Today's businesses face unprecedented challenges that are stirred up by rapid global innovation and constant change. In order to stay competitive, companies must be able to adapt quickly in the wake of these chaotic market forces. However, many companies are inflexible "machines"  designed to operate in predictable environments. This slows the pace at which companies can react to today's relentless barrage of spontaneous opportunities and threats. Companies must find a way to become quick and opportunistic or risk extinction.

Fortunately there is hope. Although companies tend to get locked into rigid, mechanistic behavior, they can be modified to function more nimbly and organically. The secret lies in a company's most fundamental ingredients -- its people. By understanding how we as people naturally adapt to our own ever-changing environments we can extend the principles to our businesses to increase their agility.

The business world is increasingly unpredictable, but in this chaos lies the key to success. To compete and win, companies must overcome the instinct to avoid chaos and instead learn to harness its power. In order to defy change we must first change ourselves.