For quite some time I have thought about big vs. small - as in big business vs. small business.
I have now reviewed all the evidence, heard all testimony and have reached a verdict: Big business is bad. Yip, you heard me - big business is bad. Before you decide to stop reading and read that other guy's blog about financial derivatives I would like to review the case with you.
I have had the opportunity to work with large businesses and also with small and there is something in the small business with a big heart that is not there in a big business with a small heart.
What I'm getting at is that big business should not be defined by turnover, profit, number of people, etc. Big business should rather be defined by the desire of the leaders and owners in the business to build something of great value for the rest of society on a large scale. The other view is when the owners of a small business see their organisation and purpose through the eyes of social benefit and not for profit primarily - BIG heart!
This point of view is what truly differentiates big from small. So, it comes down to a paradox: In order to have a big impact you need to think small. Small not in terms of revenue, market capitalisation or stock price, but small in terms of not missing out on the detail of staying true to purpose. I have personally been part of organisational growth and corporate buyouts and the obvious pattern is one where there is a desire to become bigger it is ultimately driven by quarterly numbers - "BIG"!
Bottom line: Once the desire to do good is substituted for a desire to have more we all loose. It is the story behind the shift in the global economic landscape, and perhaps a good time for it to happen. It is a shift in the dominant global paradigm happening right now. This is a complex, interesting and challenging world and I am happy to be alive.
So, I am calling to leaders and owners of businesses everywhere - will you simply survive from quarter to quarter or will you truly live.
Go from survive to alive!
Connectedness - a philosophy, approach, technique and movement (for lack of better description at present). Not individualistic only, but connected between us. By seeking us I find me. The level of truth found in the mess of relationships and the beauty of failing quickly and learning deeply.
Connectedness is the way that the 21st century is shaping. In the 20th century the work moved from the farm to the factory; the factory to the office and in the 21st century the work is moving online (or into the cloud). It used to be the unseen hand of the market and deregulation in order to set the human spirit free - there were a few mistakes...
It is however no reason to completely remove the old system (yes, the C word - capitalism). It is also no real good reason to kill all creativity with regulation. So what kind of 'ism' remains for us to utilise in order to shape the way we live, interact, produce and create in the present age? Is there a third alternative?
In order to answer this you must ask yourself what do you believe in? For years I have been exploring different aspects of living a life, and I mean LIVING! Not adrenaline, today is the last day on earth anything goes craziness - no! Real living means you are true to yourself and those around you, you seek your North Star and you align your heart and mind to it. From this center you act boldly, and with love in all that you do, you seek out every opportunity to grow and honour the purpose of your life. In so doing you also help others on their journey - LIFE!
Connectedness is an approach to life that unites, in paradox, agency and complexity. In order to fully utilise my ability to reflect and grow it can only truly happen in interdependence with others with the same agential capability. The presence of others and the constant changing context within growth means that together we are more than merely the sum of our relationships - something emerges from amongst us which amplifies individual agency and potential.
Most importantly it is openness, fearlessness and divergent whilst being convergent simultaneously.
This is also the way that I am connecting with people and want to do more of. I am not trying to invent something that doesn't exist or even trying to come up with cool names (although that is fun too). Look outside your door, and you will see walls coming down. I know in some places walls are going up, I am not ignorant. The reality is however that you can decide whether you want to be part of the progression towards less wall or more - you're call!
Personally, I want to see the walls come down where it is appropriate for them to come down. I have a personal interest in business because it is the greatest tool to influence our society in order to become better together.
What will follow in the weeks, months and years in this blog is a call for action and connection - will you join me on this journey from survive to alive?
This is some writing on stuff. It may make sense on certain levels or plains depending on your paradigmatic orientation towards a multiverse reality. On the other hand it could be complete nonsense. The fact of the matter however is that in the broader spectrum of things nothing really matters. Although things have known to matter dearly to those who care about things that matter.
I justly therefore ask what is the matter. Where is the beauty? Where is the monkey that whistles a Monet as beautifully as I dance the freed cave captive. Don't worry this is not suppose to make sense except for the meditative purpose of questioning stuff.
What stuff? Well your stuff off-course. Ultimately we only have our own stuff... don't you? I therefore propose that we reflect on what it is that we really need. What stuff is necessary?
I respectfully and specifically challenge those who are in the busyness of business - those who are driving the engines of industry. Entrepreneurs, CEO's, managers and leaders. You who helped entangle all of us in the relentless speed of nothingness. The pervasive beauty of creativity is the all-encompassing delight of those who persevere unto the transcendental reality (which doesn't really exist for those caught in complexity).
I'm sorry, I mean how do you pull on the strings of infinity and eternity to make the fleeting moment permanent? Yes, in business! Don't pretend like you don't know what I am talking about.
We look for it everyday and hunger for it more and more. We know it is there but we spend so much time on the stuff that is served up that the real food is overlooked. If you don't understand this then you haven't begun to ask: your self? Go ahead ask: my self? Who is this really? Who am I being? Am I real? I therefore submit to you that the business person has no right to do business until he/she has found someone to do business for!
Business is the reality of our society, our faults, our beauty and delight. Don't switch off the lights. Get a message and get out there. Do something that will make people talk, smile and look for the good in others. Come with me and look at the beautiful connections between everything. Be part of the connections, find your place, your voice and go from survive to alive!
