A Tangled Web

Abstract

People like simple solutions to life’s challenges, and reject complex solutions. However many things in life are complex. By seeking simple solutions we overlook important connections. Interactions and relationships between people and events form networks of connections. It is the richness and variety of those connections that creates complexity. Looking at networks of connections helps us to understand complexity and to see how unexpected situations can emerge from patterns of connections. Practices such as standards serve to decrease complexity in industry and large organizations. A universal winning strategy in competition is to restrict an opponent’s network of possible actions; good luck is a by-product of expanding one’s network of options.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.¹