Having the Right Business Infrastructure to Support Innovation

A friend of mine recently returned from visiting overseas. He had an interesting time, but the thing that frightened him the most was the traffic on the roads. He said that people just drove wherever they liked to get to where they were going. They drove “like people possessed” is how he described it.

All the drivers were making up the rules as they went along. Surprisingly, he said there were only a few accidents that he noticed.

I was driving down the freeway yesterday, and I was reflecting on his experience and comparing it to the one I was having. I was hurtling along the road with ease and nothing scary was happening to me, and it occurred to me that this was the perfect example of having a great infrastructure, combined with and in perfect balance with the ‘self-organizing’ principles that my friend had experienced.

As long as you abide by the rules of the road, you can self-organize as much as you like and arrive safely at your destination.

In business, having the right infrastructure allows for freedom of thought and action. It delivers high performing outcomes and encourages innovation and adaptive behaviours that are instinctive, rapid and effortless.