A frog sitting in a pan of water that is slowly being heated will sit there till it is boiled to death but a frog put into a pan of boiling water jumps out. In regard to climate change, we are like the frog sitting in water getting increasingly hot but refusing to jump out. As one expert says, humans are the only species that foul the nest (the earth) we live in.
Instead of discussing the scientific data on environmental change, I want take the approach that going green is not only good business, it is the only way a good business will operate. In addition to ensuring future generations’ physical assets, going green makes good business sense through positive impact on employee engagement. If people feel they are making meaningful contributions to their jobs, and society as a whole, they are more likely to be engaged and consequently more productive. “In my fifty-two years in business, I've never seen an issue galvanize people in a company like sustainability." Ray Anderson, the founder of Interface Inc, the largest modular carpet manufacturer in the world,
While local organisations often drive sustainability initiatives via their HSE professionals, CEOs of major global companies like Lee Scott, from Walmart are directly championing sustainability, “Being a good steward of the environment and being profitable are not mutually exclusive. They are one and the same.”
The vision of global leaders is crystallising as a mission of doing not less but no harm to the environment. Industrial designer and author of Cradle to Cradle, William McDonough, who works with major companies like Nike and Ford, says that any intelligent leader has to aim for zero impact on the environment. Just reducing the amount of bad we do is not enough.
There are a growing number of businesses like Interface, who are doing well by doing green: Interface produces carpets with recycled, chemically benign materials and aims to go off the grid by 2020. Google has solar panels for its offices. Car companies are designing cars that run on cleaner energy and with engine oils and fabrics that are organic and biodegradable. Local governments are building Green star offices are being built in Perth and Melbourne. WSPLincolne Scott, an environmental building services company has made its Asia Pacific operations climate neutral and calculates carbon emissions for its employee’s home life. Also employees super is invested in a green superannuation fund.
Integral Development has conducted surveys of over 40 companies’ sustainability practices and has run programs to improve these practices. We recently did this with Workpower (awarded the WA Business News’ Best Employer 2009 in the medium sized category) and staff generated over 30 ways to reduce the company’s environmental impact. The workshops also generated a great deal of enthusiasm about working in a green company as well as saving money. Energy efficient lighting, purchasing green supplies and equipment, recycling, worm farms, different product packaging, energy and water audits, and adding sustainability into the values, were just a few of the initiatives being implemented by their ‘Green Team’.
When we look at two major crisis that are facing us in modern times – Global Financial Crisis and Climate Change - the difference in our reaction globally has been extraordinary. On one hand, the financial crisis resulted in significant and swift actions from government and businesses everywhere. We acted as a community of nations to avoid a major worldwide economic catastrophe. Climate change, on the other hand, still requires a substantial mind shift, commitment and significant actions from all national and state governments, businesses, employees and citizens to reduce our collective impact to zero.
People have extraordinary creativity and initiative when faced with a challenge that leads to worthwhile outcomes. Finding ways to work and live in harmony on our home planet is one of the most exciting and worthwhile endeavours we collectively face. Just as looking after the safety and right to equal opportunity of employment for people at work were once novel ideas, the idea of doing green at work will soon become the only way to do well at work.
ENDS...
First published in WA Business News. 30th October 2009. Page 20.
By Dr. Ron Cacioppe
Ron Cacioppe is Adjunct Professor at Curtin University’s Australian Sustainable Development Institute, and Managing Director of Integral Development, one of Perth’s most unique and experienced leadership and management consultancies. Integral Development is a finalist in the Small Business Leading by Example Category of the Department of Environment and Conservation 2009 Western Australian Environment Awards.
Q&A: An Interview with Jay Davies
1.Describe your personality.
Team player, motivated to achieve, trustworthy, accountable, inquisitive, love a challenge and respond particularly well when told something can’t be done! Passionate about self awareness and really enjoy bringing the best out in others. I also love organic food!
2.What are your strengths as a Consultant?
Getting the best out of work teams, trouble shooting to find the core issues and creating an environment that encourages individual accountability.
3.What’s your most memorable workshop you’ve conducted and why?
Presenting in India at the Indo-Australian Multi Disciplinary Workshop and there was a power failure, the room went pitch black and I was requested to keep presenting as normal as it was the generator overheating, the audience ‘were business as usual’, fortunately it wasn’t the same day as I had a stomach bug and exited the stage rapidly after 30mins of my presentation. It made me appreciate the fact we truly do live in the luckiest country.
4.Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
Recognized as a leading consultancy in integrating self awareness with business strategy and individual and team performance, whilst maintaining a focus on sustainable solutions that will take businesses to the next level of development in terms of minimizing their impact on the natural environment.
5.What are your thoughts on Leadership for the future?
After conducting numerous interviews for the Global Leadership Study my thoughts on leadership have shifted considerably. I now believe that everyone one of us has a responsibility to ourselves, to look internally and take ownership of our behaviour and particularly the impact it has on those around us. The best thing we can do is decide what we are most passionate about and then pursue that whole heartedly, I believe this will bring out the natural leader in all of us.
