What if the secret to navigating complexity—in education, in leadership, in organizations, in life—could be distilled into a single structural principle? For Prof. Simon L. Dolan, one of MyEducator’s earliest and most treasured authors, that principle is the triad, or the rule of three. And after 50 years of research, Prof. Dolan has made a compelling case that the triad is not a coincidence.

In his article, “The Rule of Three: A Tribute to Dolan’s Triadic Frameworks for Success in Business and Life,” Dolan reflects on the triadic pattern he kept encountering across every major area of his work—values, trust, stress, leadership, and the future of work—and what it taught him about the way humans actually make sense of the world.

Who Is Simon Dolan?

Prof. Dolan has spent over 50 years teaching at leading business schools across Europe and North America. He earned his PhD from the University of Minnesota, has authored over 95 books translated into multiple languages, and has published more than 150 articles in scientific and professional journals.

He founded and currently serves as Honorary President of the Global Future of Work Foundation, an innovative nonprofit preparing the workforce for the future of work. Additionally, he is president of the Montreal-based consulting firm Gestion MDS Inc.

He was also one of the very first authors to partner with MyEducator. In 2013, when MyEducator co-founder Chad Albrecht—then Prof. Dolan’s doctoral student at ESADE Business School—shared his idea for a new kind of educational platform, Dolan was one of the first to believe in it. What started as a leap of faith has grown into an ongoing collaboration. We appreciate Prof. Dolan’s support and partnership and are honored that he has remained a close collaborator ever since.

His publications with MyEducator include Introduction to Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior in a Global Context, and The Future of Work (all co-authored with Chad Albrecht), in addition to several Spanish-language resources. Learn more about Prof. Dolan and his work with MyEducator as an international author and educator.

“The Rule of Three”

Prof. Dolan’s article is part career retrospective, part intellectual manifesto. His argument is straightforward: the most effective frameworks for understanding complex human systems tend to be built around three interdependent dimensions—three being a magic number. One dimension oversimplifies. Two creates tension without resolution. Three, he argues, generates what he calls dynamic homeostasis: the conditions for balance, movement, and sustainable effectiveness all at once.

He walks through several of the triadic models developed over his career, including the following:

The 3Es Model

A framework that maps all human values onto three axes: economic, ethical, and emotional, helping individuals and organizations diagnose where they’re out of balance and realign with purpose.

The Three Dimensions of Trust

A model built on reliability, concern, and harmony. Thousands of researchers and practitioners use this model to understand why trust erodes and how leaders can rebuild it.

The Stress Map

A diagnostic tool that organizes the complexity of stress into sources, consequences, and modulators. This tool has been widely adopted by mental health professionals and extended into the digital Stress2Resilience App.

The Future of Work

Dolan’s vision for “Tomorrowland,” shaped by three irreversible forces: technology, radical globalization, and permanent innovation.

He also reflects on three moments from his own life that he frames as the defining “rings” of his story—a reminder that the triadic principle isn’t a framework for academic success only.

Application of the Rule of Three in Classroom and Career

Whether you’re an instructor, a business professional, or someone simply trying to make better decisions in a complicated world, Dolan’s frameworks offer something rare: they reduce complexity without trivializing the important concepts. That’s a hard thing to do, and it’s exactly what great teaching materials should aspire to.

It’s also, not coincidentally, what MyEducator has built its mission around. Our mission is to make accessible high-quality academic materials. We achieve this through interactive learning resources, built-in lecture videos, auto-graded assessments, and customizable course materials that meet students and instructors where they are. If you’re an instructor looking for resources that bring this kind of rigorous, applicable thinking into your classroom, we’d love for you to explore our catalog or request free instructor access today.

And if you’re ready to dive into Prof. Dolan’s ideas in full, read and download his article below. It’s the kind of read that makes you think differently about the problems you’re already working on.

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