Leading Through Complexity: The Power of Experimentation

Jennifer Garvey Berger: Unleashing Your Complexity Genius Jennifer believes that leadership is one of the most vital renewable resources in the world. She designs and teaches leadership programs, coaches senior teams, and supports new ways of thinking about strategy and people. In her three highly acclaimed books, Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps, Simple Habits for Complex Times (co-authored with Keith Johnston), and Changing on the Job, she builds on deep theoretical knowledge to offer practical ways to make leaders’ work more meaningful and their lives more fun. She has worked with senior leaders in the private, non-profit, and government sectors around the world with organizations like Novartis, Google, KPMG, Intel, Microsoft, Wikimedia, and the New Zealand Department of Conservation. Jennifer also supports executives one-on-one as a leadership coach. Over the last decade, she has developed the Growth Edge Coaching approach. She supports clients to find their current growing edge and then make choices about how they want to develop. She teaches coaches around the world transformational and developmental coaching approaches in her Growth Edge Coaching certification series. Jennifer speaks at leadership and coaching conferences, and she offers courses for coaches at universities all over the world. She is the co-author with Carolyn Coughlin of Unleash Your Complexity Genius: Growing Your Inner Capacity to Lead*. In this conversation, Jennifer and I discuss the reality that most of us don’t like uncertainty. That makes experimenting with new ideas and actions in complex environments very challenging. We uncover several practices that can help us benefit from experimentation in the midst of complexity and grow from these experiences. Key Points Complicated situations are hard, but have a clear answer (such as how to send humans to the moon). In contrast, complex situations are dynamic; yesterday’s answer may not work tomorrow. Most of us really dislike complexity, to the extent that that people with terminal diseases are happier than those who will likely recover. Step-by-step approaches don’t work in very complex situations. Instead, take action through thoughtful experimentation. When experimenting, release your attachment to outcomes. Lean into humility and don’t shy away from endings. Putting end dates on experiments helps us move forward — and sometimes remove what isn’t working. Resources Mentioned Unleash Your Complexity Genius: Growing Your Inner Capacity to Lead* by Jennifer Garvey Berger and Carolyn Coughlin Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes Essentials of Adult Development, with Mindy Danna (episode 273) How to Pivot Quickly, with Steve Blank (episode 476) Help Your Brain Learn, with Lisa Feldman Barrett (episode 513) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.