Welcome to Snafu, a newsletter about resilience, behavior change, and learning.

"The future is becoming increasingly difficult to predict."

Those words, written in the Responsive.org manifesto more than a decade ago, are more true in 2025 than ever. What can we as individuals and working within organizations do to adapt?

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How to design for change

In 2015, the authors of Responsive Org wrote that “the future is becoming increasingly difficult to predict.”

Today, with global instability, political partisanship, and an ever more rapid rate of change, those words seem prescient.

The tension between organizations optimized for predictability and the unpredictable world we inhabit has reached a breaking point. Only organizations built to adapt are going to survive.

I founded ​Responsive Conference​ because I had witnessed the same organizational dysfunctions and habits across nearly two dozen different industries.

In selling to the Fortune 100s, I learned how much of business is relationship-driven. As the first employee at a non-profit education tech. company, I witnessed how slow our educational systems are to change. As an acrobat with the San Francisco Opera, I experienced the century-old practices of one of our most storied arts institutions. And in my own little brick-and-mortar restaurant, I learned about San Francisco city politics.

We still structure our organizations for a time where predictability mattered more than speed.

The theme of Responsive Conference 2025 is “Design for change” because the world is changing so rapidly. Only those individuals and organizations that keep pace with change are going to survive.

I hope you’ll join us at the Oakland Museum of California for Responsive Conference 2025.

Let’s build the future of work together!

​Get your tickets now!​
Prices go up March 15

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3 things I’ve loved this week

Idea I’m considering: Paradox of inclusivity

The paradox of inclusivity refers to the tension that can arise when efforts to include diverse groups of people end up excluding some of them.

Over the ten years that I’ve been running Responsive I’ve witnessed three cycles of a societal pendulum swing towards and then away from “DEI” efforts, and I think this paradox explains some of the reason why.

Also, I just enjoy the dark humor of this particular paradox.

TED Talk I’m watching: “How to Reclaim Your Life From Work” by Simone Stolzoff

Just this week, we’ve confirmed that Simone will be speaking on stage at Responsive Conference (though not on the topic of his TED talk).

Before confirming him as one of our early speakers, I’ve been digging into his work including The Good Enough Job and his TED talk How to Reclaim Your Life From Work.

Audiobook I’m listening to: Outland​

I’ve been falling asleep to this post-apocalyptic science fiction book about a supervolcano eruption and what a small band of humans do to survive.

It’s a great listen, though it has resulted in some surreal, survivalist dreams!

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Support Snafu

This newsletter is free and I don’t run ads. But I do spend dozens of hours researching and writing about selling each week. Here’s how you can support.

Share Snafu - If you're enjoying Snafu, it would mean the world to me if you would share it with one person who you think would like it. What friend, co-worker, or family member comes to mind? Forward this along!

​Books by Robin - I've published two books - so far! If you’re interested in learning to do a handstand, check out How to Do a Handstand. If you’re building a company or want to improve your company’s culture, read Responsive: What It Takes to Create a Thriving Organization.

Thanks for your support! It means the world.

Until next week,
Robin