The Next Next Common Sense
deep chasm. We can't go back, and we can't stay where we are. We have to jump together, and we have to build our wings on the way down."
This vivid landscape narrative created coherence around both the ur- gency of Xerox's situation and the necessity of collaborative innovation in response. It acknowledged the reality of their predicament while creating a framework for collective action.
Ritual Landmarks
Establish landscape-based rituals that commemorate key organiza- tional moments and transitions. Just as GE's range plant team continued to reference "the bus ride" years later, organizations can create landscape markers that serve as ongoing sources of coherence. When Cisco completes a major acquisition, they conduct a symbolic "mountain climbing ceremony" where leaders from both companies ascend a physical or metaphorical peak together, signifying their commitment to reaching new heights as a combined entity. This landscape ritual creates co- herence around what might otherwise be a fragmented integration process. CTohnrcoluugshionth: eNFavaimgaitliinarg the C omplex The landscape metaphor isn't merely a poetic flourish—it's a powerful cognitive tool that enables more intuitive navigation of complex business environments. By leveraging our innate spatial intelligence, landscape imagery helps us perceive patterns, relationships, and possibilities that might otherwise remain invisible. In the chaotic marketplaces and organizations of today's world, tra- ditional analytical frameworks quickly become outdated. The landscape approach offers a more adaptive alternative—one that embraces complex- ity while making it humanly navigable through familiar spatial concepts.
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