Ragtag Leadership

23 Sep 2011

Update

It's time for an update! (Actually well overdue)

As you might have noticed, March 2011 came and went, and Ragtag Leadership is not on anyone's shelf. It's still on the drawing board, however!

Meanwhile, here's what's been happening:

I'm becoming (hopefully) a ragtag leader myself! The sy-ENGAGE team is growing, and as it grows we are experiencing the opportunity to put our ideas into practice.
I'll still be a published author by (roughly) March 2012. I've written a chapter for a book that's being published by John Wiley and sons. More information here and on my personal blog when it's available.

Meantime, what have you been up to in the area of ragtag leadership? I'd love to hear it.

1 Nov 2010

Ragtag Leadership - coming in March 2011

A few people have asked how the book is going, and the answer is it is on the backburner for the rest of this year. My plan is to get back into it in earnest in January 2011, and have it published by March 2011.

Meantime, I'm sure I'll see examples of ragtag (or not) leadership that I'll highlight here. And I'd love to hear your thoughts and examples here too.

26 Oct 2010

The GAP logo saga: a failure of leadership (but what kind of leadership?)

So fashion retailer GAP changed their logo, then changed it back again after an outcry from customers on social networks.

According to the Financial Times' Lucy Kellaway, it's a sad situation.

"If managers allow themselves to be frightened of the tweeting mob, they will become emasculated, change will be even harder than it ever was, and the status quo will always prevail."

First of all, let's get the silliness out of the way. To paraphrase David Ogilvy, the twitterer is not a mob, she is your wife. Social media users aren't some unknown mass "out there", they are customers, competitors, colleagues - they are real people.

But let's also see Lucy's point: should Gap have simply backed down?

As I've noticed every time Facebook does a redesign, change doesn't go down well. The new is always a little threatening.

Leadership is needed - not dictatorial leadership, and not slavish obedience to the majority.

While ragtag leadership is consultative, it is also about setting the vision.

As Gary Vaynerchuck said at Connect Now, "listen to everyone, and ignore what they say".

9 Oct 2010

How do you make standard operating procedures cool?

I watched The First Men in the Moon today. Fabulous movie, and a surprisingly complex and subtle story considering it started as a semi-comedy.

Anyway, I realised that I was regurgitating Starfleet policy on first contact when the main characters first discovered life on the moon.

I was amazed at how much I'd absorbed a fictitious organisation's values and policies. How did that happen?

And better still, how can real organisations get people so engaged in their policies and values?

Some thoughts (far from a comprehensive list):

Storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling

Values and ethics make sense when they're in context, and when they're called into question.

Speaking of policies, The Checklist Manifesto is well worth a read. Despite the dry title, it is a gripping read.

5 Oct 2010

Pirates - cool insights from @joshforde

Had a good catchup with Josh Forde last week, and we talked about pirates (as you do).

I was telling him about Ragtag Leadership, and he hadn't heard of Firefly. So, I explained it was basically a pirate ship. He got it.

In fact, here's what he told me about pirates:

In the 16th and 17th centuries at the height of imperial power, empires needed an underclass to power their navies. They used alcohol to keep the underclass subservient and dependent, which is why the rum ration first existed.

Not a healthy management model by today's standards, right?

Pirates, on the other hand, reflected a pretty enlightened 21st century model. Pirate ships were collectives, where each member took a share and also had real responsibility for the work to be done.

A cruel system of pressganging and addiction, or a democratic decision-making collective? Thankfully our choices in the 21st century are a bit wider ... or are they?

(Thanks the1pony - and your cat - for the picture)

22 Sep 2010

EVERYTHING is about motivation and the present

Ok, so this is not a book chapter. This is just my current thinking ... and that in itself is the point of this post.

I've made a regular time to write Ragtag Leadership, and yet sometimes I sit down and the fresh inspiration of a few months ago (when I outlined the chapter structure) just isn't there.

The silly thing is, it is there, I'm still passionate about the same subject, but I need to find it again. I need to rediscover what it is that got me excited about this topic in the first place, and connect it with what's relevant to me now.

