\u201cLiquid Modernity.\u201d\u00a0 That phrase by Zygmunt Bauman is emblazoned in my mind as, perhaps, the most spot-on accurate description of the world in which we all now live and lead.\u00a0 Fluid, ever-changing, morphing, these are words I find myself using a lot when helping leaders understand the nature of the world surrounding their organization, the world in which their enterprise is seeking to make an impact.\u00a0 One question that continues to frame my conversations with leaders is: \u201cWhat type of organization will thrive and make an impact in the strangeness of this cultural landscape?\u00a0 Who will persist and be remembered as change-makers beyond their own generation?\u201d\u00a0 I guess that\u2019s actually two questions, but you get the point(s)\u2026\u00a0 What kind of organization should we be striving for?<\/p>\n
Brafman and Beckstrom say an organizationally \u201cflat,\u201d \u201cleaderless\u201d enterprise, organized by \u201ccatalysts\u201d more so than autocrats is powerful.1 \u00a0Guys like Maxwell and Covey would probably say that the fate of an organization is held primarily in the hands of its pinnacle-located leader (what Denning refers to as the \u201clook-up-and-yell-down\u201d style of leadership).2 \u00a0It seems that Charlene Li would contend for a middle ground, one where there are clearly recognized leaders but those leaders make it their goal to create open, collaborative space where information flows multi-directionally.\u00a0 It is hard to argue against such an organization when we assess the realities of the world in which we live.<\/p>\n
To say things move quickly now is akin to saying that the Grand Canyon is a little hole out there in the desert.\u00a0 I had a funny conversation with a high schooler Tuesday night at the coffee shop.\u00a0 They were finding us for the first time due to the one-act play we were hosting on behalf of the High School drama club.\u00a0 I was pointing out that they could \u201cfind us on Facebook\u201d and keep up with the latest happenings and menu changes\u2026 blah blah blah\u2026 when he looked a bit perplexed.\u00a0 It was in that moment that I realized all of the hours of engagement and effort to build a loyal Facebook following was only hitting the 30-something and older crowd.\u00a0 A few youngsters (mostly out of pity for me) are a part of our FB community but when I said to the young man \u201cI guess we have to find our way onto Instagram and Twitter for you to keep up with us, huh?\u201d\u00a0 He said \u201cyeah but we\u2019ll probably move off of those as soon as you folks (his nice way of saying \u201cold people\u201d) get there.\u201d\u00a0 This reality is further highlighted by the fact that Charlene Li\u2019s own bio page on altimetergroup.com<\/a> is celebrating that \u201c[h]er next book \u201cThe Engaged Leader<\/a>\u201d will publish<\/i><\/b> in March 2015 (See http:\/\/www.altimetergroup.com\/about-us\/our-company\/our-team\/charlene-li\/<\/a>).\u201d \u00a0Ummm\u2026 What month is it?<\/p>\n it seems to me that an orientation towards openness is the only way that a leader can hope to be effective in this current climate where change is the only constant.\u00a0 I, for one, am not trying to \u201cget a handle\u201d on things any more, not trying to get the system down\u2026\u00a0 I\u2019m just trying to be open.\u00a0 Open in my conversations; open in my questions; open in my doubts, open to new ideas that might seem nuts; open to those who I am leading\u2026\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried autocratic, it stresses me out.\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried flat\/leaderless, it results in a whole lot of nothing getting done.\u00a0 I think Open is better\u2026\u00a0 AND I need to go update my website<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cLiquid Modernity.\u201d\u00a0 That phrase by Zygmunt Bauman is emblazoned in my mind as, perhaps, the most spot-on accurate description of the world in which we all now live and lead.\u00a0 Fluid, ever-changing, morphing, these are words I find myself using a lot when helping leaders understand the nature of the world surrounding their organization, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"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":[475,220],"class_list":["post-6138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lgp5-2","tag-li","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6138","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\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6139,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6138\/revisions\/6139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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