Our planet is burning—literally. Everywhere, people wake up anxious, afraid, and outraged at the countless mistakes we’ve made.
” Do we have hope? How can we drive collaborative action? Are there ways to find solutions to the wicked problems that threaten our existence? How can we empower and motivate communities, business ecosystems, governmental authorities, and citizens to tackle the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
“We made too many wrong mistakes” – Yogi Berra
We have hope, and we have the means. Historically, pandemics, catastrophes, and ultimately wars have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This turning point is no different. It is a portal, a gateway, between one world and the next—between the Normal Era and the Postnormal Era.
I first introduced the difference between these two eras in my 2014 book Oasis Way and Postnormal Era – How Understanding Serendipity Will Lead You to Success. Publishing a table describing the characteristics of these contrasting paradigms was highly controversial at the time, because the Normal Era was still fully alive and dominant. Yet even then, weak signals of transformation were starting to emerge….
By 2016, the signs of the Postnormal Era were becoming much clearer. I was invited to deliver a keynote speech at the Tangerang Selatan Global Innovation Forum in Indonesia, where I updated my message to reflect the growing evidence of systemic change. My keynote, titled “How to Support and Develop Innovation-Oriented Entrepreneurship in Turbulent VUCA Conditions?”, co-authored with Kari Mikkelä and Jari Kaivo-oja, crystalized the urgency of adapting to volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Read the original 2016 paper here.
It then took nine long years of increasing complexity, chaos, contradiction and ambiquity—a true VUCA revolution—before I had a chance to update my Normal Era vs. Postnormal Era thinking for global audience, when I was invited to contribute a book chapter. This update in 2022 was published in Smart City 2.0 – Strategies and Innovations for City Development titled:How to Prepare for the Wicked Problems of the Postnormal Era: Introducing an Evaluation Model for Vucability Improvement (2023).
The book was a collective legacy of the most impressive insights gained in UNESCO – World Technoopolis Association collaboration by improving innovation intermediaries in non-European world. Thanks to the effort of editors Deog-Seong Oh, Fred Young Phillips, and Avvari V. Mohan, we were able to capture years of shared learning and global dialogue in that publication. My updated chapter highlights the profound differences between these two eras and introduces the concept of vucability: the ability to prosper in VUCA conditions.
“Vucability is the ability to prosper in VUCA conditions.”
A Glimpse Into My Upcoming Book
This theme forms the heart of Chapter 5 of my forthcoming book, Serendipity Unleashed – Hidden Wisdom of the Jesters. That will be more accurate and useful description with some new revolutionary elements added. I introduce a comprehensive “Smile in Mind”- framework, a model for transforming and cultivating resilient communities, organizations, and ecosystems to thrive in the Postnormal Era.
The framework builds on decades of research and real-world experimentation, showing how serendipity can be harnessed strategically and collectively—not as random happy accidents, but as a structured capability for transformation. It brings together three powerful elements:
- “Respect Serendipity” as a core mindset and practice. A new “Authentic Serendipity” is introduced to enable seredipity to be unleashed.
- The 21st Century Jester will re-enter the scene from 200 years of hiding in background; providing innovation, and collective action.
- “Vucability Improvement” – model is re-introduced in an improved form as the essential capacity for thriving amid uncertainty.
- And as the fourth pillar, I’ll soon explore how rhizome philosophy—a model of decentralized, living networks—offers the architecture for resilient organizations and ecosystems.
The Postnormal Era demands more than survival. It calls for courage, creativity, and collaboration at every level of society. Smile in Mind is my response to this challenge—a vision for how we can navigate complexity and chaos with wisdom, humor, and humanity.
This blog post offers just a glimpse of the journey. I invite you to read Chapter 5 when the book is released in November 2025 and to join the conversation about how we can unleash authentic serendipity and create communities ready to face the future. This is our moment—not just to survive, but to transform. Let the ethos of Jesterhood guide us with one overriding call out:
“Not all who wonder are lost”
– the battle cry of the Jesterhood community
