You can influence what goes into it by a dam. You can influence its broad speed and direction by digging, placing obstacles, or changing the banks. You can predict a great deal about the behavior of the stream and control some major effects. But you can't predict or control even a tiny fraction of the small details of the stream, of the water, of the flow. With an understanding of the phenomena of a river you focus your energy, attention, and intention at the right level.
Business is a cognitive activity.
If we understand the model of distributed intelligence that is a corporation, then we can design both structure and practices to call forth the maximum emergence consistent with sufficiently controllable productive results. Attractors and patterns as the basis for making sense and meaning. Connections as the source of innovation and adaptiveness. The vehicle for this is dialogue, relationship, and engagement - not formal systems, one way communication, and publication. The Praxis Equation - Design Principles for Intelligent Organization, 1997.