Human Current

In states of "flow," inspiration and ease come effortlessly and a person does things for the sheer joy of doing them. Flow states allow us to more easily perceive networks of relationships between the elements of our selves and our environment, to handle complexity with grace and ease. What happens in these states? In this episode we explore the idea of the autotelic personality - someone who is more often than not curious, internally motivated, productive and operating with a sense of flow. What would the autotelic workplace look like? What would life be like if we spent more time in flow?

In this episode we talk with conflict resolution expert Jason Dykstra about the complexity of conflict: why we're afraid of change, how to shift from a mindset of scarcity to abundance, and how understanding complexity in relationships can help us evolve ourselves and our world.

Jason Dykstra is a conflict resolution specialist, international speaker, husband, and father of two. He works with organizations and churches in Canada and the USA assisting them through sticky situations and improving company culture. Jason uses his knowledge of complex systems to help people and organizations find creative solutions to conflict and become “comfortably uncomfortable with approaching the unknown.” Jason believes that personal growth affects the growth and evolution of an organization, and that no matter where you are in a system, if you make even small changes it will automatically cause others to change as well. You can find out more about Jason at jasondyk.com, or on twitter @jasondyk. Subscribe in iTunes, get show notes and more for this podcast episode at human-current.com.

When is screwing up beneficial? What can we learn from failure and its relationship with uncertainty and innovation? In this episode we toss around a few f-words to explore what happens when "noise" is part of the co-evolution of a system.

In this first episode of the HumanCurrent podcast, we begin our casual conversations about complexity by defining what complex systems are and why they matter in life, work, and all the things we do. What is complexity? Why do we care when there are starving people in the world? Why not focus on simplicity? Systems and networks shape our world, even (and especially) when we can't see them.