6.If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
Mother Theresa for her humility, Richard Branson for a good laugh, The Unknown Rebel for his courage, Albert Einstein for his genius and Eleanor Roosevelt because of her passion for social justice.
7.Who is a Leader that inspires you and why?
Martin Luther King because of his belief in non violence and racial equity.
8.If you were stranded on a desert island, what book and 2 items and would you like with you?
Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit would serve useful, a fishing rod and swimming goggles to do a few laps around the island.
Team player, motivated to achieve, trustworthy, accountable, inquisitive, love a challenge and respond particularly well when told something can’t be done! Passionate about self awareness and really enjoy bringing the best out in others. I also love organic food!
2.What are your strengths as a Consultant?
Getting the best out of work teams, trouble shooting to find the core issues and creating an environment that encourages individual accountability.
3.What’s your most memorable workshop you’ve conducted and why?
Presenting in India at the Indo-Australian Multi Disciplinary Workshop and there was a power failure, the room went pitch black and I was requested to keep presenting as normal as it was the generator overheating, the audience ‘were business as usual’, fortunately it wasn’t the same day as I had a stomach bug and exited the stage rapidly after 30mins of my presentation. It made me appreciate the fact we truly do live in the luckiest country.
4.Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
Recognized as a leading consultancy in integrating self awareness with business strategy and individual and team performance, whilst maintaining a focus on sustainable solutions that will take businesses to the next level of development in terms of minimizing their impact on the natural environment.
5.What are your thoughts on Leadership for the future?
After conducting numerous interviews for the Global Leadership Study my thoughts on leadership have shifted considerably. I now believe that everyone one of us has a responsibility to ourselves, to look internally and take ownership of our behaviour and particularly the impact it has on those around us. The best thing we can do is decide what we are most passionate about and then pursue that whole heartedly, I believe this will bring out the natural leader in all of us.
6.If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
Mother Theresa for her humility, Richard Branson for a good laugh, The Unknown Rebel for his courage, Albert Einstein for his genius and Eleanor Roosevelt because of her passion for social justice.
7.Who is a Leader that inspires you and why?
Martin Luther King because of his belief in non violence and racial equity.
8.If you were stranded on a desert island, what book and 2 items and would you like with you?
Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit would serve useful, a fishing rod and swimming goggles to do a few laps around the island.
Invitation to participate in the Integral Leadership Book Forum
Leadership involves keeping up-to-date with the latest ideas and thinking in business and in the world. The Integral Leadership Forum will run on Friday morning once every 2 months and will be an opportunity for senior managers to learn new ideas in leadership and have a lively relevant discussion.
The forum will include a brief discussion on a topical book with a small group of senior executives, debate on the ideas, and insight on how these ideas can be practically applied to business and leadership.
Each forum will include:
◦Light breakfast and discussion of one book and its relevance to your organisation in practice
◦A small group of senior leaders(if not able to attend you can send a nominated person to take your place)
◦Each session, a 1 to 2 page summary of the topical book and a hard copy of the book
◦Duration, 1 hour & 15 minutes, 8:00am to 9:15am
◦Occurs on the last Friday once every 2 months, 6 sessions in total
The Venue
The Bodhi Tree Bookshop & Café
Suite 1, 416 Oxford St, Cnr Scarborough Beach Road, Mt Hawthorn.
Forum dates
TBA
Forum Facilitators
Dr Ron Cacioppe
Managing Director, Integral Development.
John Mitchell
Senior Consultant and Executive Coach, Integral Development.
Cost
The fee is $450 (incl gst)
To register your interest or for further information
Please contact Renee Ralph at Integral Development on 9242 8122
The forum will include a brief discussion on a topical book with a small group of senior executives, debate on the ideas, and insight on how these ideas can be practically applied to business and leadership.
Each forum will include:
◦Light breakfast and discussion of one book and its relevance to your organisation in practice
◦A small group of senior leaders(if not able to attend you can send a nominated person to take your place)
◦Each session, a 1 to 2 page summary of the topical book and a hard copy of the book
◦Duration, 1 hour & 15 minutes, 8:00am to 9:15am
◦Occurs on the last Friday once every 2 months, 6 sessions in total
The Venue
The Bodhi Tree Bookshop & Café
Suite 1, 416 Oxford St, Cnr Scarborough Beach Road, Mt Hawthorn.
Forum dates
TBA
Forum Facilitators
Dr Ron Cacioppe
Managing Director, Integral Development.
John Mitchell
Senior Consultant and Executive Coach, Integral Development.
