---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Michelle Smith <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 6:21 PM Subject: Synchronous Failure: Small Acts of Hope To: [email protected] Dear Michel, Last month, Graham Leicester at the International Futures Forum (IFF) sent us a manuscript whose second chapter is called *Synchronous Failure* and begins: *We are increasingly confronted with major disasters and disruptions which make demands on emergency services. The most familiar and headline grabbing are the natural disasters such as earthquakes and superstorms. Whole swathes of infrastructure can be destroyed in such incidents affecting millions of people.* *...If this situation were not challenging enough we seem to be entering a period when both natural and man made disasters and dislocations are increasing in frequency and intensity. This creates a new level of hazard [when multiple natural and man-made problems occur all at the same time] called synchronous failure. The implications of a world in which multiple major disruptions are likely have yet to be properly addressed.* Then came news of events in Japan and the need to find a middle way between the catastropic response to this emergency (*The end is nigh*) and the ostrich response (*The stock market will take a hit but we'll be fine*). For inspiration, I turned to the IFF's *Ten Things to Do in a Conceptual Emergency* <http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/book19.htm>*. *It says: * <http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/book19.htm>**Not all responses to challenging times are dysfunctional. It is possible to face up to challenge and grow with and through it. Changed circumstances can be seized as opportunities for creative engagement and, rather than generating resistance, generate a step change in learning and growth.* ** <http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/book19.htm> *Ten Things to Do... *looks at the Conceptual Emergency which arises when profound changes cut across our established ways of thinking. It reformulates the challenges we face and suggests ten small but significant acts of hope that we can undertake. Beautifully illustrated and written, its 10 suggestions include practising Social Acupuncture, which has just joined the growing list of terms in our Idioticon<http://triarchypress.blogspot.com/2011/03/idioticon-social-acupuncture.html>. Both the Idioticon and the online edition of *Ten Things to Do... *are available free. Go here to download a FREE digital copy of *Ten Things to Do in a Conceptual Emergency* <http://triarchypress.co.uk/pages/ePub_registration.php> (or visit the Triarchy Press bookshop<http://triarchypress.co.uk/pages/book19.htm>if you would rather buy a printed copy.) <http://www.asifonq.com/buy_OnQ.php>And for a way of ‘surfacing’ and discussing different views and perspectives in your family, in a work group or amongst friends, try our *On Q* cards. Use them as a creativity tool, a meeting interlude, an intergenerational game, a discussion forum... Top of the pack as I open it is: *“Tell us about the first significant international event you can remember and what you made of it.”* You can get the cards only for just £7.25 or a boxed game with instructions, dice and answer sheets. To order either, go <http://www.asifonq.com/buy_OnQ.php>here<http://triarchypress.com/pages/The_OnQ_Game.htm> . ------------------------------- Triarchy Press <http://www.triarchypress.co.uk/pages/triarchy.htm> is an independent publisher of books focusing on organisations, how they work and the way we work in them. [email protected] ~ www.triarchypress.com *The Crisis in Japan* *+ Your Creativity* Tudor Rickards - Professor of Creativity and Organizational Change at Manchester Business School - has worked in nuclear science (radiation chemistry) as well as in various projects internationally which have generated industrial innovations through applying creative problem-solving techniques. He e-mailed us this morning to ask us to propagate his excellent idea for harnessing our collective creativity to help the crisis in Japan. If you have ideas please go here now.<http://leaderswedeserve.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/the-nuclear-crisis-in-japan-and-why-your-creativity-is-needed/> *It Takes a Network* Bill Bellows is organising the *In2In Network* Forum in LA next month. It's *the* place to meet remarkable and knowledgeable systems thinkers from around the world [incidentally, the IFF's Graham Leicester -- see left -- will be speaking.] Bill e-mailed us this morning to say: Greater agility in action *and* thinking is needed in industry, government and education, be it in the *anticipation* of problems, the *response rates*to crises, or when *exploring opportunities* for investment. It takes agile thinking to invest in an early-warning system to detect earthquakes and tsunamis and be able to respond quickly to the repercussions of both. As we've seen over the past week, *it takes a network* to coordinate efforts in Japan to provide help to the thousands who have been displaced and are now threatened with food shortages and health risks from radiation exposure, let alone the daily challenge to stay warm and dry. If you're interested in exploring the limitless implications of improving agility in action and thinking in industry, government, and education, we invite you to join us at the In2:InThinking Network 2011 Forum in Los Angeles, California on April 28th through May 3rd. This year, our ever timely focus will be; *"Exploring Opportunities: Imagine...Define....**Lead......" * For reservations or more information,visit www.in2in.org<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=el74hvbab&et=1104698021493&s=10104&e=001qTALSxUPFvz20P1NyGUZYbj9RWenemllLQ4GGLm7NLaOn5tDZfMysN2vLsdd8zBE7BMkCHDc0nwTffHL_VQzoXO0ESFF8a__kU4gbhHk4tunjoFIS0EGYA==> or e-mail the Forum Team at [email protected]. The last day for the early registration discount is March 28th, for a $50 savings on the $400 registration fee. 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