Oh, to be a kid again with the whole world opening up to you as you get exposed to people like those at the Acumen Fund. Watch this video of Fund Day at the Acumen Fund. And how cool to hear a kid say,
My favorite part of the day was creating a business.
Share the video with kids that you know. Influence them to see that they can make a difference in the world.
This week's The Economist has a article - The Patient Capitalist - on the Acumen Fund. I also encourage you to read founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz book, The Blue Sweater. I posted my review of her book here.
RandomKid/ Sustainable Cambodia/ Green Valley School (PA) water project
If you children want to get involved in social enterprise opportunities, check out RandomKid, a place where kids can get the mentoring to take their own ideas for helping and making a difference and change the world.
Yesterday, I received a report from RandomKid president Anne Ginther about one of their projects. Here's what she wrote.
Recently we partnered with a group to put a windmill in Cambodia that will provide the energy to water gardens for 40 families. The cost for the project was $4500, and the funding was donated to us by Exelon Nuclear for this purpose, in partnership with a RandomKid school in Pennsylvania. The cost included the windmill materials, catchment, seeds-- everything needed from start to finish. It's being built as I write this.
These kinds of projects are taking place all over the world. Just as the Acumen Fund needs investment funds, so does RandomKid, and a host of other organizations that help kids become social philanthropists. If you can help financially do so, if you can, pass along this post to those who can. Your influence just may make the difference for a child.
Thought you'd like to see one of the children from the village that received the well. Her name is Sreyvin. Here's her letter of thanks.
My name is Sreyvin, I am a 12 year old girl. I have four
sisters, and no brothers. My family and I eat fish for dinner. I live in Mong
village, Svay Att commune, Pursat town. I am in grade 4 at Chhom Monny primary
school. I like to read books in my free time. I know a little English.
They
built a basin next the pond. There will be a fan about the basin to suck water
into the basin. There are water tubes to share the water from the pond.
Because of you, I am able to go to study on time and
regularly. You have provided me with enough water to use daily, and to
cultivate my plants. My community has become a very green community. Because of
you, my family will have a better life.
Here's a drawing of their village by one of the children.
The children, with RamdomKid's assistance, worked with Sustainable Cambodia on the water project.
Richard Allen describes their organization.
As volunteer CEO and co-founder of the Rotary-supported nonprofit organization Sustainable Cambodia, I invite you to explore the work our staff is doing in Cambodian villages. We are a working to help theresidents of these rural villages create a sustainable quality of life through wells, irrigation systems, schools, training and empowerment. Byour founding principles, only native Cambodians may be employed as paidstaff, and all international officers, directors and consultants must beunpaid volunteers, ensuring that 100% of funding goes directly into therural village programs. Please explore more about Sustainable Cambodiaat www.SustainableCambodia.org
These are projects that children through their schools, congregations and other organizations can support.
Acumen Fund and RandomKid are doing different things, but they are complementary. Acumen Fund addresses poverty through "patient capitalism" through investment in the establishment of micro-enterprises. RandonKid is a catalyst for children's interest in making a different in the world by connecting with projects suited to their commitments and abilities.
These are the kinds of organizations that will be the media structures for the emerging global society. Stay in touch and support their efforts. They are the real change agents of the future.
Twitter is a unique social media platform. With a character limit of 140, posts are short, simple platitudes at their most superficial and genuinely wise and connecting at their best. In an article in the Wall Street Journal - Twitter Trips on Its Rapid Growth - we read the following.
The biggest issues facing founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone are
bringing on new staff to get ahead of its user growth while working out
a business model. Twitter is free and the company doesn't sell
advertising.
"Twitter has no current revenue stream to balance the costs," says Gartner Inc. research analyst Allen Weiner.
Twitter isn't Facebook, as I wrote about here. It is different because it provides a way of connection that doesn't require the management of a complex infrastructure. You just post and listen.
Here's what co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone have to say about their next steps.
Twitter will need more "business-type folks eventually," says Mr.
