Igniting New Growth – Aristotle’s Two Worlds

Pascal Dennis, co-author of (Harnessing Digital Disruption)

The future belongs to the ambidextrous, those who can both protect the core business with OpEx/Lean and ignite new Growth with Digital methods.

In his metaphysics, Aristotle distinguished between two realms of existence:¹

The World of things that cannot be other than they are – (‘Necessity’): This realm includes the:

• Fundamental principles that govern the universe, such as the laws of Physics, Chemistry and mathematics, and
• Laws of logic e.g. the law non-contradiction

These truths are considered eternal and unchanging.

The World of things that can be other than they are – (‘Contingency’): This realm encompasses things that change unpredictably. These include:

• Public opinion, politics
• Consumer taste, fashion, style
• Changes we experience in the physical world, such as the weather

Key Points:

• Essence and Accident: The world of necessity deals with essences – the defining characteristics of a thing that make it what it is. The world of contingency deals with accidents – the non-essential properties of a thing that could be different without changing its essence.
• Change and Becoming: The world of contingency is the realm of change and becoming. Things in this world are constantly in flux, coming into being and passing away.
• Knowledge and Understanding: Aristotle believed that true knowledge comes from understanding the necessary truths that underlie the contingent world. By grasping the essential nature of things, we can better understand their behavior and predict their actions.

In summary: Aristotle's two worlds represent a fundamental distinction between the realm of unchanging, universal truths and the realm of particular, changing experiences. This framework has had a profound and lasting impact on Western thought, influencing fields such as metaphysics, logic, and science.

So what?

Innovation Sprint – Experiment Design Card

OpEx/Lean and Continuous Improvement belong in the world of things that cannot be otherwise, the world of necessity. A production line designed in accord with the principles of the Toyota Production System and run by a skilled team trained by seasoned Toyotas senseis will perform in a predictable way. We can level up or level down the capacity in accordance with universal laws. We can improve the quality of our output with tried & true methods. If abnormalities arise, we can address them with robust methods of root cause problem solving.

Innovation, by contrast, belongs to the world of things that can be otherwise, the world of contingency. Igniting new Growth entails discovering and validating core questions like:

• Who is the customer?
• What does the customer value?
• Why does the customer by, or not buy, from us?

Innovation sprints teach you that the customer often does not know they are a customer, does not know what they value, and does not know why they buy from you or not. People routinely say they love your offering and will happily buy it at a given price – and then don’t buy it! In fact, it’s almost a given.

When you ask, ‘Why did you say you’d buy it?’, they’ll often answer, ‘I don’t know.’, or ‘I didn’t want to disappoint you.’ If you ask again a few days later, you’ll get a different answer. That’s the world of contingency, and the challenge of igniting new Growth. Some people call it a VUCA world – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Navigating here requires different methods and a different way of thinking, which I’ll explore in articles to come.

Best wishes,

Pascal Dennis

E: pascal.dennis@leansystems.org

Note: If you’d like to hear more about my program Getting the Right Things Done in a Digital World, please drop me an email.


^{1. A deep bow to the great Dr. Roger Martin who taught me these things.↩}



In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Innovation Does Not Begin with Technology
Getting the Right Things Done in a Digital World
Igniting New Growth - My Improbable Journey, Part 2
Igniting New Growth - My Improbable Journey, Part 1

Life Lessons - What is a Good Life?

By Pascal Dennis

Plato, Socrates and Aristotle asked this question 2,500 years ago.

Both eastern and western philosophy is largely the search for an answer.

Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma, Harvard professor, and classic hyper-achiever is raising the same question.

A significant conversion -- master of the universe to philosopher.

In a recent Business Week interview, Dr. Christensen remarks that he was struck by how badly the lives of his fellow hyper-achievers had turned out.

Messy divorces, estranged kids, and even, in some cases, fraud and imprisonment.

Can Lean principles help to answer this most important question?

I believe it can.

In my view, Lean thinking is anchored in standards -- images of how things should be.

Values are standards. Integrity entails adherence to one's personal standards.

Those of you kind enough to read my books will notice an emphasis on the Cardinal Virtues.

Prudence, Temperance, Courage and Justice, are, of course, standards of behavior.

Low-down, miserable, tricky, treacherous beings such as us have a hard time living up to them.

But we have to try, and in doing so we partially succeed -- and that makes all difference.

In fact, if I had to hazard an answer to the above question, I'd say living a good life entails having good values, and trying to live up to them.

All for now,