Cost
The fee is $450 (incl gst)
To register your interest or for further information
Please contact Renee Ralph at Integral Development on 9242 8122
Managing Your Energy (by Gregg Kershaw)
Today’s organizations are requiring from their people ever higher levels of performance in what is an increasingly competitive global environment. This of course has consequences for us all, as people attempt to maintain pace with the demands being made. One can think here of the ‘dance of Shiva’, Shiva the god of destruction in the Hindu faith whose dance can be seen as a metaphor for the cosmic dance of creation and destruction. The underlying point being that the world is engaged unrelentingly in endless motion and activity.
How often are comments made about the pace of life, the pressure of competing demands and the question of: how will I ever find the time to stop and smell the roses? Consequently we are suffering the price of our rapid movement into the future – people are attempting to keep pace by working more hours leading to increasing levels of exhaustion and fatigue, of disengagement, of being time-poor, overwhelmed and stressed out. How do we find time for ourselves to experience some healthy and quiet place of calm that restores our energy and vitality?
Schwartz and McCarthy in their article ‘Manage Your Energy Not Your Time’ argue that longer days at the office don’t work because time is in fact a limited resource and suggest however that personal energy is renewable. One of the article’s principal aims is to assist people to take greater charge of their lives in the face of relentlessly increasing demands by assuming more responsibility for how they manage their energy.
The authors suggest that individuals equip themselves to fire on all four cylinders by building their capacity and their renewal skills in four key energy dimensions: body, emotions, mind and spirit. The body dimension is focused upon physical energy, the emotional dimension on the quality of that energy, the mind dimension being about the focus of energy and the dimension of the human spirit about the energy of meaning and purpose.
The dimension of physical energy considers the impact of inadequate nutrition, exercise, sleep and rest and how this diminishes peoples overall energy levels. Becoming aware of our personal signs of flagging energy allows for early action, for example by taking brief but regular breaks away from the desk. The dimension of emotional energy considers how to maintain the quality of available energy by learning to defuse negative emotions and developing methods for fuelling positive emotions. The mind, being the dimension of mental energy, refers to the importance of developing the capacity for flexible focus by creating time for reflection, innovation and strategic development. The dimension that considers the energy of the human spirit, explores the notion that by doing what gives us a sense of purpose and significance, is potentially our most powerful source of energy.
By exploring these energy dimensions the authors encourage the reader to consider how we use our personal energy stores, how this use impacts upon us as individuals and how we might begin to develop practical and enduring ways to both restore and maintain our personal energy levels.
©Written by Gregg Kershaw, Integral Development
How often are comments made about the pace of life, the pressure of competing demands and the question of: how will I ever find the time to stop and smell the roses? Consequently we are suffering the price of our rapid movement into the future – people are attempting to keep pace by working more hours leading to increasing levels of exhaustion and fatigue, of disengagement, of being time-poor, overwhelmed and stressed out. How do we find time for ourselves to experience some healthy and quiet place of calm that restores our energy and vitality?
Schwartz and McCarthy in their article ‘Manage Your Energy Not Your Time’ argue that longer days at the office don’t work because time is in fact a limited resource and suggest however that personal energy is renewable. One of the article’s principal aims is to assist people to take greater charge of their lives in the face of relentlessly increasing demands by assuming more responsibility for how they manage their energy.
The authors suggest that individuals equip themselves to fire on all four cylinders by building their capacity and their renewal skills in four key energy dimensions: body, emotions, mind and spirit. The body dimension is focused upon physical energy, the emotional dimension on the quality of that energy, the mind dimension being about the focus of energy and the dimension of the human spirit about the energy of meaning and purpose.
The dimension of physical energy considers the impact of inadequate nutrition, exercise, sleep and rest and how this diminishes peoples overall energy levels. Becoming aware of our personal signs of flagging energy allows for early action, for example by taking brief but regular breaks away from the desk. The dimension of emotional energy considers how to maintain the quality of available energy by learning to defuse negative emotions and developing methods for fuelling positive emotions. The mind, being the dimension of mental energy, refers to the importance of developing the capacity for flexible focus by creating time for reflection, innovation and strategic development. The dimension that considers the energy of the human spirit, explores the notion that by doing what gives us a sense of purpose and significance, is potentially our most powerful source of energy.
By exploring these energy dimensions the authors encourage the reader to consider how we use our personal energy stores, how this use impacts upon us as individuals and how we might begin to develop practical and enduring ways to both restore and maintain our personal energy levels.
©Written by Gregg Kershaw, Integral Development
Feature Article: Nick Randall Q&A
1. Describe your personality:
Bullish, loud at times, excitable, passionate, split personalities in the sense can be extroverted but often seeks being alone, does not like parties!
2. What are your strengths as a Consultant?
Passion and always wanting fun, not taking things too seriously, (hopefully) being able to break content down into skills and activities to get past the action gap of knowledge but no behavior change.
3. What’s your most memorable workshop you’ve conducted and why?
A school workshop on Rottnest where the year 12 students had to develop over two days a leadership statement. We all ended up crying Students teachers and facilitators alike.
4. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
Highly regarded Training company, here, nationally and overseas.
