{"id":3358,"date":"2014-11-21T00:05:46","date_gmt":"2014-11-21T00:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=3358"},"modified":"2014-11-21T00:05:46","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T00:05:46","slug":"returning-to-where-we-all-began","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/returning-to-where-we-all-began\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning To Where We All Began"},"content":{"rendered":"

My dear cohort mates. You will be surprised as to where I find myself this Thursday evening desperately attempting to type up this blog post on Open Leadership<\/em>. We have been in Ireland over the weekend and since Tuesday, in Wales truly enjoying ourselves at Willy and Liz\u2019s home. We have been given the keys to both the car and the home as they flew out to Dubai. Learning to drive on the opposite side of the road has truly been a great motivation for new levels of prayer for both Michelle and I. But where am I tonight?<\/p>\n

I am sitting in room 213 at the Lancaster YMCA hotel in London Bayswater district a short walk from the Paddington train station. Yes, the same place we all met each other a little over a year ago. Stay with me as it will end up dealing with this week\u2019s topic of open leadership. I recently acquired a relationship with Airbnb.com. An online site that you can find private individuals who are renting beds out of their home for guest to stay a night, a week, or even months at a time. What a great thought! Save some money, meet new people, and get fed! What a deal. \u201cSo,\u201d I say to the wife, \u201clet\u2019s give it a go and find a great place in London for the one night we will be there.\u201d Eager to play along my wife agreed to give it a go.<\/p>\n

The idea behind this is that an individual can list their room on the Airbnb.com site and then someone, like me, can find it and book it for the time I need to have a room. Michelle and I attempted to book a bed and breakfast with someone by the name of Victor who has placed his lovely apartment up for \u201crenting\u201d to those desiring to visit London. With this new age of social media Victor can place his apartment up for viewing and I can chose it as one among many options. Though his place was lovely and agreeable to the misses, I chose poorly. Victor delayed in replying with a confirmation. Without internet access on the train from Liz\u2019s home in Wales we arrived at Paddington train station without confirmation as to whether or not Victor\u2019s place was available. His \u201copenness\u201d to social reviews about his place reveled nothing but positive remarks. His ratings were high and his time of response always quick. With such high remarks and a great price we waited, a little too long we waited. Unfortunately, 26 hours later we realized that Victor had failed us. Attempting several other options in the Paddington train station, with limited Wi-Fi also fell through. But I remembered the Lancaster YMCA. So my friends, this is how my loving bride Michelle and I have come to experience the same accommodations that each of you partook in last September when this doctoral work of yours all began.<\/p>\n

How does all this fit with Open Leadership<\/em> by Charlene Li? I am glad you asked. You see, we are living in a new age of not just technology but of relationship as Li notes.[1]<\/a> No longer can someone like Victor escape the dissatisfaction experienced by potential customers expecting responses. No, my friends, in today\u2019s connected world where doing business is now synonymous with meaningful relationships, and marketing and communication is all about being open to the full expression of customer\u2019s concern, there is going to be amplification of communication through the new dialog of this technological matrix.[2]<\/a> Victor\u2019s lack of fulfillment will be noted and will be expressed on his \u201copen\u201d site that all will read. His ratings will reflect the grief that he inflicted on this innocent traveling couple who just needed a place to lay their tired little heads tonight. Wrath shall be swift and direct as the open mic is implored by this weary traveler and his bedraggled wife.[3]<\/a> Victor will have to prove, with a greater resolve, that he does in fact have the intangibles of integrity, honesty, fairness, and respect for people that leaders of their own business\/apartments to rent, must have in order to be in the position they aspire to attain.[4]<\/a> Unlike Zappos, who offer their new trainees $2,000.00 plus their payment during their training to quite after their training, Airbnb.com does no such thing.[5]<\/a> Thus, scoundrels like Victor can easily slip through the cracks and are allowed to list their homes to unsuspected victims like ourselves. Some companies will allow anyone in.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s desire for openness by both those inside and outside the organization[6]<\/a> I can actually make a difference to the way Airbnb.com handles such people of ill repute like the Victors out there. I can help the leadership of this organization to change the current policies that will not allow such treatment of potential customers. The key will be whether or not the leadership of Airbnb.com will allow the release of control in order to succeed in today\u2019s culture of sharing and relational guided customer care. For indeed this is the definition of an open leader, one \u201chaving the confidence and humility to give up the need to be in control while inspiring commitment from people to accomplish goals.\u201d[7]<\/a> Will Airbnb.com be an open organization with an open leadership that will hear from one of its customers? This is yet to be seen. For tonight I am in the Lancaster hotel reminiscing of our time together and making new memories with my lovely bride. Good night from London!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Charlene Li, Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead<\/em> (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010), 189.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 64.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 31.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 190.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid., 205.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid., 23.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid., 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My dear cohort mates. You will be surprised as to where I find myself this Thursday evening desperately attempting to type up this blog post on Open Leadership. We have been in Ireland over the weekend and since Tuesday, in Wales truly enjoying ourselves at Willy and Liz\u2019s home. We have been given the keys […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[220],"class_list":["post-3358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-li","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3359,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3358\/revisions\/3359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}