The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate.
Douglas EngelbartRead
Today's environment is beginning to threaten today's organizations, finding them seriously deficient in their nervous system design... The degree of coordination, perception, rational adaptation, etc., which will appear in the next generation of human organizations will drive our present organizational forms, with their clumsy nervous systems, into extinction.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Organizations must evolve to adapt to changing environments or risk becoming obsolete.
This quote by Douglas Engelbart emphasizes the importance of adaptability and effective coordination within organizations as they face new challenges. He warns that organizations with outdated structures and processes will struggle to survive in the face of advancing technology and complex environments, suggesting that the future of successful organizations will be characterized by their ability to adapt and innovate.
Themes
AdaptationOrganizationTechnologyInnovationEvolution
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a business seminar to discuss the importance of organizational agility.
More from Douglas Engelbart
All quotes →The key thing about all the world's big problems is that they have to be dealt with collectively. If we don't get collectively smarter, we're doomed.
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