5. What are your thoughts on Leadership for the future?
Leaders with much more emphasis on sustainability in personal life work life and in the company practices. Leaders who develop their people right down to the lowest socioeconomic group within their company. Greater focus on the blue collar worker in terms of training. In short we will have to be the clever country to compete at the international level. Industrial leaders will therefore have to be involved as educationalists at all levels of society.
6. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Kevin Rudd Tony Blair and finally John Howard. Guess who would feel left out?
7. Who is Leader that inspires you and why?
Nelson, because I believe that he has seen the dark side but crossed over to the good side.
8. If you were stranded on a desert island, what book and 2 items would you like with you?
Tolkein’s Hobbit and snorkel and hand spear.
Bullish, loud at times, excitable, passionate, split personalities in the sense can be extroverted but often seeks being alone, does not like parties!
2. What are your strengths as a Consultant?
Passion and always wanting fun, not taking things too seriously, (hopefully) being able to break content down into skills and activities to get past the action gap of knowledge but no behavior change.
3. What’s your most memorable workshop you’ve conducted and why?
A school workshop on Rottnest where the year 12 students had to develop over two days a leadership statement. We all ended up crying Students teachers and facilitators alike.
4. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
Highly regarded Training company, here, nationally and overseas.
5. What are your thoughts on Leadership for the future?
Leaders with much more emphasis on sustainability in personal life work life and in the company practices. Leaders who develop their people right down to the lowest socioeconomic group within their company. Greater focus on the blue collar worker in terms of training. In short we will have to be the clever country to compete at the international level. Industrial leaders will therefore have to be involved as educationalists at all levels of society.
6. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Kevin Rudd Tony Blair and finally John Howard. Guess who would feel left out?
7. Who is Leader that inspires you and why?
Nelson, because I believe that he has seen the dark side but crossed over to the good side.
8. If you were stranded on a desert island, what book and 2 items would you like with you?
Tolkein’s Hobbit and snorkel and hand spear.
Stateholder Relationship Management (Written by John Mitchell)
It is no exaggeration to say that the ability of organisations, whether public or private, to operate within our society depends not only on their success in wealth creation or, for the public sector, achievement in the delivery of Government policy, but also on their capacity to meet the expectations of a diverse and often changing group of constituents who contribute to their existence and success. These constituencies and interests are the organisation’s stakeholders. All organisations must, as a consequence, be engaged in utilizing resources to create benefits for all its stakeholders now and into the future.
That said, what we have found in practice is somewhat different. Organisations recognise that they often have a quite enormous group of stakeholders but when tested will generally admit to only addressing the needs of a small number. They talk about those stakeholder groups who are a priority at that time, those who have the ability to negatively impact on the organisation, those that are the proverbial ‘squeaky wheel, and those that they simply can’t ignore. When the conversation turns to stakeholder relationship management organisations will often give a quick assurance that they have CRM software up and running. Unfortunately, having the software is not the same as managing the issue!
At this stage some definitions may be helpful. Stakeholders may be defined as “any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objective.” Building on this, stakeholder relationship management is not software, long lunches or even coffee, rather it is best defined as “the means to manage and monitor stakeholder relationships that will ultimately impact on the organisations performance and reputation.” To manage stakeholders effectively to achieve this outcome a number of things are necessary.
They include:
A real understanding of who our stakeholders are. It is simple to say that we should manage our stakeholders but how do we envisage this happening when we are less than clear who they all are?
A way of managing our stakeholder list – it is here that our CRM software can be useful. It is important to remember that our stakeholder list is almost certainly not fixed; the list grows as new stakeholders are ‘acquired’ and equally stakeholder groups may be removed from the list when the relationship ends.
It is absolutely necessary to have an effective method of grouping stakeholders or stakeholder groups. Once we have a listing of our stakeholders and the ability to group stakeholders in a meaningful way we can make good decisions about the appropriate management (and the resources we need to devote) of different stakeholders groups or even individual stakeholders.
Stakeholder management should be included in strategic plans. In this way effective and meaningful management of stakeholders is given the right level of corporate attention and managed through a set of agreed actions and measures.
The management of stakeholders won’t just happen.’ Firstly, it must be led from the top. Secondly, staff with responsibility for managing the organisations stakeholders must understand that it is necessary for them to make time for this important activity and that they will mange stakeholders in accord with the organisations agreed practice.
However, there is one over-arching issue that we should highlight. We can start with a seemingly simple statement; “great stakeholder relationships are built on the basis of mutual benefit.” As said, seemingly simple but it is critical that there is an organisational understanding and genuine appreciation that stakeholders do not exist to be used. Stakeholder management will only be successful is there exists a long term, mutually beneficial relationship between the organisation and its stakeholders. Of course, the relationship may be different for different stakeholder groups (that being the point of the grouping referred to above) but it must be managed properly and consistent. And in this context what does managed properly mean? Like all good relationships we need many elements including effective communication, appreciation, mutual respect, openness, collaboration, trust and more. In short stakeholder relationship management is just that; it needs quality management and a good relationship to produce all the benefits available.
