Finding simplicity in chaos: Beyond VUCA

The concept of VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) is no longer adequate as a framework for evaluating the world: perhaps it never was. Let us instead set it aside, and look at a more constructive, useful alternative: human systems dynamics

- Glenda Eoyang and Michael Jenkins

Volatile. Uncertain. Complex. Ambiguous. VUCA. Some leadership pundits recommend that we use this term for anything we don’t understand or cannot control. The problem is that the tumultuous events in our world, and the concomitant domino-effects we are experiencing, have completely outgrown that label. In fact, VUCA as a handy acronym has had its day. When we invoke VUCA to explain how things are changing, we risk missing the depth and breadth of the current reality. We excuse ourselves for inaction and passivity. Paradoxically, the term might even obfuscate and confuse our ability to make sense of what’s going on right now. We need a more thoughtful way of making sense of our emerging chaos and uncertainty. In short, we need to understand our worlds and ourselves as complex adaptive systems.

Why not VUCA?

VUCA is problematic as a framework for a number of reasons.