Boundary effects

Seth Godin struck a chord with his post on boundaries. I had never thought about it quite like this, but the way a person or an organization deals with its boundaries is pretty telling.

Every organization has walls. I think past success can be the biggest impediment. I was going to write a paper a while back entitled "past success is the greatest predictor of future failure". I would have cited Microsoft for their inability to get past Windows and Office; the Detroit Big Three who still build cars and negotiate with their employees the same way they did decades ago; and the music industry (and the RIAA) who still believes they can sell CDs the way they sold vinyl decades ago. These organizations could be on the precipice of not being able to live up to their past successes.

Why is this?

Individuals also live within boundaries. A fascinating post from TYWKIWDBI - I didn't realize how many people on earth from "successful" nations don't believe in evolution. Like the Flat Earth Society, they've put themselves in a place where progress is self-limited. A possible outcome (courtesy of Daily Kos) is that one in seven American adults is illiterate. Scary. What will the outcome be of the xenophobic desire of so many to build a wall between the United States and Mexico? I'm sure we can all name other examples. These individuals are at risk of not living up to those that preceded them.

Why is this?

South Africa is one of my favorite places (amandla awetu!). In Johannesburg, some people live in beautiful homes but you wouldn't know it, because they're surrounded by huge, thick concrete walls with broken glass on the top and steel gates. Safety is in being inside your jail-like walls. I've also been to Soweto a few times, and there, if there is one at all, the fences are low (3 foot) and decorative. I asked why they didn't use tall concrete walls and was told, "we feel safer when our neighbors can see into our homes and come to our aid if we're in trouble. The bigger the walls, the less safe we feel."

This speaks volumes, doesn't it?

It tells me that at a minimum, I should be more open-minded towards those that don't believe in evolution or a spherical earth, be there to help if they are in trouble, and be less prone to arbitrary judgment and stereotyping.

In Soweto, they gain support and security from each other. Together they are stronger than as individuals.

How do organizations achieve this? Some answers lie in a very good business book I read a while back by Jim Collins called Good to Great. If you haven't read it, Collins looked at more than 1,400 companies' performance over decades to find 11 that met his criteria for significantly outperforming their industry over time.

He (and his team of 21 researchers) analyzed these 11 companies and came up with a set of common elements that the data showed was how they created and sustained success. This is one approach that not only works, but should also appeal to business leaders in the West, since it is required reading in most MBA programs:).

Of the various input principles (in the diagram), the one that connected with me the most is "Level 5 Leadership". Here is what you will read if you click on the image (which takes you to the workbook pdf) about this:

Level 5 Leadership. Level 5 leaders are ambitious first and foremost for the cause, the organization, the work—not themselves— and they have the fierce resolve to do whatever it takes to make good on that ambition. A Level 5 leader displays a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

If you have the time, pages 4 and 5 in this pdf are worth the ten minutes you'll need to read them a couple of times.

The L5 leader's role is to build the right boundaries for their organization and for themselves, and to do it with that "paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will".

I don't think we need to wait until we're CEOs to exhibit L5 behavior. That can happen now, and I hope more of our community and national leaders read this book, and embrace the idea of "personal humility and professional will."