When Work Becomes Music

HoT | Rethinking Collaboration in Complexity.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

We still describe work as if it were a contest.

War: we deploy strategies, attack markets, defend positions, and defeat competitors. Sport: we push for performance, keep score, and chase victory.
Even in teamwork, we often act as if someone must win for others to lose.

These metaphors once brought clarity in a world of steady progress and clear goals. But now, they restrict us because it’s no longer about finishing first or beating an opponent.

Thriving in complexity isn’t about who wins or loses, but about how to sense and shape the living system we are part of. Here, zero-sum thinking becomes a trap.

What we need now is not competition, but composition.

From Control to Concert

The old paradigm saw people as resources to be managed: pieces on a chessboard, players on a team, or soldiers in a campaign. Leaders acted as commanders, controllers, and coaches, pushing for efficiency and control.

But humans are not simple objects. We are living beings with emotions, will, and creativity. We cannot be forced into action; we can only be invited.