The Light and Fast Organisation: A New Way of Dealing with Uncertainty

On Wednesday 13 February 2008, Swiss mountaineer Ueli Steck made history by climbing the North Face of the Eiger, a notoriously unpredictable and storm–prone mountain in Switzerland, in a record time of two hours and forty–seven minutes. On the surface, Steck′s approach was staggeringly simple: he climbed light and he climbed fast.

The North Face of the Eiger provides the perfect metaphor for the world we live in today. We are experiencing our own unpredictable and violent storm, caused by complex interactions between people, places and technology. This storm is creating an increasingly confused landscape of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, and most of today′s workers and organisations are not appropriately equipped to respond.

Although business and mountaineering share many parallels, they are rarely explored beyond superficial colloquialisms about ′dreaming big′ and ′never giving up′. In this book, Patrick Hollingworth introduces the ′light and fast′ approach, a refreshingly new and insightful perspective that arms you, and the organisation you work for, with the right mindset and skills to take advantage of the opportunities ahead.

You will learn how to:

flip business convention to prepare for an uncertain future understand change and unearth opportunities see uncertainty and complexity as opportunities to be embraced create a ′light and fast′ organisation that is truly agile and innovative get comfortable with uncertainty and discomfort, to achieve more, faster.

The Light and Fast Organisation offers a unique approach for overcoming the world′s most perplexing business challenges and reaching the summit before the storm arrives.

PATRICK HOLLINGWORTH is an experienced mountaineer, an in–demand international speaker, mentor and consultant, and a TEDx presenter. He works with people, teams and organisations to help them deal with a world which is becoming more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous by the day.

Patrick is based in Australia and travels internationally to work for a wide range of clients. These include multinational companies such as British retailer Marks and Spencer, American energy giant Chevron and British–Australian mining company Rio Tinto, through to mid–sized, Australian, Asian and European banks, medical and technology companies, and government departments and educational institutions.

Patrick′s mountaineering has taken him to great heights literally. He′s summited multiple 8000 metre peaks, including Mount Everest, and over the past 15 years has been a member of small light and fast alpine–style teams and has led rather large heavy and slow expedition–style teams. He′s seen the very best of what alpine style can offer, and also the very worst of what expedition style can deliver.

Find out more at www.patrickhollingworth.com