I spent about 30 minutes putting together this post and if you have got a spare 20 minutes (and you are keen to challenge your own worldview), go grab a cup of tea and work your way through these videos. I have put them in an order that will make sense to someone exploring these concepts for the first time.

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Why do we still see policies in workplaces like, “You Tube banned on Government Servers to stop staff wasting time!”, when staff could be learning stuff as rich as these videos from Dave Snowden? Dave is the Founder & Chief Scientific Officer at Cognitive Edge. His blog is very heavy, often amusing and well worth following.

Dave is working with an Australian video producer to help communicate his models and frameworks with the world. The videos bring a subtle and effective use of visuals and graphics to illuminate the key points that Dave is making. Dave’s confidence and sense of humor shines through as well.

I have embedded a series of videos from Dave (and others) to help you understand the world of complexity. Another place to visit is Dave’s series of posts on the Origins of Cynefin.

The Set Up

Understanding the Cynefin framework is probably the first place to start. One from Shawn Callahan (Anecdote), the 2nd from Dave the third a Pecha Kucha presentation from Mark Schenk (also at Anecdote).

The most humorous story

If you have listened to Dave’s podcasts, you will have heard his ‘how to organise a children’s birthday party’. I often show clients this video when facilitating strategy and planning workshops. Apart from some laughs, the key message can challenge last century ways of working that still persist today.

The Close

This final run of videos, again from Dave explores some of the other concepts and ideas that relate to working in a complex world. They tell great stories and the final one shines a light on the Cognitive Edge Sensemaker Suite.