Igniting the Invisible Tribe

I’m privileged to have one of the very first, hot off the press, copies of Josh Allan Dkystra’s new book, Igniting the Invisible Tribe. It is about a new way of business and work for the 21^st Century.  It’s a fabulous, must read book on how the world of ‘work’ can, and should, evolve and what we can do, with practical real questions to answer, to make that happen.  4 things are particularly remarkable to me in the book:

1. The book itself – the physical book
2. Unusual and powerful analogies
3. New Rules
4. Tools

The Book.  Josh’s new book is one of the reasons I think e-books are great, but will not replace the real thing.  The “architecture” of the book drives its message home by its design, flow, breaks, artwork, phrasing, spacing, footnoting style, even the texture of the cover.  It’s not a typical business book and I found myself not only enjoying the “what” of the book but the overall experience of reading the physical book itself.  This greatly enhances the book’s message and importance – it makes the need for changing how and why we work in the 21^st Century more palpable and real.

Analogies: I love analogies so perhaps I’m a bit more critical of the usual mundane analogies that get used to portray the need for change in the 21^st Century.  Josh’s analogies capture the essence of the shift that is underway and needs to be increased in speed and depth:

• Revolution as a complete cycle – e.g., a trip around the sun.  If you think of it in these terms, it’s a natural progression of cycles, creating and breaking traditions and evolving beyond the status quo – it’s a revolution that is also a revolution – and if we stop, and don’t complete the revolution, we are indeed stuck in the status quo.
• Mosaics – the need for the pieces to make the whole, the different ways you see it from up close to farther away – the various perspectives you get when you look at it from different angles and depths highlighting the fact we see it from our own individual and collective perspectives make a mosaic a perfect symbol.  We need every piece of the mosaic to make it whole and complete – no piece, regardless of size, shape, color, pattern is less significant or needed.  This is especially important, and frankly poignant, in Rule 3 (see below).

Rules:  Josh has 5 rules for the new world of business,

• Rule 1: Start with Why – rarely do we question why we do things (makes me think of us as sheep – just following the shepherd blindly).  Why do we work? To make money – why? To buy the things we need and want.  Fundamentally, we should be working because it “is valuable to us and valuable to society.”  If we feel our work is valuable, it will energize us and fill us up instead of sucking the life out of us.  Stop and think – would the world miss your company if it weren’t around?
• Rule 2: Build a Mosaic – we have spent the last century breaking things down into micro-level parts – like atoms, neutrons, etc.  This isn’t bad as long as you can still see the whole – but we haven’t.  The reason for many of our ‘wicked problems’ today is that we’ve focused on the micro instead of the macro – we’ve lost sight of the big picture.  The pieces have owners but who owns the whole?  The new economy’s value is in the mosaic – in seeing how the pieces connect and interact.  It’s in the blending of the science of deconstruction (or destruction?) with the art of recombination – what I call innovation.  It’s an AND, not a false dichotomy of either/or.
• Rule 3: Dignify the Detail Doers: Respect and Dignity pretty much sum up how we should treat people no matter what.  Let’s face it, we may be friendly to janitors but do we really view them as equals? As ‘as good as’ us? What about people who are very different from us? They are ‘interesting’ – but, nah, not ‘as good as’ us.  Each person is a potential collaborator and a human being – maybe it’s time we started to view him or her accordingly.
• Rule 4: Make like a Shark and Swim – this rule really hit me.  We are all in businesses where the market or customer segments we serve are changing all the time.  So how is it that we haven’t thought to change how we are structured to align ourselves with these markets and customers? Amazing when you stop and think about it, isn’t it?  Josh uses the example of a book – we don’t re-read a page, we read the next one and next one.  But for some reason, we’ve kept on the same page in business.  The fact is, humans resist change so organizations do too.  And because of that, they not only resist, they aren’t organized to absorb and adapt to change.  Guess what? The Gen-Y & Z’ers expect change – it’s all they’ve ever known.  We better get with it or they’ll never share their talent with us.  Life and work and business are an eternal experiment – we have our hypotheses, we test them, learn, apply and iterate, if we are successful.  Otherwise we die.  That’s the theme of the Lean Startup movement as well.  So see, the Scientific Method still applies.
• Rule 5: Be Connected, Human and Meaningful – as a Network-o-Phile, I love this rule.  We need to connect to others inside and outside our organizations – at all levels – with our partners, suppliers, customers, their customers etc.  And we need to be human – not super-human, not artificial, but genuine and authentic.  Bill Taylor challenged us to be more human in his BIF8 talk this past September.  And finally, work has to have meaning – it must benefit someone in some way at some point instead of merely be a means of making money - even if you are ‘just’ the janitor.  Josh’s discussion of giving our discretionary time to our organization reminded me of Dan Pink’s “non-commissioned work” BIF7 talk – that for 2 physicists led to a Nobel Prize.

