80. Rutenso – my concept of working with constant change
This new Japanese word gives us some clues about making progress when so much is changing around us
The first three months of 2025 have brought much in the way of global change and re-alignment. It’s disconcerting to find long-time allies seeming to turn away and aggressive dictators being lauded on the world stage. So much of the assumed consensus for a law-based and inclusive world order seems to be being undermined.
As individuals it’s hard for us to do much to turn this particular ship around. However, one of the basic tenets of Solution Focused work is that ‘change is happening all the time’, and our role is to notice useful change and amplify it. (Indeed, I introduced this phrase, though made the mistake of attributing it to Gregory Bateson; it’s a summary of his position, not a quote.)
If everything is moving, then how are we to find a foothold to stand on in the maelstrom? Following visits to work in Japan and being impressed with how much Japanese society accepts change as part of nature (I wrote here about their celebration of the fleeting days of Sakura, or cherry blossom), I devised a new Japanese word for this concept. I think this is a good time to reexamine this word and concept.
Rutenso – the art of thriving in times of constant change
Everyone knows that working in a Solutions Focus way involved focusing on solutions – ie what’s wanted, right? That’s the part that everyone gets. Focus on the solution, not on the problem. Well, that’s right, of course. And… there is so much more to SF than this. I have been thinking about how to convey all the other wonderful elements of what makes SF so different, and so effective in situations where other approaches don’t seem to gain traction. So, here is my thinking on this – rutenso.
rutenso comes from the Japanese word ruten, which means ‘constant and ceaseless change’. It seems that the Japanese have many different words for different kinds of change (the same is said of the Inuit and snow, apparently mistakenly). Perhaps it’s connected with an Eastern way of looking at things.
So, ruten means constant change. When the suffix ‘-so’ is added, this means ‘phases of’ or more poetically ‘working with’. So ruten-so is about working with constant change. Those who have heard me speak about SF will know that I always start my talks with the one-line definition of SF: ‘Change is happening all the time: therefore the simple way is to notice USEFUL change and amplify it’.
rutenso can be written as three kanji characters, as in the picture on the right. The same character set is used for Chinese too. In Chinese, these three characters mean ‘flow-turn-image’. It also has overtones of good fortune through change.
Koteiso and rutenso
In order to make the contrast with ‘conventional’ thinking, I also invented another Japanese word, koteiso. Koteiso is the art of working in a stable world, and it will come as no surprise that much conventional management and medical thinking stems from as initial assumption of stability. If things are not moving around, we can get some benefit from analysing them and developing action plans. (The difficulty of doing this in real life I see as giving support to the ‘change happening all the time’ position.)
I then drew up a set of seven principles, things which work very differently if you take a koteiso or rutenso stance.
Koteiso – stable world
• Change is hard and un-natural
• Goals and targets are vital
• Deal with problems by finding the root cause
• Huge plans give huge results
• Eliminate difference and uncertainty
• When it’s hard, speed up and act
• Leaders drive and exert
Rutenso – working with constant change
• Change is happening all the time
• Direction and momentum are vital
• All the pieces matter – look widely
• Small actions start things quickly
• Difference is USEFUL – use and learn from it
• When it’s hard, slow down and observe
• Leaders host and enable
Just to be clear, I am not suggesting that the current resident at the White House is using the top column. Koteiso is the classic ‘waterfall’ method for big projects as taught in many business schools, and there may be some benefit in it for very stable and well-understood situations. On the contrary, Trump appears to be using a wilfully confusing and personal stance, at once dogmatic and unstable. I would like to examine how we might use the ideas of rutenso in response to this confusion. Let’s take three of the principles which seem relevant at this time.
All the pieces matter – look widely
Trump is well-known for his lack of enthusiasm for multilateral organisations like the United Nations, World Health Organisation and so on. He thinks (correctly) that these bodies constrain his freedom for unilateral action. (We heard the same arguments from the Brexiters about the European Union (EU).) Rather, he prefers to strike bilateral deals which can be seen as win (for him) and lose (for the other).
Leaving aside the many ways in which cooperating with a multinational group can strengthen, not weaken, the ability of a country to pursue its interests, let’s look at how the recent responses to Trump reflect different positions. It is very tempting to be openly outraged by the overturning of international norms by the Trump administration. Many commentators in the UK are insisting the Prime Minister Keir Starmer should ‘pick a side’ and get behind the EU at this point.
Starmer has doggedly rejected this ‘choice’ so far. He is keeping as close as possible to the White House, making every effort to stay onside with Trump. While this apparent fawning to a would-be dictator sticks in the craw, it is balanced by the great efforts that Starmer is making to build alliances across Europe, the Commonwealth and the world to build positions where the worst of US policy can be ameliorated, and other options pursued should the need arise.
It seems to me that Starmer is following the principle that ‘All the pieces matter’. As some of you may remember this phrase appeared in connection with the TV show The Wire (2002-2008), one of the first productions with ambiguity and complexity about who were the ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’. In rejecting a simplistic analysis of the players, Starmer is opening the maximum range of future options in this time of uncertainty.
