[p2p-research] new bk on transleadership

[Michel Bauwens]

Jennifer Sertl on social business design and the need for a new breed of
‘transleaders’ (book) <http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/?p=11251>
[image: photo of Michel Bauwens]
Michel Bauwens
26th October 2010

 *Transorganizations*: Organizations that design both interpersonal
awareness and business strategy synergistically are more able to see and
sense the macro-environment and are more able to create relevant value. *
Transleaders: Individuals who understand that their leverage comes from the
coordination of getting things done through others through the use of
compassion, awareness, developing conduits, acquiring and distributing
meta-knowledge, coordinating multiple intelligences and being excellent
collaborators*. Like a body has capillary systems to exchange oxygen, blood
and information, transleaders do the same to create vitality for the
bio-organization which we call a Transorganization.”

** Book: Jennifer Sertl & Koby Huberman. Leadership, Strategy and the Soul:
Resilience, Responsiveness and Reflection for a Global Economy*

In the new book above, Jennifer Sertl and co-author Koby introduce a set of
new concepts for ‘networked business leadership’.

For an introduction, you can read chapter 1, which is online at
http://agility3r.com/Book/Chapter-1.html

Here are the key concepts, followed by an excerpt from an
interview<http://zanesafrit.typepad.com/zane_safrit/2010/09/highlights-from-my-conversation-with-jennifer-sertl-co-author-of-leadership-strategy-the-soul.html>
.

*1. Key Concepts by Jennifer Sertl:*

*“Our definitions:*

*Strategy: We are convinced that in order to lead your company in the
business environment of the 21st century, it is essential for you to master
the ability to invent your company’s future, particularly in the current
rapidly changing strategic landscapes of your business. Therefore, the old
ways of designing a strategy need to change–you will need to constantly
rethink your strategy, not just once every few years.*

*Leadership: Leadership styles and challenges have dramatically changed and
will continue to change from the Old World models. In order to handle
successfully the age’s enormous complexity and to improve your ability in
the role of a leader, you will need to become highly skilled at sensing
relevance in all areas of lie and business, and to create synergistic
relationships between all parties.*

*Soul: To accomplish the alignment between strategy & leadership–we content
that your values and inner beliefs should be in harmony with that of your
organization and vice versa. Only in this way, we believe you can maximize
your organization’s power and efficiency and create a working environment
that allows you and your people to find satisfaction and fulfillment in your
work and your lives. We further assert that organizations–every one of
them-have their own soul–the internal, intangible yet extremely present and
powerful set of inner beliefs that make the organization one of a kind. We
believe that recognition of this has immense value, and alignment of this
“soul” factor across customers, employees and business partners is a
fundamental necessity for success.*

*Transorganizations: Organizations that design both interpersonal awareness
and business strategy synergistically are more able to see and sense the
macro-environment and are more able to create relevant value.*

*Transleaders: Individuals who understand that their leverage comes from the
coordination of getting things done through others through the use of
compassion, awareness, developing conduits, acquiring and distributing
meta-knowledge, coordinating multiple intelligences and being excellent
collaborators. Like a body has capillary systems to exchange oxygen, blood
and information, transleaders do the same to create vitality for the
bio-organization which we call a Transorganization.”*

*2. Excerpts<http://zanesafrit.typepad.com/zane_safrit/2010/09/highlights-from-my-conversation-with-jennifer-sertl-co-author-of-leadership-strategy-the-soul.html>from
an Interview of Jennifer by Zane
Safrit:*

** Why is a peer-to-peer, CEO roundtable, participation so important?*

*2 reasons.*

*First in our culture, the fear of shame is so great. For those in their
mid-40s to 60’s it is really a lot to to ask of them to be vulnerable . The
level of ambiguity in our business today because things have changed so
quickly creates a lot of fear for those not comfortable experiencing and
processing that fear and uncertainty. If they can deal with their peers they
will be more receptive to hearing potential points of view. Their receptor
cells are going to be more available to hear and learn.*

*The 2nd is the acceleration of learning and knowledge. 10% of our knowledge
came before the 19th century and 90% of it came after. So, how do you get
ahold of all that information…The only way you can is to connect with other
people giving you slices of reality and you can aggregate them.*

** In your book you describe 4 evolutionary stages of the corporate
organizational structure. What are they? *

*We try not to be trite with this. We have corporate organizational
structure eras.*

*We have the F-Organization organization from 1850 to 1940 Farmers,
Families, Fortunes . Patriarchy as management style and lifetime employment
were the dominant themes.*

*Then we have in 1940 to 1970 the shift to the era of the S Organization. We
call it the S era because it had Structure and Security. The goal was
stability. The structure became hierarchical. Seniority was valued. The
Drucker Method and a lot of different lean technologies came out of that.*

*Then we move to 1970 – 1995 where we call this era the P-Organization.
Products, performance and profits. This is where the rise of the MBA came
together. Systems became more important than people. There were a lot of
policies and procedures.*

*Then came the E organization from 1995 – 2002. It’s the E organization
simply because of electronic evolution. Ebusiness, ecommerce and my favorite
E word: Everbody can play.*

*What I hope is that people in the audience are asking themselves how are
they designing their world in these areas. A lot of people are still playing
the product performance profit game.*

*It really is a changed game. We talk a lot about the I-organization and
transorganizations. I can’t tell you the details on that because we are in
it right now.*

** We, here in the US, and likely to a greater extent everyone around the
world face a turbulent future, marked by ever-increasing rates of change.
And a new organizational structure has emerged you call the
Transorganization. What is the significant difference in this structure? Why
is it necessary? How will it help its members ride the wave of all these
changes?*

*The transorganization is really more of a biological structure, If you
think of a single cell, a single cell can replicate and clone me in my
entirety. Yet it will live inside my body and decide whether it’s going to
be a lung or an artery. It has a destiny.*

*If I burn my hand, my endocrine system will slow down, my digetive system
will slow down…to make sure I have the resources to address my burn.*

*If we think of a transorganization it’s an organization that has a central
nervous system which is very clear on the operating design system of the
business. but has these informed capillaries that have the ability to
exchange information and bring information back.*

** What is the the third way or third quality that transorganizations look
for in an individual?*

*When you look at this model, there’s functions and distinct roles they play
but how they communicate is very different. The soul of a business is the
collective knowledge of the employee base. There’s a decentralization of
power with a centralization of communication.*

*You hear a lot about the voice of the customer. You want to know everything
my customer is doing when they’re not with me. Every interaction is a
research opportunity sounds very sterile. But if you’re paying attention,
and observing and caring deeply then what you bring back and transform is
deeper and richer.*

*We talk about focus and flexibility. How do you design in a way that allows
you to be adaptable and spontaneous?*

*What we want to do is to say the more self-aware that leader can be then
the more they can understand how they see reality and the more they can make
choices that represent their slice of reality and therefor align themselves
with employees who share that…” *

-- 
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