The adjacent possible is a relatively straightforward idea, but it can take a little while to fully grasp. Looking at a game of chess through the lens of the adjacent possible may help make better sense of it.
At any moment in a game of chess, the position of the pieces determines which moves are possible. You cannot make any move you like. You can only choose from the moves available from the position you are currently in.
Make a move and the position changes. New moves become possible, others disappear, and your opponent’s response changes the possibilities again. Each position opens up a new adjacent possible.
There is a clear overall goal: to win by checkmating your opponent’s king. But there is no predetermined route for getting there. You may have a strategy and a sense of direction, and you may anticipate several moves ahead, but you cannot simply plan the whole game and then execute that plan. The path emerges as you play.
Conversation works in a similar way. Each contribution changes the conversational situation. A question, an observation, a challenge, or a new perspective can open possibilities for thinking that were not available a moment earlier. What becomes possible next depends partly on what has just happened between us.
This also connects the adjacent possible with the Vector Theory of Change. We can have intent and a sense of direction without having a detailed plan for getting there. We act from where we are, see what happens, and respond to the possibilities that emerge.
Chess is, of course, only an analogy. It is a highly constrained system with fixed rules, known pieces, defined moves, and a clear objective. Human organizations, communities and conversations are far more complex. We may not know all the possibilities available to us, and entirely new possibilities may emerge through our interactions.
When we do not have to know the whole path in advance, we need to pay attention to where we are now and to what has just become possible.
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