Viable Operating Model: Abdul Aziz (Part 1)

This week’s newsletter captures the key insights and my reflections from my podcast with Abdul Aziz, Director & Chief Architect at Requisite Variety Solutions.

In this episode, Abdul introduces his Viable Operating Model (VOM) as a framework for organizational improvement. He critiques traditional management for treating employees like cogs in a machine, advocating instead for a people-centric approach where human potential is viewed as infinite.

The discussion explores how the VOM bridges the gap between strategy and operations by integrating the theories of Stafford Beer and Russell Ackoff. Abdul emphasizes the importance of epistemological humility, arguing that managers must focus on the relationships between parts rather than just the parts themselves. He describes effective leadership as the transformation of knowledge into value while maintaining a generative tension between efficiency and human development.

Members of the Cyb3rSyn Community can watch/discuss the podcast episode on the www.cyb3rsynlabs.com portal or the mobile app (iOS and Android). The video is also on YouTube here 👇🏾

In my recent travels to the University of Hull for the Systems Thinking Systems Practice conference, I met Abdul Aziz in the flesh. Abdul is a unique practitioner who resists the sterile categorization of the corporate world. He is a thinker who can seamlessly blends computer science, mathematics, and philosophy, but with a distinct Yorkshire attitude — a "Marmite" personality as he puts it.

Our conversation centered on a frustrating reality for many technology executives: despite our advanced tools, modern management often feels like a reductive "command and control" exercise. We treat people as cogs in a machine, yet we wonder why our organizations lack vitality.

We then dive into what Abdul has developed — the "Viable Operating Model" (VOM). It is a framework designed to move us toward a place where we honor human potential while maintaining the rigor required to run a global enterprise.

Here are the key takeaways and my reflections from part 1 of the conversation.

Before I talk about the conversation itself, I’d like to talk about a post by Abdul that I referenced in one of my questions in the podcast. The post triggered the following thoughts about learning in the age of AI:

Stop learning within a single domain.

Start learning between them.

Value used to come from knowing something no one else knew. AI has wiped that out.

Now, value comes from seeing connections no one else sees.

That’s the new expertise - to cut across multiple domains/perspectives and connect the dots between them.

Checkout this post by Abdul Aziz where he connects the dots across the works of three different authors. Subscribing to his Substack, if you crave for more.

If you are ready to connect more dots, grab the book by Harish Jose and Venkatesh Krishnamurthy:

Most executives rely on two primary blueprints to understand their business: the organizational chart and financial statements. Abdul argues that these are "myopic blueprints" that fail to represent the reality of how work actually happens.