We keep talking about antifragility, but what on earth is that, anyway?
In essence, antifragile things-like systems, people, ecosystems, crops, animal species and more-actually get stronger after encountering challenges because they shift, adapt, learn, improve, strengthen and even thrive when introduced to these challenges.
The perfect example of antifragility is human muscles:
After a workout, our muscles feel tired and sore because they sustain small tears from the strain of exercise.
But give those muscles a couple days’ rest, eat some healthy food and a bunch of protein, and pretty soon your muscles will patch the tears with new muscle cells and build themselves back up, better than they were before! Scientific American
“To create true antifragility in your life, you must make balanced, holistic decisions. Rob Avis, Co-Founder and Lead Engineer, 5thWorld”
Here at 5th World and The Shift we’re always looking for examples of people and organizations that are building and designing antifragile systems—ones that are adaptive, that don’t fall apart due to a single point of failure, and that actually improve in the face of challenges.
Do you have stories or examples of antifragile systems in your life, community, ecosystem, or organization? We’d love to hear about it.