Williams, but those are the "parts of the business that we haven't
fleshed out yet."
Twitter's plans for the near future include a new homepage, says Mr.
Stone. Today Twitter.com is geared toward showing people how to post a
Tweet, he said, but in the future, Twitter wants it to highlight how
the service can help people discover what is going on around them, says
Mr. Stone.
"In the long-run, we need to make Twitter the product more relevant to more people," he says.
My own opinion on Twitter's future is that it is being smaller. Not
smaller in posts size, but smaller in how it sees the value of its
service. What most large corporate organizations struggle with is
communication. Email and internal bulletin boards don't meet that
need. They are either too formal or cumbersome to use.
Twitter on the other hand could be a platform that provides a way for large segments of a company to be in constant communication. In a sense it is like cross-training. If folks in accounting are twittering and those in sales are receiving their tweets, then a sense of the whole life of the company begins to unfurl in people's minds.
Twitter can sell a customized platform that provides security and builds a level of conversational community that is hard to produce in many organizations. They are selling a customized package that is focused on building community with security. This is one way Twitter addresses its need for a business plan that can provide a marketable benefit that produces a dependable revenue stream. The key is in understanding the corporate community conversation context.
Update: Here's Evan Williams and Biz Stone interviewed at the All Things Digital conference.
Simplicity isn't simplistic or superficial, but rather a higher state of development. To be simple is to see clearly what was obscured by many competing notions and distractions. To be simple makes it easier to communicate, to connect with others and to create the collaborative organizational structures that we need. To be simple is to create a more elegant product or service or even an organization. To be simple is to see and understand what is happening as it is taking place. To be simple is to know how to resolve issues and conflicts before they rise to the level of crisis.
The influence of Garr Reynolds, Matt May and John Maeda on my thinking is giving me new insight into the nature of leadership. I will share more as I consolidate my thoughts into something coherent and clear. Until then, read them, listen to them, and begin to imagine how simplicity and elegance can become ways your work is recognized by clients and colleagues.
I read something early on when I was in my first or second management
role that you can accomplish almost anything in life if you do not care
who takes credit for it. So I’ve tried to do more of that. And I’ve
tried to do less of the things that make business more complex. I
really like simplicity. At the end of the day, retailing - but you
could apply this to many other businesses - is not as complicated as we
would like to make it. It is pretty logical and simple, if you think
about the way that you yourself would act, or do act, as a customer.
Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life is a classic statement of Wynton's philosophy that can be seen all the things he does. It is a book that provides a rationale for why jazz is both an important American art form, but also a way of looking at life that can bring strength and goodness to people, their families and friends, and their communities.
He starts by telling about Danny Barker, a New Orleans musician who led the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band . The band was formed to provide a way to keep kids off the streets. Here's what Wynton says about Barker's influence on him.
There we met an old man whom I presumed to be Mr. Barker. He was a colorful character, full of fire and stories well told. He loved New Orleans music and he loved kids. That day, he taught us the most profound lesson about playing jazz - and the possibility of a life of self-expression and mutual respect - that I've ever encountered. ... The clarinet players squeaked and squawked. Mr. Barker listened. Then he said, "Everything you do, you got to do with personality. Scoop and bend and slide those notes." They tried to do that. Mr. Barker said, "That's jazz! Now let's hear clarinets and trumpets on the melody. But when y'all play together, you got to talk to one another . ... So he was hearing something in us way back then. And he was teaching us something, too: You are creative, whoever you are. Respect your own creativity and respect the creativity and creative space of other people.
That's the book in a nutshell,and it is a powerful message in a time where conflict and division are found in every sphere of life.
One of the hallmarks of the jazz art is the ability of musicians to improvise. It is a way to be creative with what the situation brings you. He describes the musicians that came to his house as a child, men who were friends of his family, a noted New Orleans musician and teacher.
