Surfing the chaord

I work a lot with chaordic process and language.   Dee Hock, the founding CEO of VISA International (the credit card) coined the word “chaord” to describe the form of an organization that brings just enough order to flow through chaos.   Chaordic design, a cornerstone of my practice these days, invites teams of people to bring just enough structure to get work done without closing down the creative and generative elements that come from interaction with constantly changing dynamics.   In short, self-organization at work.

Trying to tell people about this kind of work is really difficult, but luckily artists know all about this way of being.   Bach, whose music is the essence of chaordic for me, born as it is in the improvisational interplay of melodic lines and harmony, has had this quote attributed to him:

“Not the autocracy of a single stubborn melody on the one hand.   Nor the anarchy of unchecked noise on the other. No, a delicate balance between the two; an enlightened freedom.”

Not sure at all if Bach actually said that, but it catches the spirit of his stuff.
Combine that form of organizational structure with the practices of strategy I blogged about previously and see whaere that takes you.   To a completely appropriately structured container for the practice of being in the chaos of markets, clients, funding, environmental conditions.   A tree growing in a changing forest?   Life finding its place where the conditions are right?

Beautiful.