Sonja Blignaut

Demystifying Complexity

January 11, 2023
TRACK A

12:15 PM to 1:00 PM EST

Jardena London
Demystifying Complexity

Complexity is often shrouded in jargon and theory, but it has always been part of the human experience and we already know how to navigate it.


It’s hard to survive in the jungle if you were trained in the zoo.

This analogy has worked well to articulate the dilemma that many of us feel in the seemingly overwhelming complexity of modern times. Truth is, we all have jungle skills … we tend to forget about them when we need to lead. Complexity is not new; it wasn’t invented along with the VUCA acronym. We’ve been navigating complexity our entire lives.

It is easy to get lost in the jargon and theory that pervade the field of complexity, and people are often left with a sense of “so what”? As philosopher Edgar Morin says, we must go beyond a conceptual understanding of complexity to an embodied or lived experience. That is what we will explore together in this session.

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About Sonja Blignaut 

Sonja Blignaut has been working in the field of applied complexity for two decades, helping leaders, teams and organisations navigate uncertainty and cultivate complexity fitness. Sonja is the cofounder of Complexity Fit, focused on developing learning platforms that make the wisdom of complexity available accesibly and at scale. She’s consulted widely with multi-national clients across multiple industries and is a sought-after speaker and teacher. Sonja lives in South Africa with her husband and three dogs. She is a self-professed coffee snob and an avid photographer.

Connect with Sonja Blignaut on LinkedIn