It seemed to me that all of these people knew one another or at least had some type of connection. For all their hard, profane talk, there was an unusual type of gentleness in the way they treated one another. Always a hug upon greeting and - from even the most venerated musicians - sometimes a kiss on the cheek. A natural ease with those teetering on the edge of sanity. A way of admonishing but not alienating those who might have drug problems. Always the feeling that things in our country, in our culture, in our souls, in the world, would get better. And beyond that, the feeling that this mysterious music would someday help people see how things fit together: segregation and integration, men and women, the political process, even the stock market. That's why these were still confident, optimistic men. Even though they were broke and misunderstood , sometimes difficult of personality, sometimes impaired by a too intense encounter with mind-altering substances and trapped in a culture that was rapidly moving away from professional levels of musicianship, romantic expression, and the arts in general, they still believed in the value of this jazz they played and still understood that their job was inventing music - and making sense of it with one another. They improvised. Now, the ability to improvise - to make up things that could get you out of a tight spot - well, everyone needed to know how to do that, even if it was just coming up with the right words at the right time. I thought there must be something to this improvised music. I needed to learn more about it. And hanging around jazz musicians was a great education for a nine- or ten-year-old because they told great stories and they knew how to listen. That was their way, talking and listening, listening and talking.
What I hear in this description of his childhood is a way for people to relate to one another in an open, respectful way. Creativity, improvisation and human community is a process of listening, sharing, adapting and making something happen that elevates life.
I've been a lover of jazz since the early 70's. I found in it a life that was missing in other music. It was the experience of seeing musicians communicating on the bandstand that most impressed me. I was fortunate to see the Modern Jazz Quartet during their last tour. Each transition in their songs seemed to come effortlessly and without words being shared. The music that each of these men played was a conversation shared between them. They knew what the others were saying, and I was in awe of that level of connection.
Wynton helps us understand jazz and what it is like to play it. It isn't a dry, academic text, but rather a story told by one of the top jazz artists of our time. He writes about the language of jazz, which I find fascinating, on the importance of the blues to the music and to life, and he tells stories about some of the jazz greats of the past.
Here's what he says about some of them.
Louis Armstrong
... the deepest human feeling and the highest musical sophistication.
... a celebration of the freedom to be yourself. He always knew and loved himself. He embraced the things he was most proud of, like his artistry ... Louis Armstrong never tried to be someone else. His playing is free of artifice. It's pure substance. ...
Louis Armstrong's sound has the power to heal. His playing is wisdom and forgiveness. ... That feeling's in all of Louis Armstrong's music, that warmth and familiarity and the feeling that whatever you say, he will understand it - and he will understand it from your point of view.
John Coltrane
'Trane is perseverance. His development demonstrates the unquestionable value of hard work and dogged persistence.
The fourth movement of the quartet's masterpiece, A Love Supreme, is a written prayer ... "He breathes through us so gently and yet so completely, " that to me, sums up what Coltrane was all about. He was a preacher, an exhorter. He wants to convert you through his horn. But for all his fire, he is never frantic, never rushing; he is always relaxed and certain. Something in his sound touches us with its depth and compassion, its sheer beauty - a loftiness. It's irresistible. He is so earnest you want to cry. People love Coltrane.
'Trane went out, far out into interstellar space. His discoveries were very personal. His music became pure energy. Many of his discoveries got lost in an abstract cosmos of expression and never found their way home. But Coltrane himself is remembered as a master saxophonist, a genius at integrating the music of other cultures, a hyper-harmonically-sophisticated bluesman and an earnest spiritual seeker. He was all those things and more.
Thelonius Monk
... had the sound of the church in his playing, and he had the spiritual inevitability that comes only to somebody who knows the depth of human soul. It made him at once wise and childlike, a rare combination in a full-grown man. Children don't usually sort through things to remove the painful truth. Monk gave you that kind of cut-to-the-bone honesty with the oversight of the genius.
He had another kind of virtuosity: getting notes to bend and creak and moan. His style was neither old-fashioned nor modern.
... he looked at things - from the opposite side. Somebody would ask him, "What's happening, Monk?" "Everything is happening all the time, man."
