As in the other contexts, leaders face several
challenges in the complex domain. Of
primary concern is the temptation to fall
back into traditional command-and-control
management styles—to demand fail-safe
business plans with defined outcomes. Leaders
who don’t recognize that a complex domain
requires a more experimental mode of management
may become impatient when they
don’t seem to be achieving the results they
were aiming for. They may also find it difficult
to tolerate failure, which is an essential aspect
of experimental understanding. If they try
to overcontrol the organization, they will
preempt the opportunity for informative
patterns to emerge. Leaders who try to impose
order in a complex context will fail, but those
who set the stage, step back a bit, allow
patterns to emerge, and determine which
ones are desirable will succeed. (See the
sidebar “Tools for Managing in a Complex
Context.”) They will discern many opportunities
for innovation