Are these the essential elements of a sustainable system of the future: diversity, transparency and decentralized collaboration? Great thinking piece by Jamais Cascio:

Resilient flexibility means avoiding situations where components of a 
system are “too big to fail”–that is, where the failure of a single 
part can bring the whole thing crashing down. The alternative comes 
from the combination of diversity (lots of different parts), 
collaboration (able to work together), and decentralization (organized 
from the bottom-up). The result is a system that can more effectively 
respond to rapid changes in conditions, and including the unexpected 
loss of components.

via Resilience in the Face of Crisis: Why the Future will be Flexible | Open The Future | Fast Company.

Incidentally, these basic principles are the same that need to be established for web 2.0 tools to boost collaboration and creativity. Judging from the resistance these changes provoke in organizations, it is only fair to agree with Jamais that many more crises will come until these principles are mainstream.