It’s no secret we live in a very difficult time. We deal with complex issues both personally and professionally. And at times our situations make us crazy with self-doubt wondering how we can better manage our lives.
Fortunately, health care strategist, systems engineer, and entrepreneur Tim Kilpatrick might have the answer in his book Make Almost Anything Happen: How to Manage Complexity to Get What You Want.
Make Almost Anything Happen is divided into six distinct parts:
- Mission
- Impacting People
- Impacting Realities
- Impacting Activities
- Strategy
- Iteration
Part one describes how to define and develop a mission or goal you want to achieve. This is of utmost importance.
Part two examines how the mission impacts people in various ways.
Part three focuses on how the mission affects our reality and the reality of others.
Part four defines what activities will benefit from the mission by studying people and realities affected by the mission.
In part five, we develop a strategy framework. The strategy framework delves into how the mission we’ll accomplish with a planned out complex system.
And finally in part six-iteration-is about learning by working on various activities, what Kilpatrick calls an “Enablement Framework.”
Throughout Make Almost Anything Happen, Kilpatrick provides ample examples on the people who made things happen by managing complexity. Some are well-known like Coco Chanel and the Wright Brothers. More currently there are names like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Sarah Blakely, the creator of Spanx.
And there are names of people not as well-known like Olympic Bob sledder Jasmine Fenlator and Edward Jenner who invented the small pox vaccine.
Unsurprisingly, a book about managing complexity is, well, complex. While reading this book, I was overwhelmed by the information, data, ideas, and requirements outlined by Kilpatrick. I suggest using Post-it Notes, highlighters’ and journaling to keep track of all of the pertinent details.
Fortunately, Kilpatrick’s writing isn’t dry and stuffy. He writes in a friendly tone and implies this book can be used personally as well as professionally. For instance, one of Kilpatrick’s personal missions is to be a better father, a very worthy goal.
Make Almost Anything Happen is a pretty heavy duty book, but should be read in the workplace, the classroom, and on the homefront.
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