Wynton also writes about Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Holiday and Miles Davis, among others. Frequently, on his radio show, In the Swing Seat, on Sirius/XM radio, he talks about these shapers of the jazz art form. Part of his his greatest is his love and respect for these artists who came before him.
Wynton ends his book with an exploration for That Thing with No Name - human creativity.
The creativity of our fellow citizens is all around us - in their dress, language, lifestyle, in so many combinations of things. You don't have to earn your creativity - you're born with it. All you have to do is tend to it and unleash it. Every human being on earth is given the gift to create, and that creativity manifests itself in trillions of ways.There are no laws or rules. Creativity is unruly. Like a dream - you can't control what comes to you. You only control what portion you choose to tell.
This is the message of jazz to us average folk. We have something within us to share, create, and bring goodness to the world. You don't have to be a superstar performer to do this.
In the simplest and most essential context, creativity and innovation reiterate the importance of soul. They are, separately and together, an expansion of feeling and a supreme expression of our humanity. We have an artistic imperative to understand and reengage creativity and innovation, not merely as tools for economic growth but as tools for democracy and accomplished citizenship. We have a culture imperative to find common ground with even our firercest competitors ... and to play with integrity.
It is this larger perspective, not just the quality of his music, that makes Wynton Marsalis one of the great human beings of our time. He has received a lot of criticism for his outspoken celebration of the tradition of jazz. Without him, our world would be greatly empoverished culturally. He spends a lot of time helping children and young people learn to find their creative expression through jazz.
Moving to a Higher Ground is a manifesto about the importance of jazz to our world today. As a long time jazz listener, I very much agree, and celebrate this fine book. Just to complete this little tribute to him, here's a brief video of Wynton at the Harriet Tubman Charter School playing Buddy Bolden's Blues.
There are many different kinds of leadership books in the
marketplace. The most prevalent kind are books written by business school academics and
biographies of leaders. Each has their value, but for practicality, the
majority do not translate well into practice. Then there are books that are written by practitioners. This is what I found when I came across Andrew J. Harvey and Raymond E. Foster'sLeadership: Texas Hold'em Style (www.pokerleadership.com).
I've played poker a few times. I own a copy of The Cincinnati Kid. I've watched some expert players play. None of this qualifies me as an expert on poker. However, I do find it a fascinating game. So, when I saw that two former law enforcement officers had written a book on leadership from the perspective of poker, I was definitely intrigued.
The authors quote David Moschella near the beginning of the book.
Industry executives and analysts often mistakenly talk about strategy as if it were some kind of chess match. But in chess, you have just two opponents; each with identical resources, and with luck playing a minimal role. The real world is much more like a poker game, with multiple players trying to make the best of whatever hand fortune has dealt them. ..."
He is correct that leadership is like a poker game where the leader has to have the situational awareness to understand what is happening, and know how to respond so as to not squander his or her advantage.
Leadership Texas Hold'em Style is organized around 52 distinct leadership topics, each represented by one card in a standard card deck. The chapters are brief and are built around stories and illustrations of the principles described. This is not a book of theoretical reflection, though there is a lot of theory presented. Instead, it is a book where theories are described in a simple, clear manner.
Here's a sample of quotes where they use the metaphor of poker to explain aspects of leadership.
The poker table changes constantly. If you played every hand exactly the same, you are assured of losing. Your cards change, your bank change and even the people at the table can change. Indeed, not only is every hand different, every game is different. Each table you sit at is composed of players with different skills, different cards and different banks. Like a good leader, the poker player continually adapts to his or her environment and the situation.
...
Poker is fair because fairness is not about outcome, it is about process. Sometimes in poker you get a poor hand, but the process is fair; the cards are shuffled and dealt. Everyone understands the rules and has an equal chance of receiving cards that make a good hand. Poker is fair because everyone understands the rules, they have similar expectations and the rules are applied to all. If you think of fairness as an outcome, then something could only be fair from a particular point of view. In other words, what is fair to you would not necessarily be fair to others. However, if you look at fairness as a process, it becomes clear when something is fair or unfair. Fairness for the leader is about conformity with rules and standards, making impartial judgments based on objective information and treating people equally.