And when I blinked the year was 4 months old (and counting). It has been a while since my last post... I have been thinking; restoring; reflecting and reviewing. I have been thinking of fears and desires, passion and purpose, complexity and transcendence. If there is one lesson that I have learned over the last year it has been patience. I now see my haste and propensity to haste much clearer in the light of the tension between desire and fear. In other words, in the past I used to attack the present in order to get to the future because I was afraid of missing the opportunity to prove that I am competent and useful. The reality is that I am competent and useful; here; today.
I know that repetitive work frustrates me... A lot! I know that I can't hide in the corner world of ideas. Music, ideas and dancing energise me. Too much of my day does not incorporate creativity - I need more; I think we all do. I believe this is the key to being more and being more to others.
It seems like it has been a mad dash in the last four months to where I am now. A good dash however because it has been at home. Our life is richer because of family, friends and nature. The improvement in quality of life is invaluable.
After years in Johannesburg we have been living in Stellenbosch for the last 9 months and working as a lecturer for the last 4. It has been an awesome time so far and I know that it has been a time of restoration. It will probably continue on the same path for a while but I am tilling the soil. I am removing the old thinking that was embedded during the past 7 years. I am throwing off all the old labels and returning my competent roots. I am removing what is not important an focusing on who I am (yip, that old theme again).
It is literally easier said than done, but I am doing it. It is a constant journey going from survive to alive. I fight negativity, look for meaning, acknowledge that I am part of a great tapestry and that I have a part to play. My part is the one that helps people, and specifically people in business, realise why business is important, why they are doing business, how this adds value an finally how they run their business, or do business, because of this. I translate my competence into their competence.
The buzz in the business world is all about how complex things are and, specifically, how fast everything is changing. If you are a leader in business you need to be so smart and adapt so quickly... That is such a load of bull. Yes, things are changing quickly, or at least there are greater possibilities, choices and options available right now.
What I find in businesses is that in general business leaders aren't really changing. Right now I can think of at least six leaders and business models that are based on old thinking. I understand that actual change really takes time. Media and the status-quo would lead us to believe that everything is changing so fast. In reality I see these powers that be as the ones changing the slowest. It is in their best interest to keep things as it is. Take the latest Robin Hood film starring Russell Crowe: Just when it looks like true change will come after generations of hierarchical, unjustified, autocratic exploitation by a leader over the people things simply remain the same - the leader has seen how beneficial a system of dominance is in his favour. "Why change it, it works for me?"
The same thing is happening in organisations globally. Truly transformational models of business have emerged in the early 1980's in South America (here I refer to Semco) as well as earlier than that on other continents (the Tata group of companies come to mind) but it has been isolated. My question is why hasn't it happened more? Why hasn't this truly transformational business models been occurring much more. It is a model where the business is about people first and how they come together to create a better world through what they do - real meaning!
Instead of the direction of the organisation being set by a bunch of people that only want to see a financial return; how about the direction set by the people on the ground and who have a daily relationship with the business - they are the business.
So here is my current thesis on why this does not happen more: Leaders with big egos. Of the greatest leader when he is gone they will say we did it ourselves. The greatest leader is one that is not a leader. There is no such thing as leadership. I am convinced there is only love, dedication, vision and action. A person that can use love, dedication, vision and action to enable others to do the same is needed. It is not about them - they know that. It is about using their abilities to help others do whatever is needed to get the job done and do it in excellence!
As soon as we start talking about leadership people clamor for position, title and money. Ask people to help others achieve their wildly important goals and help the organisation succeed while these people get all the recognition and reward and I don't think you will have many people left that can do the job. It is a job that requires people to see them selves as enablers, facilitators and connectors so that things can start unfolding on their own. You have to be secure in your identity so that you don't have to fight for it publicly and embrace complexity so that things can unfold organically.
My aim is to spread the message and work with people to unleash potential and release creativity and let it go where it needs to go. What are you up to?
What do you measure by? Results are important but many times results come much later like fruit on a tree or grapes on a vine.
Many times in the past I have looked back when it seems like I am heading in the wrong direction and asked my parents if they think I have made a mistake. The answer that I mostly got was: "No, because we can see how much you have grown".
Perhaps they are looking at results but it is results on a continuum. In other words the result is me being more mature yet knowing that it is the next step on the journey that I have achieved, not a destination or final measurable result.
My current season really reflects such a phase. I know that I have grown tremendously in the last year and have come to accept myself as I am more than ever before. I am making peace with where I am and have come to greater insight regarding ambition. I see ambition as the driving and destructive force behind our current global condition. Think about what ambition - the desire to achieve, stand out and be something, has done to our world and communities. Never before have we been so ambitious in our goals and never before have we wreaked such havoc on our planet. Inequality is greater than ever and even though we have made major advances that contribute to our standard of living we are no happier than 50 years ago.
I believe that it is ambition that drives a meaningless pursuit after our own, predominantly instant, gratification. We have polarised our societies into those that are rushing forward at a reckless pace and those that seek greater meaning and purpose in what they do. I don't think this divide will ever change but hopefully more and more people can meet in the middle where we engage one another in work that centers on love, money and meaning. I don't think we have to settle for the tyranny of the 'or'. It does not have to be about money or love; why not both?
What I do make a case against is the domination of our ambition that blindly leads us over the precipice into the abyss. Ambition that looks at monetary results and ignore the growth of individuals and communities. Ambition that ignores the growth required to make things more sustainable and full of life.
So what are we measuring? What is the result we are looking for, and more importantly, who do we have to be to realise our dream?
