Almost every organisation – regardless of geography or industry – is undergoing some kind of change at the moment. Various studies from academics, consultants, and analysts indicate that the rate of transformation failure ranges from 70% to 95%. In this talk, we discuss how this “failure” stems from subscribing to an obsolete belief that transformation is about evolving from one static state of maturity to another.  Transformation is “not a one-and-done event, but a continuous process of adapting to a volatile and uncertain environment”.  

Building on her recent publication, “Evolvability:  Enterprise Transformation in the age of Complexity” (Routledge, 2025), Zhen will frame organisational transformation within complexity and evolutionary science, and describe the need for us to shift toward an attitude of enhancing evolvability – understood as an organisation’s capacity and propensity for mutation and adaptation.

In this session, Zhen will discuss what this means for how we develop and implement strategy, specifically highlighting the need for our strategies to account for Three Horizons of Change that are always happening in tandem.