...
It is easy to see why no one would be loyal to the poker player. Between players, the mission at most tables is to defeat each other. But, not at all tables. Poker games fall into two categories - friendly and competitive. ... The social card game is an expression of loyalty among people.
It is easy to see that poker is an ideal metaphor for the human dimension of leadership. Every leader must be able to read people, understand how they react in adverse and advantageous circumstances, and know when to fight a battle or fold. After reading this book, I have a deeper appreciation for poker as a game, and a fresh understanding of the complex dynamics of leading.
This was brought home to me in a quote by poker champion Phil Hellmuth, Jr.
Poker is really about reading people. What happens when you bluff? What does it look like when the other guy bluffs? Does he look right, does he look left? Under what circumstances does he fold or call? Poker is about understanding human behavior and managing emotions - yours and the other guy's. That's huge in poker, and it's huge in business.
Leadership Texas Hold'em Style is an excellent introduction to leadership for the person who is not interested in leadership as an academic subject. Harvey and Foster have not dumbed down the theory to make it accessible to everyone. Instead, they illustrate leadership concepts in ways that provide a basis for team discussion and individual understanding. In particular, I recommend the book as an ideal guide to leadership for middle managers and supervisors who need help learning how to manage the human dimension of their role.
The authors have done their homework. Leadership Texas Hold'em Style fills a niche in the leadership literature field that is welcome addition for the practicing leader.
Our perception of things when we lack physical proximity is often determined by the media we consume. When we come face-to-face with the reality that our perceptions are wrong, and possibly destructive, we need to change the way we think, and what we expect. This truth I believe is at work in our American perceptions of Africa.
For many people in my generation (over 50 years old) our perception of Africa was first formed by watching Tarzan movies that were produced during the 1930s and 1940s. The notion of the noble savage became a staple of Western perception. Africa was a land of romance and adventure and Western colonialism. Today, our perception is far more determined by news accounts of war, poverty, famine and genocide. The one counter to this perception, at least for me, has come from hearing stories and having interaction with missionaries and African citizens who talk about their work and lives there. It is still a place of romance and adventure, but now, creating a place of hope and health with self-determination is the focus.
They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I took mine and fell flat of my face. As a young woman, I dreamed of changing the world. In my twenties, I went to Africa to try and save the continent, only to learn that Africans neither wanted nor needed saving. Indeed, when I was there, I saw some of the worst that good intentions, traditional charity, and aid can produce: failed programs that left people in the same or worse conditions. The devastating impact of the Rwandan genocide on a people I'd come to love shrank my dreams even further. I concluded that if I could only nudge the world a little bit, maybe that would be enough.
But nudging isn't enough. The gap between rich and poor is widening across the world, creating a dire situation that is neither socially just nor economically sustainable. Moreover, my work in Africa also taught me about the extraordinary resilience of people for whom poverty is a reality not because they don't work hard, but because there are too many obstacles in their way.
The Blue Sweater is a book of stories. To tell you one is to possibly miss the importance of the flow of ideas and impressions that build a perception about how to address poverty in the world. She writes early on her experience in Africa,
I finally understood: In order to contribute to Africa, I would have to know myself better and be clearer about my goals. I would have to be ready to take Africa on its own terms, not mine, and to learn my limits and present myself not as a do-gooder with a big heart, but as someone with something to give and gain by being there. Compassion wasn't enough.
I think that was the moment when humility in its truest form - rather than an easy but false humbleness - began to creep in. Until then, I'd been too vested in knowing the answers and in being right. For the first time in my life, being right had nothing to do with being successful or effective. I also began to be more honest about what was happening around me - I couldn't stand all talk without action, and too many expatriates and elite Africans seemed to revel in it. I wanted to work directly with poor women themselves.
The Blue Sweater is the story of her growing into this person. The stories are vivid and engaging. We understand because she is an excellent story teller. And she understands that her own transformation is part of the story, and can become our story.
