I'd like to share what I feel is one of the most important books of our times.
I used to read a lot of business books. It interested me. But there was always something 'off' about them. Like there was a subtle message of "follow my advice and you will dominate the world".
But I don't really want to dominate or control the world. I would like to influence it and make what needs to be made. I would like to have and create wealth. I don't want to profit from people's fear. This made me very cynical about marketing and copywriting - my old career.
So I refused new projects, and felt ill every time I started something. It's made me temporarily poorer, but I'd rather have integrity than be constantly compromising myself.
Anyway - enough of my emotional baggage. Let me tell you about this book.
Reinventing organizations is a study about how businesses and organizations will evolve and adapt in the future.
It first clarifies the various stages of organizational evolution. Ranging from:
Red- Fearful, power-driven groups (e.g. inner-city housing projects, drug cartels, powerful chiefs)
Amber - Formal hierachies, no questioning (e.g. schools, government agencies, the Church)
Orange - Very competitive, aim to achieve profit and growth at all costs, command and control, goal-led (e.g. big corporations)
Green - With a traditional pyramid structure but a focus on culture and employee motivation (e.g. Ben and Jerry's, Southwest Airlines)
But what's exciting for me is the final category.
Teal - Self-management replaces hierarchical pyramids. The organization is seen as a living entity with own creative potential and purpose. People are seen as assets and it's about matching their purposes and life journey to those of the organisation. Everyone is trusted to take responsibility, do what they feel needs to be done and it trusts that the collective intelligence of everyone makes better decisions than top-down decision making. People are encouraged to be authentic, bring their whole selves to work and be spiritually full.
Now, what does that mean to you?
The future belongs to self-organising clusters of people who are brought together by a joint sense of purpose. Influence accumulates to those who benefit others the most. Furthermore, without all the pressures, politics and wasted energy of "looking good", and with all the benefits of shared information, open structures and alignment with purposes - we free up the energy to make amazing things.
Steemit is definitely a Teal Organization... probably beyond that stage.
What excites me a lot about Steem is the great variety of opinions, the "wholeness" that people bring of themselves, the validation of belonging in open-minded group, and the fact that "Steem power" accumulates to those who bring the most value.
The book is a quite long and a bit dry in places. However, you can a read a summary of all it's main points here:
http://www.reinventingorganizations.com/uploads/2/1/9/8/21988088/140305_laloux_reinventing_organizations.pdf
If you would like to read the original, here is the link
https://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Organizations-Creating-Inspired-Consciousness/dp/2960133501
If you're here you probably understand most of these points intuitively. But I'd say it's well worth the time to read it. The insight that stuck me most was that many of the things I'd clashed with - school, office politics, authority figures, bosses - were not bad people. It's just we were operating from different paradigms and they didn't have the worldview and open mindedness to see where I was coming from.
Blah blah blah. Enjoy the book and let me know what you think.