JOUR FIXE with Harald Katzmair

NETWORKS AND RESILIENCE: THRIVING IN A WORLD OF CREATIVE DESTRUCTION

 

J. A. Schumpeter´s iconic metaphor of capitalism as continuous process of “creative destruction” perfectly synthetizes the two basic forces at work in the evolution of our social world: at the one hand the creative forces of mutation and recombination which connect and synthesize elements in a formerly unknown manner and build up new types of organized complexity. On the other hand the analytic forces of dissolution, dissection and destructuralization, which decompose existing formulas of resource allocation. Resilience in this context is referring to the ability and capacity of a person, organization, city, region etc. to maintain integrity, to retain its complexity and capacity for self-organization and control over certain aspects of its environment facing those forces of “creative destruction”. The talk will focus on network dynamics and structures strengthening or weakening resilient action. The roles of different types of networks (closure networks, structural holes networks and structural fold networks) within the adaptive cycle are discussed; the new concept of cross-scale fold networks is proposed.

 

Harald Katzmair, born in 1969, is the founder and director at FAS.research, a Social Network Analytics & Strategies firm located in Vienna and New York. Over the last 15 years he has developed a unique and proprietary set of tools and technologies to empower decision makers in the areas of Public Affairs, Key Account Management, Stakeholder Relations, HR and Organizational Development to navigate through the increasing complexities of our connected world. He holds a degree in Social Science and Philosophy (University of Vienna), is lecturer, visiting scholar, and invited guest speaker at various universities (Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, ViennaUniversity of Economics and Business Administration etc.). His main focus are the areas of network theory and resilience research.
www.fas-research.com

 

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