tp/0905.2007

Why Else Get Out of Bed in the Morning?
Organizations exist to serve. Period.
Leaders live to serve. Period.
Passionate servant leaders, determined to create a legacy of earthshaking
transformation in their domain (a 600SF retail space, a 4-person training
department, an urban school, a rural school, a city, a nation), create/must
necessarily create organizations which are no less than Cathedrals in which the full
and awesome power of the Imagination and Spirit and native Entrepreneurial flair
(We are all entrepreneurs–Muhammad Yunus) of diverse individuals (100%
creative Talent–from checkout to lab, from Apple to Wegmans to Jane's one-
person accountancy in Invercargill NZ) is unleashed in passionate pursuit of jointly
perceived soaring purpose (= win a Nobel peace prize like Yunus, or at least do
something worthy of bragging about 25 years from now to your grandkids) and
personal and client service Excellence.
Such Talent unbound pursue Quests–rapidly and relentlessly experimenting and
failing and trying again–which surprise and surpass and redefine the expectations
of the individual and the servant leader alike. The collective "products" of these
Quests offer the best chance of achieving rapid organizational and individual
adaptation to fast-transforming environments and provide the nutrition for
continuing (and sometimes dramatic) re-imaginings, which re-draw the boundaries
of industries and communities and human achievement and the very conception of
what is possible.
In turn, such organizations, bent upon excellence and re-imaginings based on
maximizing human creativity and achievement, will automatically create cadres of
imaginative and inspiring and determined servant leaders who stick around to take
the organization to another level, and then another–or, equally or more important,
leave to spread the virus of Freedom-Creativity-Excellence-Transforming Purpose
by pathfinding new streets, highways, and alleyways which vitalize and revitalize,
through creative destruction, Entrepreneurial Capitalism, which is the best hope for
maximizing collective human Freedom, Happiness, Prosperity, Well-being–and,
one prays, some measure of Peace on earth.
"Radically thrilling"–BMW's aspiration for a new model car
"Insanely great"–Steve Jobs' aspiration for each Apple product
"Gaspworthy"–Tom Peters' aspiration for every project
1The greatest danger
for most of us
is not that our aim is
too high
and we miss it,
but that it is
too low
and we reach it.
Michelangelo
2An Immutable Chain of Logic?
Purposefully constructed organizations are the vehicle for (virtually) all human
endeavor. Yes? No?
The majority of humans, including children, spend the largest share of their waking
hours in organizations. Yes? No?
It necessarily follows that organizations are the vehicle for and arena in which
virtually all non-family fulfillment (or not) takes place. Yes? No?
It necessarily follows from the above that there is an enormous pressure placed on
leaders to maximize the potential of their employees-members, to teach them
concrete skills, a love(!) of change, the joy of commitment to Excellence, and social-
political skills needed everywhere for success–either as longterm members of their
own organization or as "marketable" members of the workforce at large. Yes? No?
The good news: It necessarily follows from the above that the enterprise that
maximizes human potential dramatically increases the odds of engaging and
surprising and satisfying customers and other community members. Yes? No?
(And those organizations, well-intended as they may be, that fail to engage
customers in fact provide usurpers or others the opportunity to flourish and benefit
from the services of an exceptionally talented labor pool.)
The good news: It necessarily follows from all the above that an "economy" per se
maximizes its potential by maximizing the share of organizations that are acting as
stated above. Yes? No?
All of the above is a delightful and important example of a virtuous circle. (Think
Silicon Valley, 1970-2007; Bangalore 1995-2007; Singapore 1980-2007.)
3Addendum: An Immutable Chain of Logic?
Research demonstrates that the best investment in "foreign aid" is investment in the
education of women–primarily because women in turn are the most committed to
the development of children and educated-humane-productive communities.
Women are often the recipients of 90% of micro-loans in microlending programs
such as those of the Grameen Bank (Muhammad Yunus). This figure was not an
aim, but the result of women's demonstrated reliability and utilization of said loans
to support community development.
Women are the font of human development–and tend to foster environments more
amenable to human development in the organizations they lead.
To achieve the aims enumerated in the previous analysis, it follows that wholesale
participation of women in managerial and executive capacity is a cornerstone for
populations of effective organizations which maximize the development of human
potential.
4"Get Real": Isn't the Above Utopian Drivel?
On the one hand, of course it's utopian.
The horrors reported on the front page of every day's paper suggest that the world-
as-a-collection-of-mutually-supportive-organizations-that-maximize-human-
potential is pie-in-the-sky. And the idea that one–and all–would rise to join such
organizations, if they were the norm, and commit to growth and excellence is
another pie in that same sky.
Skies with pies are unlikely. All is not well in the world–nor is all likely to be well
in the world.
On the other hand, no, not utopian.
First, the fact that horrors abound is no excuse for failing to aspire to make one's
own organization a cathedral to human growth and excellence. Moreover, I mean
the Cub Scout troop, the 3-person project team in Novosibirsk, Siberia, the
Community Center Board of Directors, the large corporation and the governmental
bureau–that is, each and every organizational entity.
The same holds for the individual. While one may indeed be ensconced in a truly
wretched organization, that does not preclude making one's small corner a beacon
of light ("pocket of Excellence" was the term Nancy Austin and I used in A Passion
for Excellence). Moreover, given the volatility of employment for one and almost all
these days, Emersonian self-reliance and Franklinian devotion to personal
improvement is simply necessary.
Second, better is better than nothing. Poverty abounds in China and India. Political
repression is still the official doctrine in China. And yet who would deny that both
nations' embrace of global entrepreneurial capitalism, and hence the emergence of
the sorts of organizations more or less described above that are necessary to
compete in such an arena, has improved the lot of hundreds of millions of people in
a surprisingly short period of time? And not only the economic-financial standard
of living for those participating individuals, but also opportunities to use more of
one's creative talents courtesy of increased investments in the likes of education
(e.g., China's new 100,000-student universities), training in general and research
and development. (NB: The utterly wretched life on the first farms, tens of
thousands of years ago, was Utopia–and source of the term "civilization" and the
5basis for organized learning–compared to the far more wretched lives of the tiny
hunter-gatherer bands that had been the only form of "organized" life before.)
Repeat: Second, better is better than nothing. From Nigeria to Newark to New York
Nagano, it can be argued that the Greatest Social Good derives from the creation of
reasonably stable jobs. Hence, organizations that create the most-best-decent jobs
are the vehicles of creating the most social good. Hence organizations that do the
best job of approximating the "utopian ideal" described above enhance Social Good
as much as possible at any point in time.
Third, there is nothing "utopian" about the impact of women leaders on
organizations–unless it is utopian to hope that men who dominate most systems of
leadership will awaken to and accept this fact.
Fourth, while I imagine organizations that individually and collectively maximize
human creative potential, that in no way implies support for a "soft" or "touchy
feely" environment. To the contrary! There is arguably nothing "tougher" than an
organization committed to excellence and maximizing human creative potential.
th
This is true in a 7 grade classroom, in a Girl Scout troop, or on an Apple project
team. In pursuit of growth and excellence, wholesale commitment of every
member–from "bit player" to "star"–is requisite. Self-responsibility as well as
responsibility for the development of one's mates is requisite. Accountability for
growth and execution is requisite. Truthtelling is requisite. Both competitiveness
and cooperativeness must be maximized. While "joy" and "fun" are operative
words, such joy is in accord with the Aristotelian idea of "happiness" as the full and
fertile and unrestrained use of one's talents. "Soft" it ain't.
Utopian?
Yes.
And no.
6You miss
100% of the shots
you never take.
Wayne Gretzky
7