By Robbin Laird My 2026 framework Mastering Chaos begins from a premise that most leadership literature still refuses to accept: traditional crisis management is not merely inadequate. It is actively dangerous. It was designed for a world of isolated, slow-moving systems with slack built into every layer. That world no…
By Robbin Laird and Kenneth Maxwell Brexit was sold, in significant part, as a restoration of sovereign control over Britain’s borders. By leaving the European Union, the United Kingdom would regain the ability to regulate migration flows, end free movement, and reassert national authority over who enters the country. Yet…
By Robbin Laird At the heart of Marine aviation’s drive for combat excellence lies a semi-annual event that most outsiders have never heard of, yet which one senior MAWTS-1 Commanding Officer described in unambiguous terms: WTI is where the United States Marine Corps comes together every year to train for…
By Robbin Laird In the fall of 2010, I was at Marine Corps Air Station New River talking to a group of Marines who had been flying the MV-22 Osprey for several years. One of them told me a story about a group of Marines who simply would not get…
By Robbin Laird When Admiral Samuel Paparo told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Bitcoin is “a reality” and “a valuable computer science tool, as a power projection,” he did more than offer an off‑the‑cuff comment on a fashionable technology. He signaled that at least one major combatant commander now…
By Robert Czulda The period of sympathy and mutual understanding between Poland and Ukraine has effectively ended. The authorities in Kyiv have once again taken a provocative step, antagonizing their key strategic partner. By mid-2026, what seemed possible just a few years ago feels like distant history. Following the 2022…
By Robbin Laird The Royal Australian Navy is crossing a dangerous bridge. On one side sits the fleet it has today: three Hobart‑class air warfare destroyers, a diminishing number of Anzac‑class frigates, and a support structure increasingly strained by the weight of strategic demand. On the other side sits the…
By Robbin Laird In every sector today, leaders are discovering the same uncomfortable truth: they can no longer plan their way through genuine chaos. The familiar script, stabilize the crisis, restore normal, move on, no longer fits a world where disruption is constant, tightly coupled, and accelerating. Mastering Chaos is…