Jaqueline Novogratz's story is also about the kind of leadership that is needed now in our time.
After more than 20 years of working in African, India, and Pakistan, I've learned that solutions to poverty must be driven by discipline, accountability, and market strength, not easy sentimentality. I've learned that many of the answers to poverty lie in the space between the market and charity and that what is needed most of all is moral leadership willing to build solutions from the perspectives of poor people themselves rather than imposing grand theories and plans upon them.
This is true for all people working in all organizations. Big ideas that are impractical and are not shared by the people who implement them are doomed to failure. Rather, what is needed is leadership that understands how to facilitate the process of idea creation within the context of relationship building. Only from this foundation can the appropriate organizational structures be created to facilitate their success. This is what Acumen and other groups are now doing in Africa and other parts of the world.
The organization that Jacqueline Novogratz created is the Acumen Fund. Here's a brief description of their mission.
Acumen Fund is a non-profit global venture fund that
uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global
poverty. We seek to prove that small amounts of philanthropic capital,
combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving
enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor. Our investments focus
on delivering affordable, critical goods and services – like health,
water, housing and energy – through innovative, market-oriented
approaches.
They call this "patient capital." It is so because it is built around quarterly reports, but the sustainability of small centers of commerce and change.
The Blue Sweater is a book about leadership, the kind that is needed today, and what will be known as 21st century leadership in the future.
The entrepreneurs who will help us create the future for all people are individuals who exist in every country on earth. ... They are the ones who see a problem and don't stop working on it until it is solved. They refuse petty ideologies and reject trite assumptions.They balance their passion for change with an ability to get things done. Mostly, they believe fundamentally in the inherent capacity of every human being to contribute.
At the same time, today's most effective leaders have a pragmatic bottom-line orientation that results in focusing on measuring what they accomplish, building institutions that can sustain themselves long after their founders are gone. They world will not change with inspiration alone; rather it requires systems, accountability, and clear measures of what works and what doesn't. Our most effective leaders, therefore, will strengthen their knowledge of how to build organizations while also having the vision and heart to help people imagine that change is possible in their lives.
Jacqueline Novogratz's story is one of perceptions. What we perceive becomes our reality. What is your perception? Are you open to having it challenged and radically altered? I hope so because if you let yourself be open to a different perception about charity, poverty, Africa, Asia and leadership, you may find your own life deeply enriched and impacted by her story. I highly encourage each of you to read her book and begin to imagine what you can do to encourage this kind of development.
Finally, here is Jacqueline speaking at the TED conference in 2007. It will give you a flavor for what you'll find in the book.
This video expresses how one can truly turn a passion (mine is surfing) into a viable business.
I think this video really hits a nerve because the freefall that I
experienced when I left Berlin and struck out on my own again is not
unlike what many are experiencing today in our economic disaster era
with the loss of stability connected to the loss of the status quo on
so many levels.
This shift is a time of opportunity.
One CAN create a business based on passion.
There's nothing to lose, really, if you think about it...
I am now free. Free no longer to be obligated to be complete, comprehensive and without inconsistencies. I am because Matt May has shown me how to live a more elegant life. To live free to let what is missing become what makes me and what I do more interesting, more valuable and ultimately, more elegant.
... the transformative idea that lies at the heart of elegance, and at the center of this book: what isn't there can often trump what is. ... the full power of elegance is achieved when the maximum impact is exacted with the minimum input.
The point of my quest is to answer a single question: What can we discover and learn that might allow us to bring more elegance into our own endeavors?
May describes this perspective through the examination of four aspects of elegance: symmetry, seduction, subtraction, and sustainability.
Seduction lures us into a fascination with an idea or a product by not telling us everything about it. Subtraction improves the quality, cost and speed of delivery to marketplace. And sustainability provides the possibility for lasting value.
It is the aspect of symmetry that I found the most "seductive(?)." After exploring both the art and the science of symmetry, he presents three points that I find provocative.
