Complexity Leads to Collapse

In his 1988 book, The Collapse of Complex Societies author Joseph Tainter examined several societies that achieved impressive sophistication and then collapsed. In every case, he found these societies failed because their complexity made them too inflexible to deal with change.

Even more disturbing, Tainter found that the more complex the societies became, the more difficult to reform until they reached a point where change was impossible. Even the tiniest change would unbalance the entire system. Because they could no longer adapt, they collapsed.

Don't believe me? Take a look at the U.S. government. For decades we've been hearing about the dangers of deficits. Yet they persist and grow because the government has becoming too complex. There's no easy fix anymore because everything is too interconnected.

Don't let that happen to your business!

A 21st Century business needs to be flexible, fast, adaptable. That means it must be simplified.

The secret is finding simplexity, the minimum level of complexity, for your business. You need to find that magic formula that's as unique as your company. Sadly, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions when it comes to simplexity.

Fortunately, we can help.

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