What does Quantum Field Theory tell us about the reality of our universe (and by extension everything in it)? And how might that apply to our business environments? And how should that shape our quantum thinking?

Good questions that cut right to the chase on what it takes to be a Quantum Radical. So let’s get down to it. First, Quantum Field Theory at its most basic interpretation is that the universe is composed of various energy fields and that all these fields are interconnected. Ok, that seems simple enough but what does interconnected really mean? Well, what that means to me is that in order to make decisions at the local level you need to consider the impact and influence from the global level and vice versa. How often in our business environments do we make decisions and then have to live with unexpected “unanticipated consequences.” The reason is that the original decision missed something–some subset of interconnections were not accounted for.

Let me give you a scenario to think about. I even hope it hurts your head a bit.

Decisions on office space, office furniture, seating arrangements, lighting, and all the related decisions that accompany making the Office are usually based on criteria like cost, durability of the furniture, vendor discounts, etc. In other words, the Office plan is based on various criteria that are relatively easy to calculate and cost out. What is usually not considered is the impact of the Office plan on your health because most managers and even building architects (not all) do not even know or realize that these other health interconnections even exist.

How often do employees complain of lousy chairs, poor lighting (especially fluorescent lights that sometimes buzz), and lack of privacy in their minuscule cubicles. Well, the traditional way of thinking is that people need to sit in chairs, and we need to provide light in the environment, and cubicles are cost-effective to provide the employee a place to do his or her work. The quantum way of thinking would consider the other important interconnections that might influence the Office plan. For example, humans are a very active species, so sitting down isn’t exactly what they are designed for, and in fact, there are studies out there that suggest a connection to ill health from sitting too much. Maybe an office with standing desks would be a better option than chairs. Also, our eyes have evolved to accommodate natural sunlight, not an artificial approximation of light. Perhaps that is a significant health mismatch over time as well.

So sitting down in a chair and dealing with artificial light in a constricted cubicle may satisfy the accountant but ultimately may lead to an unhealthy work force with attendant rising health care costs. See how all of this can be interconnected even if not obvious from the traditional way of doing business. All things are interconnected. Making one set of decisions (the Office plan) without considering another set of decisions (employee health) creates a significant mismatch. I believe there is growing evidence that our technologies (and office space is a set of technologies) are actually making us sick because they are often deployed without real consideration on the impact they may have on other criteria that are not considered in making the deployment decision. And the reason they are not considered is because, well, frankly, most managers are totally blind to these other factors.

I can point you to Jack Kruse’s website on Optimal Health. He has a number of blogs that go into great detail about these technological and health mismatches. Worth reading! In fact, he takes scientific findings from evolutionary biology and evolutionary medicine and is wrapping them hard in the language of quantum biology. Talk about discovering modern technology and health mismatches. Very fascinating stuff.

I believe that the enlightened corporation of the future will select worker health criteria as a principle criteria along with cost criteria when making the Office plan. Right now, my experience is that worker health is not a major consideration at all. And we wonder why health care costs go up–our office environments are un-designed from a health perspective and mis-designed because usually cost is the major/only decision criterion.

Here is a possible market opportunity. A holistic view of the Office using many more criteria creating a broader more interconnected place to be productive. The technologies deployed in the office of the future would be ones that are consistent with a healthy human and in fact, should enhance health and vitality.

Yes, quantum thinking can create new opportunities if we just think about things differently. Quantum field theory says everything is interconnected. Well how about making the connection that unhealthy working environments result in rising employee ill health. Maybe there is a connection. I think so.

Be a Quantum Radical and challenge the traditional office plan. A healthy working environment is undoubtedly good for the bottom line, if we just knew how to make the interconnections.

Quantum Radical

At some point in the past, children went to school and learned that the Earth–the World–was flat. At some later time in the past, after it was discovered that the Earth was really a sphere, children went to school and learned that the Earth was round, and that at one time people held the silly notion that the world was flat. Aside: I wonder how many people on the planet still believe that the world is flat?

Today, children go to school and essentially learn that the universe is Newtonian and deterministic. Later, a few will discover in their higher education that there is this thing called Quantum Mechanics and they will have to deal with the fact that what they had already learned was essentially wrong–the universe is really weird and is definitely not deterministic but more along the lines of being probabilistic.

Is a Newtonian view of the world wrong? Well, yes it is! In my view, Newtonian physics is an incorrect description of the workings of the universe even if it provides a nice mathematical approximation for various classes of calculations. Learning Newtonian physics first is just plain wrong. It leaves a mis-conceptualization of reality.

Someday, our educational system will figure it out and learn how to teach at the very first instance that the world is Quantum (round) and that at one time we all believed the silly notion that the world was Newtonian (flat). I don’t know how long it took to transition our thinking from flat to round (I would guess several decades if not centuries). The transition to quantum thinking has certainly started, but we are probably near the beginning of this transition. We have a long way to go.

Howard Bloom in “The God Problem” describes the evolution of our conceptual thinking. We are still evolving. I can imagine that the educators that figure it out–how to teach grade school science from a quantum field theory perspective from the start–will lead that phase of our conceptual evolution. I predict that those students will have a distinct business and technology advantage in what is really (in reality) a Quantum World.

An encouraging fact is the rapid growth in the number of books (currently of mixed quality) that address various topics from a quantum perspective. I will be reading and reviewing many of these books in future blogs. In an upcoming Blog I will give you my reading list and my initial impressions of each book.

The Quantum Radical

I hope you, as a new reader of the Quantum Radical Blog, find what I have to say both entertaining and thought provoking. Because that is what it is all about–thinking better and thinking differently about the challenges we all face in our businesses and in our organizations and in our lives. Ultimately, you might think of this as bringing Moore’s Law to the art and science of leadership and management. Although our technology has been transformed over the last century from the discoveries and innovations derived from quantum physics, doesn’t it seem odd that our organizations and leadership and management models don’t reflect the same level of awesome innovation enjoyed by our technologies? What’s up with that?

Well, I have a long list of Blog topics that are intended to give you some insight into my experiences trying to answer that question. But first, I will need to set the stage. The next couple of Blogs will be a bit of a tutorial on the implications of Quantum Physics as they may relate to our everyday working environments. I am certainly not the first person to suggest the connection and I will point you to a number of great thinkers and writers who have very eloquently tackled this in their books. But, just a reminder, these Blogs are not about Quantum Physics–no complex math involved. Instead, they are about how to think  about the challenges of leadership and management within a backdrop of what quantum reality says about how the world really works–using real world examples. This will be no Newtonian walk in the park–forget deterministic approaches to complex issues. You will need to embrace complexity, ambiguity, sometimes chaos, and even some of those less tangible concepts like event horizons and consciousness.

Feel free to comment on my Blogs and challenge my thinking. I always enjoy a good debate.

Q’Rad Randy