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The Occupy Wall St. movement started off slowly in September of 2011. After a few short weeks, however, it appeared to be everywhere. This movement, which seemed to come out of nothing before spreading across the planet, has a great deal to offer the careful observer. By looking at the history of the Occupy Wall St. movement and its emergence out of a chaotic and complex environment, it will become apparent that there is much we can learn from complexity science that can be applied to this movement. Additionally, we will see that these lessons also have important implications in leadership.
A group called Operation Empire State Rebellion called for an occupation of Zuccotti Park to occur on June 14, 201 ?. When the date and time arrived, four people showed up (Bennett, 201 ?). Fast forward three months to September ? 7, 201 1 and a new group called for an Occupy protest. This time close to 2,000 people showed up and occupied the very same place, Zuccotti Park (Schneider, 201 1). What changed? What allowed for two similar calls for protest to go out with one drawing only enough people for a doubles tennis match and the other drawing enough people and attention that it has since spread throughout the United States and the world? It can't be due to the specific leadership and demands of the original protest as it had neither (Schell, 2011). While on the surface it would appear to have "come out of nowhere, like a virgin birth" (Schnell, 201 1 : 4) it actually came out of complex and chaotic environment that unfolded throughout the summer of 201 1 . By looking at the history of the Occupy Wall St. movement and its emergence out of the chaotic and complex environment, it will become apparent that there is much we can learn from complexity science that can be applied to this movement. Additionally, we will see that these lessons also have important implications in leadership as well.
According to Castellani and Hafferty (2009), it is important to understand the external forces that have an impact on any given social system. By doing this it is possible to understand the forces against which the social system being...