Integral Development offers the following stakeholder relationship management training sessions:
A two hour short presentation and Q & A session;
A half day workshop which incorporates a stakeholder management model and methodologies for grouping stakeholders; and
A full day workshop with all the above plus tools to support staff in further developing their stakeholder relationship skills.
For further information call Integral Development on 9242 8122.
Written by John Mitchell, Senior Consultant and Executive Coach with Integral Development.
That said, what we have found in practice is somewhat different. Organisations recognise that they often have a quite enormous group of stakeholders but when tested will generally admit to only addressing the needs of a small number. They talk about those stakeholder groups who are a priority at that time, those who have the ability to negatively impact on the organisation, those that are the proverbial ‘squeaky wheel, and those that they simply can’t ignore. When the conversation turns to stakeholder relationship management organisations will often give a quick assurance that they have CRM software up and running. Unfortunately, having the software is not the same as managing the issue!
At this stage some definitions may be helpful. Stakeholders may be defined as “any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objective.” Building on this, stakeholder relationship management is not software, long lunches or even coffee, rather it is best defined as “the means to manage and monitor stakeholder relationships that will ultimately impact on the organisations performance and reputation.” To manage stakeholders effectively to achieve this outcome a number of things are necessary.
They include:
A real understanding of who our stakeholders are. It is simple to say that we should manage our stakeholders but how do we envisage this happening when we are less than clear who they all are?
A way of managing our stakeholder list – it is here that our CRM software can be useful. It is important to remember that our stakeholder list is almost certainly not fixed; the list grows as new stakeholders are ‘acquired’ and equally stakeholder groups may be removed from the list when the relationship ends.
It is absolutely necessary to have an effective method of grouping stakeholders or stakeholder groups. Once we have a listing of our stakeholders and the ability to group stakeholders in a meaningful way we can make good decisions about the appropriate management (and the resources we need to devote) of different stakeholders groups or even individual stakeholders.
Stakeholder management should be included in strategic plans. In this way effective and meaningful management of stakeholders is given the right level of corporate attention and managed through a set of agreed actions and measures.
The management of stakeholders won’t just happen.’ Firstly, it must be led from the top. Secondly, staff with responsibility for managing the organisations stakeholders must understand that it is necessary for them to make time for this important activity and that they will mange stakeholders in accord with the organisations agreed practice.
However, there is one over-arching issue that we should highlight. We can start with a seemingly simple statement; “great stakeholder relationships are built on the basis of mutual benefit.” As said, seemingly simple but it is critical that there is an organisational understanding and genuine appreciation that stakeholders do not exist to be used. Stakeholder management will only be successful is there exists a long term, mutually beneficial relationship between the organisation and its stakeholders. Of course, the relationship may be different for different stakeholder groups (that being the point of the grouping referred to above) but it must be managed properly and consistent. And in this context what does managed properly mean? Like all good relationships we need many elements including effective communication, appreciation, mutual respect, openness, collaboration, trust and more. In short stakeholder relationship management is just that; it needs quality management and a good relationship to produce all the benefits available.
Integral Development offers the following stakeholder relationship management training sessions:
A two hour short presentation and Q & A session;
A half day workshop which incorporates a stakeholder management model and methodologies for grouping stakeholders; and
A full day workshop with all the above plus tools to support staff in further developing their stakeholder relationship skills.
For further information call Integral Development on 9242 8122.
Written by John Mitchell, Senior Consultant and Executive Coach with Integral Development.
Feature Article: Michael Fox Q&A
1. Describe your personality.
I am a fairly calm person and am interested in the world around me (in organizations, politics, the arts) as well as what is happening on the inside for me. I enjoy being with people and working on projects with others, particularly if I think that the project is inherently worthwhile. In recent years I have been one of the tutors for the Living Philosophy course that Integral Institute Australasia runs and I have enjoyed teaching and sharing with others about living more in the moment and letting go of the endless chatter that so easily fills my mind and that of others.
2. What are your strengths as a Consultant?
In recent years I have spent much of my work as a consultant undertaking surveys with quite a variety of organisations. My strengths as a consultant in this arena include being able to structure surveys so that they meet the needs of the specific organization and to work with my organisational contacts to ensure that the process goes smoothly. I particularly enjoy working with management groups in helping them to understand the feedback that they are receiving from their employees and to find creative ways of responding to the issues that the survey results raise. I find that I can often facilitate productive discussions on sensitive issues without people taking offense.
3. What’s your most memorable workshop you’ve conducted and why?
One of the workshops that I facilitated this year sticks in my mind because of the way in which the group of managers and coordinators grappled with the organisational survey data that I presented to them and really came to see some of the issues in a good deal of depth. Not only did they come to understand what was going on in the organisation but they also saw clearly some of the connections between these issues. When it came to generating appropriate action plans, their level of understanding of the organisational culture that flowed from the process made it relatively easy for them to be focused and creative in responding to the issues that they were trying to address.
4. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
I see Integral Development in a really exciting space in five years time. Not only will it have further developed its technologies and instruments that it uses in leadership and organizational development but its group of consultants, coaches and staff will have grown in number and capacity to support one another in being integral human beings who provide exceptional service and support to individuals and organizations. It will also have taken further major steps to operate in a sustainable way and to facilitate this movement in other organizations within Australia and overseas.
5. What are your thoughts on Leadership for the future?
In my view leadership for the future has to tackle issues which are complex and long-term in a world which is often fixated on short-term results. The sort of leadership that can take people where they are but help them see that we are all in this together and that we all need to contribute in ways appropriate to us in addressing the big issues of our day is going to be essential if we are going to overcome the inertia and cynicism that often surrounds these matters.
6. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
Having recently read Dreams from my Father I would find it fascinating to have Barack and Michelle Obama to dinner. I would also invite Geraldine Doogue and Phillip Adams as they both demonstrate interesting perspectives on life and a very broad awareness of what is happening around the world. I would invite my wife, Anne, to share in this experience too.
7. Who is Leader that inspires you and why?
Ray Anderson, the Chairperson of the carpet company, Interface Flor, is a leader who inspires me. I first came upon Ray when I was teaching a unit in Organisational Structure and Design for the Business School at UWA. What struck me about him and his story was the way in which he went through a conversion experience in relation to the unsustainability of his own business and then set about pursuing a 25 year goal to climb Mount Sustainability. In the process he has brought his own staff with him on that journey and inspired many other leaders and organizations to take similar steps and to fashion a whole new industrial revolution.
8. If you were stranded on a desert island, what book and 2 items would you like with you?
At the moment, I would like to have Otto Scharmer’s book, Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges and I would also like to have my iphone loaded up with some good music, videos and podcasts along with a solar charger so that I could keep using it.
I am a fairly calm person and am interested in the world around me (in organizations, politics, the arts) as well as what is happening on the inside for me. I enjoy being with people and working on projects with others, particularly if I think that the project is inherently worthwhile. In recent years I have been one of the tutors for the Living Philosophy course that Integral Institute Australasia runs and I have enjoyed teaching and sharing with others about living more in the moment and letting go of the endless chatter that so easily fills my mind and that of others.
2. What are your strengths as a Consultant?
In recent years I have spent much of my work as a consultant undertaking surveys with quite a variety of organisations. My strengths as a consultant in this arena include being able to structure surveys so that they meet the needs of the specific organization and to work with my organisational contacts to ensure that the process goes smoothly. I particularly enjoy working with management groups in helping them to understand the feedback that they are receiving from their employees and to find creative ways of responding to the issues that the survey results raise. I find that I can often facilitate productive discussions on sensitive issues without people taking offense.
3. What’s your most memorable workshop you’ve conducted and why?
One of the workshops that I facilitated this year sticks in my mind because of the way in which the group of managers and coordinators grappled with the organisational survey data that I presented to them and really came to see some of the issues in a good deal of depth. Not only did they come to understand what was going on in the organisation but they also saw clearly some of the connections between these issues. When it came to generating appropriate action plans, their level of understanding of the organisational culture that flowed from the process made it relatively easy for them to be focused and creative in responding to the issues that they were trying to address.
4. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
I see Integral Development in a really exciting space in five years time. Not only will it have further developed its technologies and instruments that it uses in leadership and organizational development but its group of consultants, coaches and staff will have grown in number and capacity to support one another in being integral human beings who provide exceptional service and support to individuals and organizations. It will also have taken further major steps to operate in a sustainable way and to facilitate this movement in other organizations within Australia and overseas.
5. What are your thoughts on Leadership for the future?
In my view leadership for the future has to tackle issues which are complex and long-term in a world which is often fixated on short-term results. The sort of leadership that can take people where they are but help them see that we are all in this together and that we all need to contribute in ways appropriate to us in addressing the big issues of our day is going to be essential if we are going to overcome the inertia and cynicism that often surrounds these matters.
6. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
Having recently read Dreams from my Father I would find it fascinating to have Barack and Michelle Obama to dinner. I would also invite Geraldine Doogue and Phillip Adams as they both demonstrate interesting perspectives on life and a very broad awareness of what is happening around the world. I would invite my wife, Anne, to share in this experience too.
7. Who is Leader that inspires you and why?
Ray Anderson, the Chairperson of the carpet company, Interface Flor, is a leader who inspires me. I first came upon Ray when I was teaching a unit in Organisational Structure and Design for the Business School at UWA. What struck me about him and his story was the way in which he went through a conversion experience in relation to the unsustainability of his own business and then set about pursuing a 25 year goal to climb Mount Sustainability. In the process he has brought his own staff with him on that journey and inspired many other leaders and organizations to take similar steps and to fashion a whole new industrial revolution.
