leadership in Complexity

Hi. I’m Dr. Alan Bush.

I am committed to supporting our transition from late-stage high-carbon capitalism to a regenerative society. I do that work through fostering the kind of leadership that can thrive in the climate transition: leadership for complexity. 

Who works with me

My Clients are leaders themselves: C-suite executives, stewards of change networks, or community leaders. They are leaders who recognize that their community, organization or industry must adapt in response to the climate crisis, and must find a transition pathway. And, my clients are aware of something that is difficult to acknowledge: that they don’t know where to begin.

What clients get from working with me

To lead through the climate transition will require something that none of us were taught, and few of us have seen modeled: leadership in complexity. I help clients develop the capacity for leadership in complexity, focused on contexts dealing with climate transition.

What is leadership in complexity?

At it most basic, leadership in complexity is an approach that thinks of leadership as emerging from networks of relationships, not from individuals. Not only is this a more accurate (to the data) and precise (to our observed patterns) way to think about leadership, but it is enabling. When we can perceive and story leadership emerging from networks of relationships, we can enable adaptation, plasticity and resilience in far more conditions than is possible with the usual models of leadership.

This is for two reasons. First, a complexity lens on leadership often it *reveals* the blockages that constrain adaptive pathways, and suggests ways to metabolize those blockages. And, a leadership in complexity lens reveals hidden capacities embedded within people, teams, organizations, communities, networks, systems. There’s more to it than that, but that’s the gist.

So, clients gain a new understanding that reframes and re-stories a complex context in new and simple terms in ways that enable action. I help clients in contexts of climate transition develop the personal, team, organizational, and network capacities to metabolize blockages and develop adaptive pathways.

What is the cost?

This is always uncomfortable, because it requires us to renew our understanding of our context, and letting go of our attachments to our existing stories. It requires of us to take a new kind of ownership over ourselves and the communities we steward. Scales are always in resonance in complex systems. To help a community find an adaptive pathway, we have to find one ourselves. We have to unlearn, ungrow, learn, and grow. That is uncomfortable, but it also liberating.

Cooking the Sauce

I’ve had what I imagine looks like an odd professional path: I’ve worked in a number of industries and countries. I became a professor and then left. That odd path has been lead by a dedication to understand leadership in complexity, and how to practice, teach, mentor in this leadership style. My mastery of these three are, to be sure, a work in progress.

While I may be a journeyman at leadership, I’m a master collaborator. My gifts and professional skill centers on enabling others to see patterns of resonance: the ways in which personal, team, organizational, community and systemic patterns align. This is how we identify blockages, explore how to metabolize them, and develop strategy that transitions. 

Where I’ve done This

As a researcher, my field work has spanned from corporate offices, frontline communities to climate change, and advocacy and support networks to climate adaptation. As a consultant and advocate, my collaborators include entities like informal settlements in Mexico, South Africa, Malawi & Peru, coastal communities in Florida, international NGOs in NYC, housing cooperatives in North Carolina, large scale energy sector initiatives in Philadelphia, renewables nonprofits in Delaware, city-scale transition networks, and national food and climate transition advocacy networks.

How do We Begin?

If you’re curious, let’s chat.