34:50 Human-mediated wargames: ‘far more malicious’
36:30 Ben on the benefits of Dave’s visit to the Australian SAS in 2009
39:00 Dave’s work with Peter Drucker
40:00 COVID-19 as a ‘Black Elephant’ – a cross between a Black Swan and the elephant in the room
43:15 The importance of narrative and storytelling
48:10 Using anecdotes to increase resilience
50:20 The importance of experience in training
51:30 COVID-19 – who got it right: the economists or the doctors?
52:30 Dave’s prognosis for contemporary political leadership
External Links
Music
The Externals … Available on Spotify (plus a bit of Ben’s guitar work, recorded in the bathroom of one of Saddam’s palaces in Tikrit, Iraq!)
S4E18 – Associate Professor Justine Gatt: Providing a COMPAS to navigate wellbeing and resilience
S4E17 – Life in Bloom: Sam and Cam Bloom on Life, Adversity, Growth and Love
S4E16 – David Knoff Redux: 537 Days of Winter in 65 minutes of podcast!
S4E15 – Beau Miles. Our Famous Backyard Adventurer
S4E14 – Dr Michael Mumford: Pioneering Medical Marijuana
S4E13 – How to be Indistractable with Nir Eyal
S4E12 - Mark Wales: Survivor Redux
S4E11 – Cam & Sharn Watts: Foxhole Buddies In the Fight Against PTSD
S4E10– Meet Liv Robinson v2.0- Beating Anorexia and Dominating Life through Art Therapy
S4E9–Cleared Hot! Shannon Huffman Polson on flying Apache Gunships, bagging big peaks and being a badass
S4E8– Olympian Melissa Wu is Diving Into Life!
S4E7– Brian Firth – Breathing – you’re doing it wrong!
S4E6– Mick Neven is Fair Dinkum
S4E5B– Kev Toonen – Training SpecOps, Sports Stars and Celebrities: Part B
S4E5A– Kev Toonen – Training SpecOps, Sports Stars and Celebrities: Part A
S4E4 – Be All There to Enjoy the Moments of Magic with Psychologist Ali Hill
S4E3 – Dean Fechner: Sharing hard-won lessons on resilience
S4E2 – Tom Moore- How ‘WithYouWithMe’ is Disrupting Normal
S4E1 - Harry Garside: Fighting the good fight – inside and outside the ring
@RV28 – Season 3 Finale ….. Reflections & into the Future
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