The first is that symmetry appears in nature.
...symmetry is a fundamental property woven into the fabric of the universe ... What's challenging is that symmetry isn't always readily observable, we don't always know what to look for, and we have a tendency to look at individual part of things, rather than at larger patterns. So we are fooled into thinking we must create symmetry ourselves, usually going straight at the organizational characteristic itself rather than patiently looking for the underlying simplicity that is already in existence. Ever chasing the new idea, we apply our technological prowess to situations when, if we were instead to stop, observe, and think - to stop doing, if only long enough to discern a repetitive pattern - we might be surprised to see that the answer lie just below the surface of what appears to be out of control. You don't need to design what already exists just because you don't immediately recognize its presence. In other words, the challenge or problem we're trying to solve might not always need our help. And if it doesn, understanding the power of symmetry allow us to design better, more elegant solutions.
The second point is illustrated by what is known as the Montana Paradox. In 1995, Montana established "reasonable and prudent" as the standard for highway speeds. Highway fatalities dropped to pre-1975 levels. In 2000, speed limits were reset to comply with the national standards, and high way deaths rose 111%.
What the Montana Paradox reinforces is that by attempting to control what may already be in balance, we can inadvertantly tip things the other way. In the rush to create order and organization, we often get the exact opposite of the intended desired effect. ... Elegance might best be achieved not by demanding compliance to an exhaustive set of centrally mandated, onerously rigid regulations, but from one or two vital agreements, often implicity, that everyone understands and is accountable for, yet that are left open to individual interpretation and variation, the limits of what are set by social context.
The counterintuitive dynamic at work is this: the more we try to control and regulate our risk, the more exposed and at risk we are, because the more protected from hazards we think we are, the less conscious of potential dangers we become. We actually disengage our brains and disconnect from what's happening around us. This can be disastrous.
See there is a pattern emerging here. There is a symmetry and order i the universe that we must discover and adapt to, rather than try to control. If this isn't obvious, his third point makes it more clear.
It seems safe to say that when you remove certainty and predictability, engagement and awareness rise. The concept of shared space makes that clear. The less stated something is, the more powerful it becomes. Uncertainty and ambiguity can create intrigue, which makes us slow down and think. We don't immediately see the symmetry and order we so desperately seek and that transfixes our attention, draws us in.
Matt May's notion of elegance provides us a fresh way of looking at what we've always seen before us, and yet don't see completely. We don't see the big picture because it is easier to act and add to, and control, and never stop. To discover elegance is to discover freedom to be genuinely creative, rather than simply productive.
I see ways to apply his perspective already in my own work. In Pursuit of Elegance is a book that I will return to often as a reminder of what I know to be true, but continually need to nudge to recall. To see what is missing is to grasp the elegance that elevates our perception of the world around us.
You can find a free downloadable ChangeThis manifesto by Matt May entitled Creative Elegance that accompanies the publication of In Pursuit of Elegance.
In Addition:
Bob Sutton offers a sterling recommendation for Matt's book. He closes with these words.
... This morning, as I started reading it again, I am having trouble
putting it down again because Matt does such a great job of providing a
new way of looking at everyday things in life, and making them better.
To me, that is the best thing that any book can accomplish -- to
change the way we think about and travel through life, and to send us
down new paths that help us see opportunities and make choices that are
better for ourselves and others.
Since reading the book and writing my review, the ideas that Matt presents have increasingly helped me to see what I've been working on for the past ten years in a new light. I hope it will do the same for each of you.
Answer: Something is elegant if it is two things at
once: unusually simple and surprisingly powerful. One without the other
leaves you short of elegant. And sometimes the “unusual simplicity”
isn’t about what’s there, it’s about what isn’t. At first glance,
elegant things seem to be missing something.
Twenty five years ago, I became fascinated with the field of leadership. Through the experiences I was having, I saw a set of principles and behaviors that are open to everyone. As I began to study and reflect on this phenomenon, I came to the realization that the prevailing notion of leadership was not what I saw it to be. Instead of it being a way for anyone to perform in the role that they have, it was a role that was limited to those at the top of the hierarchies of organizations. It was the triumph of the institution over the individual.
