Many institutions focus on unsustainable short-term strategies and this results in short-lived economic victories. This book is intended to take us away from that line of thinking and show us a new way of doing things so we can attain long-term success and sustainability. Avoiding Tsunamis: Discovering and Developing Your Organization’s DNA by Victor Pinedo clearly points out where we are right now and what is wrong with current private and institutional structures. He then advises the better way to do things. Whether the upheavals are man-made or not, they will have disastrous effects on institutions and on the world in general unless institutions are better equipped to survive.

Avoiding Tsunamis: Discovering and Developing Your Organization’s DNA by Victor Pinedo is written for CEOs, leaders and managers who want to create a better company that can stand up to any challenge of the dynamic social and economic environment. The book starts off with a peek into what the future should look like, how things should be done so as to change the corporate structures and values and set in place institutions that can survive any social and economic upheavals. By using real life success stories, Victor Pinedo makes the advice in the book real and shows the reader that he is not just talking theories, but practical strategies that, if put into action, can lead to a better economic environment and social sustainability. It is a good read and would be useful to anyone looking to create a more sustainable corporate structure.

Avoiding Tsunamis by Victor Pinedo is a companion piece to his 2004 publication, Tsunami: Building Organizations Capable of Prospering in Tidal Waves. In this work, Pinedo discusses the failures of the dominant hierarchical elitist system. In such a system there is concentrated power and wealth at the top and lack of power, resources, education, and control at the bottom. These systems are found in governments, such as dictatorships, and in organizations. A major fault of them is that the disadvantaged portions of these societies or entities experience growing dissatisfaction, which causes the elite elements to resort to taking more power and becoming even more controlling. The end result can be a tsunami, a tidal wave, such as occurred in the author’s home city, Willemstad in the Caribbean, in 1969, where disadvantaged social groups finally resorted to rioting to protest against the inequities of the social system there and burned the city down. Pinedo offers the concept of Organizational Architecture as an alternative to the top-down, failure-ridden Hierarchical Elite models, and he offers examples of industries and countries, such as Brazil, where inflationary difficulties have been turned around, and the social structure has become one of growth, cooperation, and achievement. Pinedo also sets out step-by-step instructions for both corporations and individuals to make these changes happen.

Victor Pinedo’s Avoiding Tsunamis is a fascinating look at the changes that can make such profound differences in society. His insights are relevant on a global scale, and his solutions can likewise be implemented in many cultures. I appreciated his analysis of the Hierarchical Elite model and was able to relate to his discussion of how corporate influence and money can affect decision-making, even in democracies. His critique of the former, short-term economic models of the late twentieth century seems quite accurate as well. He doesn’t write just to critique, however, but to show how creating the right kind of business and social environment can result not only in a more positive and creative society, but can actually result in economic success. While I haven’t read his first book, I was inspired and intrigued by the concepts presented in Avoiding Tsunamis. His ideas seem to make a lot of sense.