{"id":3650,"date":"2012-07-26T12:46:03","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T20:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/?p=3650"},"modified":"2012-07-26T12:47:01","modified_gmt":"2012-07-26T20:47:01","slug":"dealing-with-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chriscorrigan.com\/parkinglot\/dealing-with-disruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was listening to a brilliant interview <\/a>with the theologian and scholar Walter Bruggeman this morning. \u00a0He was talking about “the prophetic imagination” and using the poetry of the Old Testament prophets to make a point about a key capacity that is missing in the world right now: the ability to deal with disruption.<\/p>\n

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SImply, disruption is what happens when the plans we thought we had have suddenly changed. \u00a0It could be a major economic collapse – a black swan event – or something so small as your bus left early. \u00a0How we respond to disruption is a key capacity for individual resourcefulness, and how we collectively deal with disruption is a key capacity for resilience.<\/div>\n
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It is interesting, as Bruggeman notes, that our frame for understanding the future is basically consumerist. \u00a0We purchase certainty. \u00a0It’s as if we invest in the present because it guarantees a given performance of the future. \u00a0When we buy something, we expect to receive quality and a guarantee that if it doesn’t work according to plan, we can hold someone else responsible.<\/div>\n
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That understanding about the way the future is supposed to roll out infects everything we do. \u00a0When events overtake our assumptions about the future, we look for someone to blame, someone to be accountable, someone to make it right. \u00a0I can find all kinds of ways in which I expect people to OWE me something. \u00a0It’s as if our participation in the social contract guarantees that our expectations will be met.<\/div>\n
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But they never are. \u00a0We cannot all live in our ideal worlds. \u00a0Diversity and complexity means disruption.<\/div>\n
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The greatest challenge of our time I think, both individually and collectively, is how to equip ourselves for disruption. \u00a0There are many patterns that scale across dimensions of practice, and a few key ones may be:<\/div>\n
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