Since then, many fine books have been written about leadership that more accurately describes my first intuition about leading. Each in their own way pays obeisance to the institutional structures that essentially limit the advance of leadership in organizations. At least until now.
I've been reading Seth Godin's marketing books and blog for a long time. What he presents to me, a non-professional marketer, makes sense. I've sought to apply his ideas in my business, and will continue to do so with great benefit. Last year, Seth published a book that marks a shift in the presentation of his ideas. While his other books are certainly books that leaders can benefit from reading, his latest, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us, is his first book that is truly a leadership book.
Let me say upfront that this is the first leadership book in twenty five years of reading them that accurately describes what I see leadership being. From my vantage point, it is the best book on leadership written this century. I'm not waxing hyperbolic. I'm serious in believing that this could be the most important book on leadership you'll read throughout the rest of your professional career. It is so because how you function in your role, wherever you are, can be transformed by applying the lessons Seth offers in his book. Listen to what he has to say.
“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate."
"Tribes are about faith – about belief in an idea and in a community. And they are grounded in respect and admiration for the leader of the tribe and for the other members as well. Do you believe in what you do? Every day? It turns out that belief happens to be a brilliant strategy.”
“… it only takes two things to turn a group of people into a tribe: · A shared interest · A way to communicate The communication can be one of four kinds: · Leader to tribe · Tribe to leader · Tribe member to tribe member · Tribe member to outsider So a leader can help increase the effectiveness of the tribe and its members by · Transforming the shared interest into a passionate goal and desire for change; · Providing tools to allow members to tighten their communications; and · Leveraging the tribe to allow it to grow and gain new members.”
Can you see how this philosophy of leadership can be applied to every job that exists?
Okay, here's the hidden truth about leadership embedded in Seth's book. Leadership is about who we are as people and how we want to live. It isn't primarily about the role that we are to play within an organizational structure. It is about the person we want to be and the legacy we want to leave when our time is over. Listen to what Seth gives as the Elements of Leadership.
"Leaders challenge the status quo. Leaders create a culture around their goal and involve others in that culture. Leaders have an extraordinary amount of curiosity about the world they're trying to change. Leaders use charisma (in a variety of forms) to attract and motivate followers. Leaders communicate their vision of the future. Leaders commit to a vision and make decisions based on that commitment. Leaders connect their followers to one another. ... If you consider the leaders in your organization or community, you'll see that every one of them uses some combination of these seven elements. You don't have to be in charge or powerful or pretty or connected to be a leader. You do have to be committed."
Leadership is first and foremost about the person we are in relationship with others. It is secondarily the mechanics of leading within organizational structures.
The greatest hurdle every organizational leader has to cross is convincing the rest of the people in the organization to lead. The second hurdle that is parallel in importance is how to create an organizational structure that allows leadership to grow and spread.
Until now, the leadership literature has been an obstacle to fostering a culture of leadership in organizations. Wise CEO's will put this book into the hands of every single employee and tell them go lead. They will fund training that is focused on developing leadership in the lower half of their organizational hierarchy. They will challenge the status quo by turning their business into a leadership machine. CEO's can do it, but it requires them to first absorb Seth's philosophy of leadership into their own personal leadership DNA.
Ten years ago, after 15 years of "studying" leadership, while on horseback in the mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, I heard a voice tell me, "It is time to stop talking about leadership, and lead." The opportunities to lead have been many since then. I wish I would have had Seth's book ten years ago. It would have been helpful as I began to learn to lead as a whole person, not simply as an idea monger.
The same can happen to you. All it takes is a commitment to build a following around an idea that matters, and the willingness to let people lead from their own passionate commitment to the idea that you share.
Go ahead. Stop thinking about it. Lead. We'll follow.
After I wrote the above, Seth's TED talk on Tribes was released. Here it is.
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