8. If you were stranded on a desert island, what book and 2 items would you like with you?
At the moment, I would like to have Otto Scharmer’s book, Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges and I would also like to have my iphone loaded up with some good music, videos and podcasts along with a solar charger so that I could keep using it.
Difficult Situations, Difficult People
Integral Development had the pleasure of interviewing Tim Munden, the Vice President of Human Resources at Unilever Foodsolutions. Unilever is a public limited company with over 400 brands spanning 14 different categories of home, personal care and food products including Lipton, Dove and Omo. Some profound questions used by Tim over his career that have made a significant difference when dealing with difficult people are, 'what is needed here?', from what point of view is this person saying seem right?' and 'what does good look like?'.
Defining Integral Leaders, Organisations & Coaches
A Conversation with Ken Wilber
By Jo Doyle, May 2005
This conversation was conducted as part of an international research tour into world class executive education and business schools ‘best practice’. The meeting with Ken Wilber allowed for an understanding of his perspective on:
a. what an Integral Leader looks like
b. what an Integral organisation looks like
c. Integral coaching
Characteristics of an Integral Leader:
An Integral leader is someone who is at the yellow or turquoise 2nd tier level of development (?), whether they understand this consciously or not. Ken suggests that there are very few leaders at 2nd tier who are consciously aware of how they are in the world as a yellow or turquoise leader. He suggests that the majority are currently leading intuitively and by providing these leaders with an All Quadrant, All Level (AQAL) map of an Integral perspective, they would be better equipped to consciously step into the role as a more effective leader embracing all aspects of leadership.
However, Ken cautions that there are leaders who may appear to be at the yellow level through their intellectual understanding of the presenting concepts which is necessary but not sufficient to be an authentic leader. He suggests that even though the cognitive understanding is there, this often runs one or two levels ahead of moral development. Therefore, the ‘talk’ is one thing but the person’s centre of gravity is in fact one or two levels below where their thinking lies. This imbalance eventually causes damage within the Self and the organisation as lack of respect for the leader will begin to emerge if the rhetoric and action are not aligned. Therefore, an Integral Leader is someone who is integrally informed about their development, that is, their cognitive and Self lines are essentially similar. Both are second tier, and the person has a conscious map of what it means to be second tier in development. Although encompassing all other levels, their interpersonal, moral, needs and ego development capacities are all at second tier. Essentially they are “walking the talk”, their words, behaviours, needs and understanding of Self and others are congruent and operating at the yellow or turquoise level. Furthermore an Integral Leader has a deep understanding of all levels that precede the yellow or turquoise and have the ability to influence interactions by changing behaviour and language to match the level of the person with whom the communication is taking place. An interesting example was cited where leaders of red, blue, orange, green, and yellow levels were all placed in the same room to discuss a common issue. Upon leaving the room each person found some reason why they did not like the other participants except for the yellow leader. All the other leaders had no distinct feeling or opinion towards this person.
When asked who is doing it (Integral theory) well, Wilber cited Rhodes and Corralis “The Congruent Leader” as a very good interpretation/application of the integral theory with an expansion of further ideas.???
Characteristics of an Integral Organisation:
First and foremost an Integral organisation has an Integral president or CEO, someone who has a conscious map of the yellow or turquoise level and is living the values of the 2nd tier level. This person has an understanding or map of human nature that takes into account the AQAL map when setting up all aspects of the organisation. Therefore an Integral organisation is crafted from the beginning. The structure of the organisation is not necessarily that different from the norm, the significant difference lies with the people and how they are viewed. For example, by employing upper management who are already 2nd tiered and giving them an AQAL map:
allows them to consciously understand their people from a more integrated perspective
provides them with the terminology for what they have been doing intuitively as a leader.
creates more clarity which leads to better judgement and decision making.
is as good as having an understanding of the typology of an employee as it enables a leader to change language in order to interact at the level of the person at hand.
An Integral organisation also makes certain things explicit in their values, mission statement, expectations and way of operating that would not be found in a ‘normal’ organisation.
A further significant difference is in the hiring practices of the organisation. The implementation of an assessment tool to produce a AQAL psychograph of each employee enables a more comprehensive matching of employee to position. This ensures:
the employees are compatible with the tasks, skills and competencies required of them
the employees are compatible with the immediate team members and overall working environment
the employees are compatible with the values of the organisation
This provides a significant benefit for HR placements as well as creating a congruent and aligned match between the individual’s values and the values of the organisation. On a more macro level, Wilber cited two references to works related to
Integral organisations:
1. Christianson – “Disruptive Technologies”
2. Geoffrey Moore – Looks at four different types of companies at the blue, orange, green and yellow level.
Integral Coaching:
From Wilber’s perspective, he believes that there are three elements that underpin the process of coaching.
1. Consent of the person – there can only be forward movement if the individual is a willing participant in the coaching relationship. It is a possibility that over a period of time an unwilling individual may come to value the coaching experience however this is not a given nor the ideal scenario for a positive, beneficial coaching relationship that generates change.