The same is true with all my work. I try to practice GTD, which means not carrying tasks around in my head. The important flip side of that i regularly reviewing tasks (to make sure there's nothing wasting space) and, oh yeah, actually doing the tasks.

That's why everything is about the present. It's about what something - a task, a book, a project - means right now, and how it connects to everything else that's happening right now. Otherwise, that task, book, project, whatever becomes someone else's thing. Even if the "someone else" is you, three months ago, or a day ago.

So everything is about motivation and the present. That's how you lead yourself, that's how you lead others, and that's how you persuade others.

You connect it to what's going on in their lives right now.
You make it theirs.

Sounds simple, doesn't it?

What do you think? Are these the ravings of a madman who got up a bit too early? Or is there some practical use in the idea that everything comes down to motivation and the present?

(Photo credit: h.koppdelaney ... and you get some awesome results when you search for "present" on Compfight)

22 Sep 2010

Secrets of Star Trek podcast

I've been dipping into the podosphere, checking out the many Star Trek-themed podcasts that are out there. I didn't have any conscious criteria, but I guess subconsciously I was looking for:

* Good discussion between a few people

* Deep knowledge of Star Trek

* A good general knowledge and philosophical bent

I've found several that are not those things but I have found one that comes very close! It's just new and I really, really hope it doesn't "podfade". Loved the first episode of Secrets of Star Trek, which was on Leadership.

Discussions included:

Favourite captains, and why (interesting how much of the conversation was about the vulnerability of leaders, and how that made them more appealing.)
An interview with a philosopher who considers Star Trek to be a text of Western culture in the same way the Bible and Shakespeare are texts. I raise my eyebrow and say "Fascinating!"

12 Sep 2010

Mistake-friendly leadership

Leadership used to be most often about getting things right, but in the 21st century we need leadership that gets things wrong... in the right way.

What's the right way to get things wrong? In a high trust environment.

How do you get a high trust environment? I was hoping you'd ask that ... there's no silver bullet to build trust, but improv helps, according to Wade Jackson. I caught up with him on Friday and we had a chat about how improv can improve leadership. Here's my favourite bit:

Some other notes from the conversation:

One of the principles of improv is going with the flow - stepping into a situation and "boldly going" where you need to.
Positively driven - overcoming fear.
Instead of "no, but" ... "yes, and".
Breakthroughs around understanding that creativity is a mindset - if you think you're creative, you are. Back yourself.
Storytelling. Engaging hearts and minds.
Improv's around collaboration not competition. Initiate and yield. Yield = give up your idea for the sake of the group.
In order to have high performance, focus on the power of collaboration, tap into the group genius. Take the pressure off leaders - they don't have to be perfect. Understanding, high trust, can take risks, open communication.
Improv is experiential. Insights become obvious through doing... exercises act as a mirror and show you your own behaviour.
You can't effect the mind without affecting the body.

See our entire conversation here.

6 Sep 2010

Everyone has something to offer

Great observation from @jimmytheghost about Star Trek (the latest movie):

What do you reckon? Is Jimmy right?

1 Sep 2010

Ragtag leaders understand motivation

In a Star Trek world, a lot of things got done through the chain of command. It was an efficient system that made sure things got done.

Things are a lot more complex in a Firefly world. The ragtag leader must understand what drives the people working with them (and more often than not, it's "with" not "for").

Here's how Captain Mal recruited Jayne, his top security guy:

So Jayne's motivations were pretty simple, but others' motivations run a little deeper. This is where it gets tricky using a fictional story for an analogy - the sense of drama is always heightened.

In fictional stories the stakes are high - survival is pretty important, for example - but in real life the stakes are more often avoiding boredom, getting the right kind of food on the table, or buying a house in the suburbs.

I've already referenced Drive by Dan Pink and I'll mention it again, because it really does reflect a huge change in the way we understand motivation: intrinsic motivation is a whole lot more important when the work we have to do is creative and personal.

(Here's a summary video of Drive)

What kind of work is becoming more valuable? Not so much the gun running and shooting people, but more so what Seth Godin calls "emotional labour".

While the kind of work may be different, our approach needs to be the same as Captain Mal: making the work work for the worker, as much as for the company.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!