Decentralization, Diversification, and Antifragility

When asked in 1997 to single out some of the biggest challenges facing modern businesses, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, authors of “In Search of Excellence”, both placed ‘decentralization’ as one of the toughest challenges. “After 50 (combined) years of watching organizations thrive and shrivel, we two held to one…and only one…basic belief,” Peters declared, “to loosen the reins, to allow a thousand flowers to bloom and a hundred schools to contend, is the best way to sustain vigor in perilous, gyrating times. It’s an old idea and yet it remains new, mostly because we still haven’t figured out how…...