This discussion really resonates, Harold, especially the shift from Probe > Sense > Respond to Act > Sense > Respond. But as I’ve been sitting with the experience of this moment, I’ve started to notice a gap in how we’re trying to address it. So much of our focus is on intellectual sensemaking, but what people are actually experiencing is visceral—disorientation, exhaustion, and the feeling that the ground is shifting beneath their feet.

Lately, I’ve been thinking more about how we actually navigate when things feel unstable—not just how we make sense of chaos, but how we move inside it. What I’m working on is less about creating frameworks and more about developing tools that help people orient in real time. When we don’t know what’s next, how do we steady ourselves? When things keep unraveling, how do we find our footing? When certainty is gone, what do we move toward instead?

One of the things I’ve been considering is that, just like in our personal lives, there are seasons in our collective experience. We often expect things to remain stable, or to always move toward growth and expansion, but history shows us that we go through cycles—periods of contraction, upheaval, and deep uncertainty. If we are in one of those seasons now, then the question shifts from ‘How do we make sense of this?’ to ‘How do we work with the energy of this time, rather than fighting against it?"

I think there is much that we have not reckoned with in terms of unprocessed grief and confusion that impacts our ability to "make sense" of things, as well as a need to attune to what it is we actually want. I think we're thinking about how to fight back, but may not be as in touch with what we want to fight for.

And sensemaking in chaotic times isn’t just about thinking differently. It’s about moving differently—learning how to orient when the ground keeps shifting, how to keep going when there’s no clear map, and how to hold confusion without collapsing into fear or false certainty. I’ve begun calling this process Wayfinding—the practice of learning how to move through uncertainty when guarantees are gone and stable ground is nowhere to be found. Wayfinding isn’t about fixing chaos or forcing clarity; it’s about developing a new relationship with the unknown. The question isn’t just ‘how do we make sense of this?’ but ‘how do we live inside it?" I see this as personal practice that may then allow us to participate more effectively in the organizational and collective practices we may be trying to implement.

In this moment, I don’t think we just need better sensemaking models. I think we need a different way of relating to uncertainty itself. If we accept that we are in a time of ongoing disruption, then our task is not to find the perfect answer—but to learn how to navigate, how to adjust, and how to remain steady even when everything feels in flux.

I also believe that there are emotional and experiential things to tend to that we may not be adequately addressing when we're focused on "making sense" of things. That’s the space I’m exploring—what it means to orient ourselves in the midst of shifting terrain, rather than just analyzing the landscape. And how do we tend to the emotional aspects of disorientation and overwhelm that may constrict our sense of the possible and leave us feeling both hopeless and helpless?