Barnabas File

What does VUCA stand for?   This is an acronym introduced by the U. S. Army War College in the early 1990s to describe the world we entered when the Cold War ended--volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.     The term has come to be used to describe the contemporary context in which we live and work.     For example, see Sunnie Giles, The New Science of Radical Innovation   or Bob Johansen,   The New Leadership Literacie s , for strategies to lead and innovate in this environment. Businesses are not the only enterprises affected by this way of perceiving our world.  Theological education, if it is to be effective in the 21 st century, must take volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity into account for this is the world in which ministry takes place. In an  uncertain  world, the most important resources a seminary provides are information and formation.  Theological schools are the custodians of i...

When I talk with church people about innovation, there is a natural resistance or push-back, but I try to point out that the reason that the Christian movement has not only survived but prospered over the years is the willingness of believers to learn, grow, and innovate.  Sometimes our sources for innovation are found not in the church but in our culture. In her new book, The New Science of Radical Innovation , Sunnie Giles identifies principles that Silicon Valley companies (such as Google) and Artificial Intelligence software programs use to succeed or win.  Here is each of the principles she identified at Google. First, employ self-organizing agents.  The goal is to “hire the best people and get out of their way.”   At Google, managers are urged to delegate as much as possible to the point of feeling some level of discomfort.  The company even encourages employees to spend 20 percent of their time working on what they think will benefit Goo...