In a world where uncertainty is the only constant and complexity has become the new operating system of global business, companies across the planet are pouring trillions into transformation. Yet the stark truth remains: most of these efforts fail to produce lasting impact.
Why?
Because organizations still behave like machines.
Rigid. Predictable. Top-down.
In their upcoming book The Octopus Organization (Harvard Business Review Press, 2025), Amazon Web Services enterprise strategists Jana Werner and Phil Le-Brun argue that the very metaphor we’ve used for decades to describe companies is broken. Today’s world is not complicated — it is complex. It cannot be engineered, controlled, or optimized through linear logic.
It must be sensed, interpreted, and responded to — in real time.
And that is why the authors put forward a compelling new model for modern enterprises: the Octopus Organization.
From Tin Man to Octopus: A New Mental Model for the Modern Enterprise
Traditional companies — termed “Tin Man” organizations by Werner and Le-Brun — view change as an engineering project. Strategy flows downward. Decisions centralize. Systems harden. Coordination happens through command and control.
In stable markets, that model worked.
But today’s business environment is a swirling ecosystem of shifting customer expectations, geopolitical volatility, exponential technology shifts, and supply-chain fragility. There are no predictable inputs. No stable assumptions. No linear roadmaps.
The authors believe organizations must instead resemble one of nature’s most extraordinary creatures — the octopus, an organism that survives by distributing intelligence, constantly sensing its environment, and adapting instantly.
For businesses, that means shifting from control to capability, from hierarchy to distributed decision-making, and from predictive strategy to iterative, real-time learning.
The Three Antipatterns Holding Companies Back
At the heart of the Octopus Organization framework lies one crucial insight: companies fail not because they lack systems or technology, but because they are trapped in what the authors call antipatterns — habitual behaviors that erode effectiveness.
Werner and Le-Brun identify three such traps:
1. Lack of Clarity
Governance frameworks, transformation roadmaps, and vision statements often drown teams in complexity. Instead of clarity, companies produce clutter. People don’t know what truly matters.
2. Lack of Ownership
In many organizations, teams wait for approval from people far removed from the ground reality. The result: sluggish decisions, frustrated employees, and strategy that never reaches execution.
3. Lack of Curiosity
Perhaps the most dangerous antipattern. When teams stop questioning assumptions or experimenting with new ways of working, innovation dies quietly.
Breaking these patterns is the first step toward becoming an Octopus Organization.
How an Octopus Organization Works in Practice
Unlike traditional transformation projects that move in neat phases and Gantt charts, the Octopus model grows organically. The authors emphasize:
Distributed Autonomy
Just as an octopus has neurons in each arm, business units must be empowered to make informed, local decisions. This reduces bottlenecks and accelerates response.
Real-Time Sensing
Teams should constantly monitor customer signals, operations data, and environmental changes — and feed these insights back into strategic choices.
Continuous Adaptation
Adaptation is not a project. It is a culture. Local teams should experiment with new approaches, share learnings, and allow successful practices to spread naturally across the organization.
Emergent Strategy
Instead of relying on five-year plans, Octopus Orgs allow strategy to emerge from consistent learning loops and real-world feedback.
The transformation is not top-down. It is not bottom-up.
It is multi-directional, fluid, and iterative.
Why Companies That Adapt Will Win
The benefits of adopting an Octopus mindset are compelling:
- Greater Agility: Organizations respond faster to external shocks.
- Stronger Employee Engagement: Distributed ownership increases motivation.
- Higher Innovation Velocity: Curiosity leads to experimentation; experimentation leads to breakthroughs.
- Sustained Competitive Advantage: Companies become resilient, not rigid.
As markets become more unpredictable, advantage no longer comes from scale or efficiency. It comes from adaptability — the ability to reconfigure, reinvent, and respond continuously.
And in this new world of complexity, the Octopus wins over the Tin Man every time.
The Bottom Line
Business leaders often believe they must transform their organizations through massive programs, technological overhauls, and sweeping restructuring. But Werner and Le-Brun challenge that assumption.
Real transformation happens not through top-down mandates, but through distributed intelligence, local problem-solving, and constant learning.
In an unpredictable world, the organizations that survive — and thrive — will be the ones that behave less like machines and more like organisms.
More like an octopus. GBN
