p.3 As well as defining complexity as a great number of objects which interact in a complex manner (Simon, 1965), it is necessary to emphasise that, as a rule, any complex issue has several possible solutions, each of which can be appropriate to different goals. Complexity is an expression not only of complex structure but also of the character of interrelations where the behaviour of one element influences another (Saaty, 1985). This point indicates the importance of taking into consideration the synergy of interactions between interconnected elements, when the result of such synergy is a new emergent property, which does not belong to any of the existing elements. An analysis of causality is not enough for problem solving because often new interrelations might be discovered after a "decision" has been made.

p.4 The adaptive principle of management is considered to be a continuous process of learning, revising, resolving tradeoffs and planning to adapt to unfolding situations (Kay et. al., 1999).

p.5 Sustainability aims at systems which “survive” change, i.e., which maintain a continuous identity, even though their states may change (Heylighen, 1991; Maturana and Varela, 1980). According to the law of requisite variety, a large variety of actions is more adaptive than a smaller one. Therefore, in order to survive (development without destruction) a system has to allow for an increasing "degree of freedom" (Turchin, 1977) or diversity at the lower level. This means that in the management process, voluntary heterogeneity should replace aggregating information. There is a new basis for a rational procedure of reasoning with the focus on meaning.

p.7 Strategy, therefore, becomes the task: how to provide dynamic stability and at the same time to allow a variety of changes in order to increase the adaptive capacity of any system? ...Human systems, like natural systems (but unlike technical systems), are adaptive. Thus the initial purpose(s) of a system and/ or the intensity of purpose can change as well.

p.7 The core of a decision process is how to manage, i.e. how to modify the system and to provide dynamic stability. We need an analytical view of the world which helps to shape the future, rather than adjusting to it; and we need an alternative to formal rational reasoning. This means that strategizing and the decision making processes, not rational in themselves, increase our capacity to be “rational”, i.e. to think systematically “what for?” Following F. Heylighen (Heylighen, 1991), the fact that a controlled sequence of combinations can be generated and explored as to its consequences might be defined as rationality.