Reflective Emergence

Ever feel like you should reflect and review on the year but just don’t want to do it? If you are like me, you may have felt that way recently too. Why look in the mirror and deal with what you find, even if you know it is good for you? Let’s take a critical view and see what emerges from internal reflection, shall we?

Emergence

Look at a body of water and wonder how all those water particles together create a reflection. Somehow, two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen combine together – a vast unfathomable number of them – to create a reflecting pool of water. If you’ve never witnessed it before, it would be a stretch to imagine such a beautiful scene. Enter the concept of emergence. Emergent properties arise when new properties come from small components – which individually don’t have that property - interacting together. In other words, it is a collective phenomenon. An example is a school of fish. Through organizing principles, like facing the same direction as one’s neighbor is facing and keeping the same distance apart from one's neighbor, a school of fish can look huge, thereby confusing predators and avoiding any one fish being singled out, especially the younger, smaller ones. It’s impossible for a single fish to do that. So, the collective not only is bigger than the part, it actually has new and different properties that benefit each component.

Similarly, a single water molecule doesn’t expand. But when freezing, each water molecule falls into place at a certain angle so that a crystal lattice structure is created. The result? Solid ice is less dense than liquid water, even though the components are still the same in number.

Reflection

Key to this self-organization: each fish or molecule of water doing its own little part by following some very simple rules when coming together. So, why does water reflect like a mirror? First, like anything else not in a vacuum, light is bouncing off the water molecules. Easy enough - just look around right now and notice that anything you see, light is bouncing off of it. Second, water has a refractive index, a measure of how quickly light passes through it. Interestingly, at certain angles, light will bounce off completely, a phenomenon called total internal reflection. Get that? There’s more, and this is straight from physics, there is what’s called a critical angle - the smallest angle for total reflection to happen.

To sum, the emergence of water’s collective properties allows for critical angles that yield total internal reflection. Or, perhaps in reverse, critical self-reflection allows for something novel to emerge that makes a difference because new properties are created that are now available to use.

Year-End Review

Again, why self-reflect? Perhaps because something will emerge in your business or life that might not otherwise. Upon reflection with a critical eye, one sees not only what just happened but also the inner workings or internal mechanics of how and why things happened. What worked and why? What didn’t work and why? There are simple rules in your business and life which if you discover and follow will lead to successes far greater than those simple rules alone would foreshadow.

Often a survey of clients or investors provides building blocks of data for self-review and analysis. In business, continual improvement coupled with breakthrough innovation is the ubiquitous challenge of those committed to greatness. To get there takes self-reflection.

Abundant and Beautiful

Recently, I was at a spectacular conference where a billionaire asked everyone what’s the best tool to find an obstacle to transcend? His answer, “A mirror.” Agreed. Well, our water-themed newsletter uses a pool of water for reflecting on our business and our lives. The end result is the same – emergence.

The obstacle we are looking to transcend is found through critical internal reflection. This will allow for the emergence of...an abundant and beautiful 2022. Happy Holidays, dear reader.

Here's to you and your awesome future.

Until then, keep your feet on the board and keep riding your wave!

Robert J. Khoury

CEO Agile Rainmakers