The future seems wide open with possibilities: landscape thinking in the midst of turbulence

Organizations today operate in environments characterized by unpredictable, uncertainty, and tightly coupled interdependencies, making adaptive action and strategic flexibility increasingly essential. Addressing complex problems characterized by high interdependence requires a fundamental cognitive shift. Drawing on evolutionary biology, this study develops a theory of landscape thinking—an adaptive mindset that enables organizations to explore multidimensional possibility spaces. We articulate three foundational constructs of landscape thinking: (a) multivariable and diverse possibilities, which shape the structure and ruggedness of the landscape; (b) initial divergence in exploration paths, which reflects how early positions and search heuristics generate distinct adaptive trajectories; and (c) dynamic and adjacent possibilities, which highlight how new opportunities emerge through ongoing interaction with the environment. To illustrate how these constructs jointly influence organizational adaptation, we employ computational modeling based on NK landscapes and simulate both incremental fine-tuning and irregular oscillation mechanisms. The simulations reveal how variable interdependencies, initial positions, and dynamic neighborhood updates shape adaptive outcomes under conditions of turbulence. This framework advances research on organizational adaptation by clarifying the foundations of the landscape metaphor and demonstrating how landscape thinking can guide organizations in responding to complex, evolving environments.