The Light and Fast Organisation. Hollingworth Patrick

is about to try to take us off the mountain by whatever means.

      And, just like Cyclone Tracy and Hurricane Katrina and Typhoon Haiyan, this storm's got a name. It's called VUCA (pronounced voo-ka).

      VUCA

      VUCA stands for:

      • volatility

      • uncertainty

      • complexity

      • ambiguity.

      It is perhaps the best acronym that encapsulates the impact this perfect storm is starting to unleash upon the globe.

      The acronym has its origins in the US military. Devised as a description of the post–Cold War landscape and first referenced in print in 1991, its use became more frequent in the military post-9/11, particularly at military academies, as a way of articulating to young officer candidates the new world in which the US military would be operating. (The US military has several other acronyms that are perhaps equally applicable to our situation, but they are less polite and probably shouldn't feature in this book.)

      The VUCA acronym may be military in origin, but it is becoming increasingly relevant to business and broader society as we get closer to the full impact of the perfect storm.

      But beyond its status in the popular business vernacular, what does it actually mean?

      VUCA describes the nature of the change that the world is currently facing: its parameters describe how change will affect us on a daily basis. We can already see it happening; the business landscape is becoming more volatile and uncertain. It is more ambiguous, especially as the rate of technological innovation increases day by day. This technological innovation is leading to increased interconnectedness across the globe, which is in turn resulting in increased complexity.

       VUCA is change

      In a phenomenon known as change fatigue, we've all become a bit jaded when it comes to ‘change', especially at work. Organisational change. Change management. Change management consultants. Yawn.

      We've all experienced ‘change initiatives' in the workplace before, but let me ask you something: when you've completed the ‘initiative', have you felt that any meaningful change has actually been initiated?

      Even one of the world's leading experts on change management, Harvard Business School professor John Kotter, acknowledges that many of the organisational change initiatives he has been involved in have failed. If the world's leading expert can't get it right, what hope is there for the rest of us?