In Robert Safian’s “Generation Flux,” the subtitle reads, “The future of business is pure chaos. Here’s how you can survive—and perhaps even thrive.” While I think he nails some critically important topics in his article, I disagree that the future is “pure chaos.” Instead, I believe it is complex. Complex systems are characterized by interdependence, emergence, self-organization, and acute sensitivity to surrounding conditions. I agree that he future cannot be controlled, nor predicted with certainty. However, complex patterns can be described and assessed, leverage points identified, and intentional attempts to influence implemented, helping Generation Flux pioneers move confidently into an unpredictable future. LARR Y SOLO W estampton,NewJersey
CONTROLLED CHAOS
FLUX: THE AGELESS
GENERATION
#STREAMOFTHOUGHT
SILENT GENERATION
GENERATION X
MILLENNIALS
I have been fluxing for 52 years, ever
since leaving the Air Force Academy
and landing at Stanford and the
incipient civil rights movement. I
worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
in Chicago and then Mayor John
Lindsay in New York. Following a stint
at the Institute of Design at the
Illinois Institute of Technology in the
early ’70s, I’m a thriving product
designer and inventor with 30
patents and counting. As a teacher of
entrepreneurship and design
strategies at Parsons the New School
for Design, I’ve been pushing the
insights you offer so persuasively.
Often to the dismay of family and
friends, I’ve pursued career patterns
that are now, as you suggest, smart
and emergent. Your piece will be
ringing in the ears of my colleagues
and students this semester.
KENSTEVENS
Brooklyn, New York
Why haven’t I written before?
Because although I’ve enjoyed
reading about innovative
businesses in your magazine since
the first issue, my own penchant for
embracing instability (I think of it as
freedom) and recalibrating my
career—I’ve been a dotcommer, an
editor, a teacher, a bartender, a
publisher, a handyman, and other
things that, at the age of 44, I can
barely recall—has never before led
me to feel a sense of kinship with
anyone you’ve profiled. That
changed with this story, particularly
the quote from Raina Kumra: “So
many people tell me, ‘I don’t know
what you do.’ I’m a collection of
many things. I’m not one thing.” Yes!
That’s me!
JOSHUA GLENN
Boston
I just graduated from college last May
and, for lack of a better plan, moved
to Russia to teach. I’m helping 8-year-
olds learn to multiply, though my
education was in marketing. So I count
myself a member of Generation Flux.
But one thing that isn’t discussed
much here is the impact the idea of
Generation Flux should have on
education. We’re told a degree is a
must, but why? In my classes, we
studied large Fortune 500 companies,
but I expect most of us will work for
small businesses our entire lives.
We talk about working our way up
the ladder, but the ladder doesn’t just
go up anymore—it goes sideways,
back ward, and upside down. Why did
I spend four years specializing in a
subject that I may or may not ever
use? Would something less traditional
have been more beneficial to me,
to perhaps help me learn to cope and
thrive in this “chaotic” world? Like
any other skill, flexibility and
adaptability—especially in mind-set—
have to be learned.
LIZ LEVENSON
Flagstaff, Arizona
I tried to convince
@FASTCOMPANY to make
the #GenFlux cover
just me & @BETHCOMS TOCK
doing salsa
but #theyneverlisten
@BARATUNDE
Really pumped that
@FASTCOMPANY’s latest
“future of business”
ensemble looks well
beyond white males
under 30.
@CARO
This article just blew
my mind in more ways
than one.
@JORDANSAXE
The long career is
dead. Throw tools in
your backpack.
GenFlux = new leaders
of business.
@LEITIHSU
Best article I’ve read in
years. Does this
describe you? I
thought I was alone.
Not so.
@JAIMESMITHTV
BROOKENIPAR
