24 Kevin Kelly Quotes for You to Enjoy

Kevin Kelly

American Editor

Born: Aug 14, 1952

Change Environment Organization Time Work You

Related authors: Bari Weiss George Horace Lorimer George Jean Nathan George Matthew Adams Herbert Bayard Swope Horace Greeley Walter Murch William Allen White

We are infected by our own misunderstanding of how our own minds work. Kevin Kelly

Work Own Our Minds Misunderstanding How Infected

Managers tend to treat organizations as if they are infinitely plastic. They hire and fire, merge, downsize, terminate programs, add capacities. But there are limits to the shifts that organizations can absorb. Kevin Kelly

Treat Fire Add Programs Tend Absorb Merge Terminate Limits Hire Shifts Infinitely Managers Capacities Organizations Plastic

Managing bottom-up change is its own art. Kevin Kelly

Art Change Own Bottom-Up Managing

It's more along the lines of raising a child: we train the system to a certain range of behaviors that we find most useful. But then we let it go, because we don't want to have to be babysitting it the whole time. Kevin Kelly

The way to build a complex system that works is to build it from very simple systems that work. Kevin Kelly

Work Simple Build Way Complex Complex System System Systems Very Works

Organisms by their design are not made to adapt too far. Kevin Kelly

Made Design Too Far Organisms Adapt

Much of outcomes research is a systematic attempt to exploit what is known and make it better. Kevin Kelly

Better Research Systematic Outcomes Attempt Make Known Exploit Much

An organization is a set of relationships that are persistent over time. Kevin Kelly

Time Organization Relationships Over Persistent Set

Each system is trying to anticipate change in the environment. Kevin Kelly

Change System Environment Anticipate Trying Each

The way that organizations and organisms anticipate the future is by taking signals from the past, most the time. Kevin Kelly

Future Time Past Way Signals Taking Most Anticipate Organisms Organizations

When a system is in turbulence, the turbulence is not just out there in the environment, but is a part of the organization or organism that you are looking at. Kevin Kelly

You Organization Looking System Out Part Environment Just Turbulence Organism

The current understanding was that it was impossible to predict how something would evolve because it was a very turbulent environment full of things interacting with each other. Kevin Kelly

Impossible Understanding Predict Other Evolve Would Something Environment Because How Very Current Interacting Turbulent Full Each Things

Basins of attraction, of self organization, show up as well in our complex social environment, in human organizations. Here again, while we cannot predict the result of any given input, we can say that it will likely fall within one of several areas. Kevin Kelly

Result Organization Will Fall Predict Our Input Say Several Complex We Cannot Given Area Self Environment Likely Attraction Well Within Up Any Human Cannot While Again Social Organizations Show Here

All imaginable futures are not equally possible. Kevin Kelly

Equality Possible Futures Equally Imaginable

This is actually a very important principle that science is learning about large systems like evolution and that futurists are learning about anticipating human society: just because a future scenario is plausible doesn't mean we can get there from here. Kevin Kelly

Future Science Learning Important Society Evolution Systems About Scenario Like Principle Because Anticipating Very Get Human Just Just Because Mean Large Human Society Plausible Actually Here

We tend to think of the mind of an organization residing in the CEO and the organization's top managers, perhaps with the help of outside consultants that they call in. But that is not really how an organization thinks. Kevin Kelly

Organization Mind Think Top Tend Consultants Outside Perhaps Call How Managers CEO Really Help Residing Thinks

But when you are embodied in a location, in a physical plant, in a set of people, and in a common history, that constrains your evolution and your ability to evolve in certain directions. Kevin Kelly

History You People Plant Location Evolution Evolve Embodied Ability Physical Directions Common Certain Your Set

Organizations get invested into a particular product. And sometimes the best thing is to stop making that product, even though it's profitable, because it has optimized at a local peak. Kevin Kelly

Best Sometimes Local Though Invested Particular Because Making Get Stop Product Organizations Even Peak Thing Profitable

Complexity that works is built up out of modules that work perfectly, layered one over the other. Kevin Kelly

Work Other Complexity Out Layered Perfectly Over Built Up Works

But in a turbulent environment the change is so widespread that it just routes around any kind of central authority. So it is best to manage the bottom-up change rather than try to institute it from the top down. Kevin Kelly

The nature of an innovation is that it will arise at a fringe where it can afford to become prevalent enough to establish its usefulness without being overwhelmed by the inertia of the orthodox system. Kevin Kelly

Nature Innovation Will Become Enough System Arise Without Inertia Overwhelmed Fringe Afford Establish Being Where Usefulness Orthodox

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