Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree Brown
“My dream is a movement with such deep trust that we move as a murmuration, the way groups of starlings billow, dive, spin, dance collectively through the air - to avoid predators, and, it also seems, to pass time in the most beautiful way possible.”
Main points:
We need to pay attention to the interconnected nature of the natural world and replicate this in societies and workplaces
By paying attention to how we behave on a small level, this will impact on a large level
It is time to start rethinking our systems
This is a book like no other. I would suggest that it is not for everyone. As a result, I have struggled to write it up in the same way as I have written previous book reviews as I am worried I will not quite do it justice. It feels like it deserves something different and new.
Emergent Strategy is full of challenging, surprising and thought-provoking concepts and suggestions. adrienne maree brown invites us to read and discuss the contents, and then use the thinking and frameworks to “come up with workshops and retreats around this work. Take it, run, go grow, innovate, emerge.” She invites us to join in, and to change. I believe that I have genuinely changed my thinking as a result of reading this book.
During the introduction, brown writes that “Emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.” The strategy that she suggests is then to embrace this concept and build from small interactions and actions to create our communities and groups, moving from a hierarchical system to one where there is more collaboration and freedom. A system built on trust, rather than control.
brown draws on the patterns of nature; of the interdependence of flora and fauna in the wild; of how small changes can send huge ripples and how everything must be considered in relation to what is around it. She refers to the roots of trees which “are intertwined and create a system of strength that is as resilient on a sunny day as it is in a hurricane,” and to the migration of birds which “feel a call in their bodies that they respond to” in order to migrate.
It is a calling for us to listen and notice more; to pay attention to ourselves, the world and people around us and to slow down in order to move forward. It is a chance to reflect on how we influence and are impacted by those around us.
Throughout the book there is a thread about the importance of relationships and how we are tied to one another. Brown writes that “everything is about relationships, critical connections.” There is a beautiful quote about starlings from Sierra Pickett about communication and trust where she writes that “Every individual bird focuses attention on their seven closest neighbours and thus manage a larger flock cohesiveness and synchronicity.” Much has been written about how the people closest to us are the ones who shape us and this is something to be aware of and proactive around.
There are many opportunities to consider how we want to be in the world: how we should be prioritising pleasure and joy; how we need to be regenerating and allowing space to reflect. Perhaps the very random and meandering structure of the book encourages us to do just that: not to approach things in a linear way, but to keep revisiting, rereading, rethinking. Unlearning and learning anew.
Perhaps the most useful section of the book is the final chapter which gives ‘tools for emergent strategy’ which would benefit any workplace. They provide questions to ask and agreements to have in place in order to garner the best out of everyone and to revolutionise the way in which we work together.
Towards the end of the book there is a chapter of conversations and a section containing a collection of spells: again, a shift from the usual contents of a book: some might find these jarring, while others might find them surprising and delightful. In fact the book is peppered with poems and quotes to promote thinking and to provide space for reflection.
It is a book which follows a different order to most and certainly one to keep dipping back into. I know that I will. Despite finding this quite a challenging read, I am aware that I keep returning to it: revisiting the sections which I have highlighted; the quotes I have underlined; and the margins filled with emphatic ticks and stars. It is moving me, slowly. Perhaps that is brown’s intention after all.
