MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Agents of Change

Several months ago, I went to the office to pick up a few things left behind after shifting to fully remote work last March. The rows of vacant desks were as orderly as an org chart, and the whiteboards still bore traces of strategies planned for a more predictable world. I felt a wave of nostalgia for this serene space, where for eight hours each day the messiness of real life was kept at bay by workplace norms and policies. But this office, now emptied by the pandemic, itself silently testified to the limits of our ability to contain or control forces of change and disruption.

Management and leadership have always been about establishing order amid chaos. Within the sphere of the organization, managers set rules, curate culture, and enjoy a sense of control. Some may try to fence off the organization from real-world conflict, like those who have recently limited workplace discussions to approved topics. Others may put too much emphasis on codifying “how we do things” rather than adapting to continuous change, that most relentless feature of reality.