Margaret Wheatley’s Leadership and the New Science remains one of the most important works for anyone who leads through complexity. Long before we began talking about AI, Wheatley invited us to see organizations not as machines to be optimized, but as living systems capable of self-organization, adaptation, and renewal.

Her argument is simple but profound: chaos is not failure. It is the signal that a system is ready to evolve. When structures break down, they make room for something new to emerge. Wheatley called this process “dissipative structures,” where disorder becomes the energy for transformation.

The Machine Mindset

Most organizations still operate on a mechanical view of leadership — the belief that if we control every variable, we can guarantee performance. The problem is that people do not behave like gears. Systems optimization, on its own, rarely supports human performance. It often strips away meaning, curiosity, and connection — the very qualities that make innovation possible.

When we reduce people to functions, burnout and disengagement are predictable outcomes. We see it in education, healthcare, and business alike: metrics go up, morale goes down.

The Living System Alternative

Wheatley’s lens helps us rethink what resilience means inside organizations. Living systems thrive on interaction, feedback, and adaptability. They sense change, interpret it, and respond collectively. That is how ecosystems grow stronger after disruption — not through control, but through connection.

This perspective aligns directly with the Innovation Funnel, which begins with identifying the real problem, then moves through development and presentation. Each phase depends on information flowing freely across boundaries — the same openness that Wheatley described as essential to learning organizations.

Where HI + AI Fits

In our time, the conversation naturally extends from living systems to intelligent systems. Artificial Intelligence offers extraordinary potential for insight and efficiency, but it must be grounded in Human Insights (HI). Technology can help us see patterns, predict outcomes, and process vast amounts of data. Humans give that information meaning.

When we integrate HI + AI, we create what Wheatley envisioned — organizations that are intelligent in both senses: data-driven and deeply human. AI can optimize processes, but HI ensures that the outcomes serve people, purpose, and progress.

A New Model for Innovation

The Innovation Funnel can now be seen as both a social and technological system.

• HI helps us empathize, define, and frame the problem.

• AI helps us explore, test, and refine potential solutions.

• Together, they create a continuous cycle of sensing, learning, and adapting — the very process that turns disorder into discovery.

As Wheatley might remind us, we are not cogs in a machine; we are participants in a living, learning system. The organizations that recognize this — and align their human and artificial intelligence — will not just survive disruption. They will evolve because of it.