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current business and its existing resources. The idea of projecting a
disruption - a rip in the fabric of the context - is a valuable extension
of scenario thinking but it has practical limitations. Despite

Christensen's theories, the timing and sources of all possible
disruptions are almost impossible to predict and almost
certainly impossible to provide for in total.

It is the realization of this unpredictable instability that

underpins calls for adaptive organizations that can sense
and rapidly respond; organizations that create strategy
through implementation.

The Wave Effect

Emergence is a process. Once kicked off, and often no one can find the
start point, it ripples through time and space in waves. Example the
Internet:

Wave 1

The Internet started long ago in prior communications technologies of

telephone and telegraph; it built out its technology through protocols,
infrastructure investments for an initially narrow purpose,
innovations such as the browser and then was adopted and improved
by others to give us instant mass global communication (email, skype

etc.), e-commerce, social media etc. etc. This could be seen as the first
wave.

Wave 2

In the second wave, manufacturers are building wifi rooted
communications into consumer goods from fridges to wearable tech
extending information processes into every facet of everyday life.

Wave 3

A third wave is now inevitable, indeed is already happening, just as the
car led to remote suburbs and changed the architecture of cities so the

internet of everything requires communications modes built into

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