Tools: Josh concludes the book by providing 6 tools to help us create the new world of ‘work’.  Again, a few of them were significant for me:

• Architects & Builders: instead of leaders and followers, which imply hierarchy, power, authority and subservience, what if we called people architects (designers, ‘big thinkers’ etc.) and builders (makers, doers)?  We need both – equally – and using this language starts making the inherent need for human and customer-centered design front and center.  It applies to virtual and physical, it lifts both up to their true value without diminishing their roles.  I love this!  The change in language is so very powerful, symbolic and visual
• G-d is in the Details:  A parody on the Devil is in the Details to stress the positive side of details – we need people who worry about details, they matter.  Even little ones can make a huge difference in an organization’s culture and environment – just think of what you are saying when you have to put a code into the copy machine? When you have parking spaces reserved for the C-suite?  And imagine if you had people who worried about making it easier for you to do your job? Amazing, huh?  One of the huge ‘ahas’ for me in this tool is the natural vs. ‘forced’ shift to focus on leading indicators instead of trailing indicators.
• The Pyramid vs. The Bridge:  This image was visceral for me.  The pyramid is a great work – created by a dictator (Pharaoh) and executed by slaves.  Talk about command-and-control!  It’s pretty much up and down.  A bridge on the other hand provides more flexibility in terms of design – there are many ways to design and build a bridge.  It spans different locations, cultures, organizations, encourages Random Collisions of Unusual Suspects (RCUS), and relies on all parts contributing to the integrity of the bridge.  It’s a place to bring people, ideas, solutions together, collaboratively.
• Drawing Better Lines: All the lines we’ve drawn have been linear, predictable and clear.  No more.  We’ve measured outputs – like revenue and profit, not outcomes – like “customer WOW”.  Josh points out that our organization’s budgets reflect our organization’s values and morals (just like our calendars and checkbooks reflect our personal values).  We need to draw the lines so they encourage value creation – at individual and organizational levels.  This is far far from trivial.
• Fewer Armies, More Orchestras: Josh proposes a new type of organizational structure that can quickly adapt to and leverage change, led by a conductor, just like one for an orchestra, who conducts the Builders and the Architects.  Imagine the music that could be made!  Have you noticed, when you’re at a concert, you’re usually not (or shouldn’t be) doing anything else but listening, and if you enjoy that music, you’re enthralled with and in it? What if your organization could make that same kind of ‘music’ for your customers? What if they were enthralled – Wowed – with and in it? Big difference huh?

Well, I didn’t mean to go on quite so long in this book review, but I couldn’t help myself.  This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time – on many levels.  It’s a simple and profound read – one that should hopefully encourage you to look at your own organization and see how you can make “work not suck.”  Think you can? You’ll never know if you don’t try.

Respect, Power & Knowledge

In watching the debate, if it can be called that, last night, 3 things hit me – Respect (or lack thereof), Power (or illusion of) and Knowledge (or lack thereof).

Respect & Civility:  Throughout the presidential, vice presidential and even the Ohio senate race debates, the candidates have shown little to no respect for each other, for the moderator and for the audience.  They talk over each other, ignore time limits, and answer the question they wish had been asked instead of the one that was asked.  Where has common decent civility gone? The abject rudeness and disregard for another’s opinion and time is horrendous.  If we want this behavior to change, it has to change with us first.  So…

What are we like in our own organization? How do we really treat each other, not how do we think we treat each other?  At your next conversation or meeting, observe your behavior and those with whom you interacting.  Try asking yourself:

• Am I really listening to what the others have to say or am I preparing my response as they talk (the ‘pre-emptive’ strike)?
• Did I show up on time (e.g., a few minutes early) and what does that say about how I view the others’ time, hence worthiness and importance?
• What tone of voice am I using? Do I undermine what I say by how I say it?
• If my kids behaved like me, what would I do?