I am also reminded of a line from TV’s Yes Minister, a comedy about the relationships between ministers and civil servants from the 1980s which was widely seen as well-rooted in fact. The minister asks Bernard, his private secretary and supposed civil service ally, about whose side he is on, when the chips are down. “Minister”, he replies, “my job is to see that the chips stay up.”
When it’s hard, slow down and observe
This is, I admit, not the easiest thing in the world to do when things seem to be disintegrating. This principle is not an invitation to paralysis, it’s an injunction not to rush into things unnecessarily. I have been watching re-runs of the BBC chess series The Master Game from the late 1970s/early 1980s. It was a very effective way to televise chess matches between top players; they played the match and then recorded their thought processes a couple of days later in a sound studio as if the match was in progress. It’s surprisingly gripping even for a non-chess player like me.
I was struck by how many times a disastrous move was presaged by the player saying “I don’t have a choice here…” before making the move. They did have a choice, but they had given up looking for it. (To be fair, sometimes they were under time pressure to move quickly.) When something looks clear and obvious (and the situation is shifting rapidly) then it pays to give these things a second thought.
I was struck by events a few weeks ago, following the disgraceful humiliation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Various pro-Ukraine groups announced that they would be holding protests outside US embassies and consulates, presumably in noisy (and well-justified) condemnation. This was rapidly followed by pleas from Ukrainian officials NOT to hold such protests. While at one level the protestors would be entitled to show their displeasure, someone in Kyiv had figured that such actions at that particular moment would likely make things worse, not better. And the option of protesting at some future point remains open.
It’s interesting to note that immediately after the Oval Office debacle Jonathan Powell, Britain’s current national security advisor and broker of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland, went to Kyiv so support and coach Zelenskyy about his response. I’ve written here before about Powell’s ‘bicycle theory’ of conflict resolution; never let the bike fall over. It’s better to keep things moving (even if they are currently not moving in the right direction) than to let the bike stop, fall off and have to get moving again. I have the highest regard for Powell; if anyone can find a way through, he can.
Leaders host and enable
President Trump and his oddball, inexperienced cabinet and billionaire hangers-on are in full-on ‘issue orders’ mode at this time. This may be effective in some ways and get things happening – but there is a great cost in terms of producing strategies which will work and also gain support from those implementing them. The US court system is (rather slowly) taking its role in challenging some of these decisions, and US government lawyers are saying that they are complying with court orders (at least in public). The main product of taking such one-sided action is resentment and fear by those affected. And as legal commentator David Allan Green notes, asking ‘what if?’ is likely to generate more heat than light in such unprecedented times.
It seems to me that Keir Starmer has taken to acting as a host rather well, at least in international terms. He was quick off the mark to organise meetings of the putative ‘coalition of the willing’ to help enforce a peace deal in Ukraine, (more in here). As I write this, he is hosting a 40+ nation summit on illegal migration in London; responding to this very wicked multi-layered problem by getting as many of those involved around the table. This includes far-flung places like Vietnam and Iraq as well as the US and France, as well as Meta and TikTok. This shows considerably more imagination than the previous government’s misguided strategy to send a few migrants to Rwanda as a deterrent and to insult the French police.
A recent editorial in the Guardian by the estimable Jonathan Freedland pointed out that thanks to the shenanigans in America there is currently a vacancy for the post of ‘leader of the free world’. Britain, Europe and Canada are currently in pole position to take up the reins, preferably together. Watch this space.
Conclusions
These times are more than usually ridden with uncertainly and confusion. The principles of rutenso are about working effectively in times of constant change. It’s encouraging to see some of them in use. And, of course, they are very well aligned indeed with Solution Focused (SF) practice. Working a step at a time, building relationships even with people you don’t like, looking widely, going slowly and taking small steps while seeking the emergence of more useful futures – these are all thoroughly SF ways to think and act.
Dates and mates
I will be doing conference workshops at SOLWorld
(https://www.solworld2025.org, 15-17 May),
UKASFP
( https://members.ukasfp.org/page/conf2025, 17-18 July)
and EBTA
(https://www.ebta2025.dk/, 19-21 September. These are all on the topic of ‘Writing SF’.
Would you like to write more about your SF work, ideas and practice? Published author Mark McKergow will be sharing ideas about what might be interesting for readers, where to start, the options for publication and some do's and don'ts. SF is a field with a lot of not-knowing... which makes it even harder to write about in normal contexts. Bring your writing projects (however nascent), experiences and ideas on what makes a great publication.
Dr Mark McKergow is the author of six SF books including the best-selling The Solutions Focus (first published in 2002 and now in its third edition). He is the editor of the Journal of Solution Focused Practices and so gets to see a lot of material, some of which makes it into print. Mark is director of the Centre for Solutions Focus at Work (SFWork) based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Hope to see you at one of these events.
This morning news came in of the dealth of movie actor Val Kilmer at the age of 65. His breakthrough came in 1984 with the Airplane-like spoof Top Secret, with Kilmer playing US singing star Nick Rivers on a tour behind the Iron Curtain. I always enjoy his take on Tutti Frutti - watch the band transform halfway through.
I like the word, and it certainly works for me in my work. Retail is rutenso every day.
Excellent post Mark, only wish more 'important' people were willing and open to reading it.