Power:  Obama and Romney talk about what they are going to do, without many specifics, as if it were all in their control.  They are going to reduce the deficit, change the budget, cut taxes, increase taxes, send aid, change trade treaties, etc. etc.  Last night, my 15 & 12 year old children asked me how the candidates can say all that when they don’t have the power to do it – when it’s really congress’s power to set the budget, legislate, ratify treaties etc.   While the president can influence these decisions, in essence, he is  ‘powerless’ given the constitution (which demonstrates the power of influence).   This is why our votes for the House and Senate are so critical.  Many of us have confused the roles and responsibilities of the executive, legislative and judicial branches – and so have those in those branches!  So…

In your organization, take a look and see if you’ve given those with the responsibility the actual power and authority to be responsible.   Have you empowered teams to actually accomplish their objectives? Do you hold people accountable for things they cannot control or direct? When you give someone the “power” without the tools and teams to make it real, frustration and anxiety increase which decreases morale, productivity and of course passion.  Would you want to be in that position?

Knowledge:  It’s virtually impossible to sift the fact from fiction between the candidates and facts can be in the eye of the beholder - context matters.  Few U.S. citizens do as much due diligence into the candidates they vote for as they do into the new TV, smartphone or car they will buy.  Part of this has to do with lack of interest, lack of understanding of the ramifications, and lack of education – and I don’t mean K-12 or college.  I mean lack of true education of what it means to be a citizen of the U.S.A. and our responsibility to maintain our freedom.  Thomas Jefferson wisely stated, “An educated citizenry is a vital request for our survival as a free people.”  We risk losing our freedom by abdicating our role to the politicians to decide for us.  So…

In your organization, do you provide, educate, train, and teach your people the knowledge they need to really do their job? To understand and embrace the mission and purpose? To identify with your customers’ issues and challenges that you are trying to solve? Do you view them as “career-long learners” who want and need continuing education on matters directly and indirectly relevant to their responsibilities, now and in the future?  Do you have an educated ‘citizenry’ of employees who can do their jobs and delight your customers excellently?

Let me challenge you this election season to not only go vote – our duty and our incredible right - but to look at your organization and assess how you are doing in supporting and encouraging it’s Respect, Power and Knowledge.  Be grateful for our rare and incredible freedom – and give that to your people as well.

Why Mentoring Matters

I'm posting these comments for you to see how fabulous our Gen-Y'ers are (not to be boastful or bragging, I'm just honored to be able to meet these kids). Their ability to listen, distill, discern, learn, apply and share are way beyond what ours were at their age, let alone 10, 20, 30 years older. We need to listen, distill, discern, learn, apply and share their wisdom with the rest of the world.  As my friend Carmen Medina has said, "Optimism is the greatest act of rebellion." Please, get to know Gen-Y kids, share with them, encourage them - the joy you will receive is overwhelming.  They are our future!

From: Sabrina Yu (Jing-Wen)
Subject: Thank you once again for meeting us last Monday!
Date: 23September, 2012 2:19:28 PM EDT
To: Deborah Mills-Scofield <deborah_mills-scofield@brown.edu>

Hello Deb,

The EP [Entrepreneur Program] leaders would like to thank you again for speaking to us at Ben and Jerry's. We also have something to say to you.

Sabrina: ""Dear Deb, I am always inspired when I talk to you or read your blog posts. Thank you for encouraging us and providing great insights!"

Elizabeth: "Deb - you are wonderful and we are so grateful to have your time - thanks for inspiring us and encouraging us to think about important things. You are a tremendous role model, thanks again!"

Ashley: "To be entrepreneurial is to be creative--thank you for reinforcing that Deb!"

Max: "Thank you so much for coming by and chatting with us. I loved the emphasis you placed on "doing" and "creating," and hope to create an outlet on campus for students to experiment with easy prototypes from the MAKE Magazine collection. Brown is a place of opportunity for the initiated, and after listening to you, I am very energized to spread the spark. Warm regards,"

Alex: "Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us. Your observation that a business serves as a vehicle for learning resonated with me. A personal goal is to give as many students as possible the opportunity catch, and learn from, the entrepreneurship bug. Brown students love to create change, entrepreneurship is the perfect platform. Regards,"

Joseph: "Dear Deb, Thank you for giving EP members an opportunity to hear you speak. I personally enjoyed listening to you talk about the time-tested wisdoms and values of entrepreneurship. I am trying to start a business and your words were invaluable. I hope to see you again in the future. Best regards,"

Sabrina Yu 
Brown University, Class of 2015