2. Time – the coaching relationship creates the most substantial change over a period of time therefore the individual must be willing to dedicate time and energy into the process, including committing to homework agreed upon by the two parties, that is the stimulus for change in the person’s life. Without the time commitment, it is highly likely that very little significant change will take place.
3. Cross training – greater gains can be found if training is conducted simultaneously across several developmental areas such as cognition, physical fitness, emotional understanding and behaviour. Three areas cross trained simultaneously result in a higher degree of improvement however research has shown that a person who is practicing Transcendental Meditation and weight lifting in the same period experience more dramatic benefits than someone who is participating solely in one medium. Thus the integral, transformative practice of cross training is a multimodal approach to facilitating change within an individual as long as the two criteria mentioned above are present in the process.
Further to the success of integral coaching is for the coach to have an understanding of the AQAL map and use it to determine a generalised map of the level at which the individual is functioning. To determine the psychograph, development typology can be ascertained through the use of assessment tools such as the MBTI, the Enneagram, and 360 degree feedback for example. Understanding defence mechanisms can also lead to a general determination of levels by identifying something that the person excels in and something that the person continues to sabotage in their life. Clarifying the level of an individual then creates a basis of understanding of their centre of gravity and allows the coach to shift their own way of being to fully complement the individual. The ability of the coach also depends on where the coach’s centre of gravity lies. A coach at the orange level will interact well with all clients at the same level and below but will find it difficult to coach an individual that has a centre of gravity above that of orange. An integral coach has the ability to change their language to whatever level the client is at. Furthermore, as with the integral leader, an integral coach is someone who’s cognitive and self line are congruent – they are ‘walking the talk’ and ‘know thy self’. Wilber suggests that it is preferable that the coach has a psychology background and, if not, exhibit a deep understanding of human behaviour. Essentially, by giving an individual the tools to strengthen their gifts, the coaching relationship is invaluable.
By Jo Doyle, May 2005
This conversation was conducted as part of an international research tour into world class executive education and business schools ‘best practice’. The meeting with Ken Wilber allowed for an understanding of his perspective on:
a. what an Integral Leader looks like
b. what an Integral organisation looks like
c. Integral coaching
Characteristics of an Integral Leader:
An Integral leader is someone who is at the yellow or turquoise 2nd tier level of development (?), whether they understand this consciously or not. Ken suggests that there are very few leaders at 2nd tier who are consciously aware of how they are in the world as a yellow or turquoise leader. He suggests that the majority are currently leading intuitively and by providing these leaders with an All Quadrant, All Level (AQAL) map of an Integral perspective, they would be better equipped to consciously step into the role as a more effective leader embracing all aspects of leadership.
However, Ken cautions that there are leaders who may appear to be at the yellow level through their intellectual understanding of the presenting concepts which is necessary but not sufficient to be an authentic leader. He suggests that even though the cognitive understanding is there, this often runs one or two levels ahead of moral development. Therefore, the ‘talk’ is one thing but the person’s centre of gravity is in fact one or two levels below where their thinking lies. This imbalance eventually causes damage within the Self and the organisation as lack of respect for the leader will begin to emerge if the rhetoric and action are not aligned. Therefore, an Integral Leader is someone who is integrally informed about their development, that is, their cognitive and Self lines are essentially similar. Both are second tier, and the person has a conscious map of what it means to be second tier in development. Although encompassing all other levels, their interpersonal, moral, needs and ego development capacities are all at second tier. Essentially they are “walking the talk”, their words, behaviours, needs and understanding of Self and others are congruent and operating at the yellow or turquoise level. Furthermore an Integral Leader has a deep understanding of all levels that precede the yellow or turquoise and have the ability to influence interactions by changing behaviour and language to match the level of the person with whom the communication is taking place. An interesting example was cited where leaders of red, blue, orange, green, and yellow levels were all placed in the same room to discuss a common issue. Upon leaving the room each person found some reason why they did not like the other participants except for the yellow leader. All the other leaders had no distinct feeling or opinion towards this person.
When asked who is doing it (Integral theory) well, Wilber cited Rhodes and Corralis “The Congruent Leader” as a very good interpretation/application of the integral theory with an expansion of further ideas.???
Characteristics of an Integral Organisation:
First and foremost an Integral organisation has an Integral president or CEO, someone who has a conscious map of the yellow or turquoise level and is living the values of the 2nd tier level. This person has an understanding or map of human nature that takes into account the AQAL map when setting up all aspects of the organisation. Therefore an Integral organisation is crafted from the beginning. The structure of the organisation is not necessarily that different from the norm, the significant difference lies with the people and how they are viewed. For example, by employing upper management who are already 2nd tiered and giving them an AQAL map:
allows them to consciously understand their people from a more integrated perspective
provides them with the terminology for what they have been doing intuitively as a leader.
creates more clarity which leads to better judgement and decision making.
is as good as having an understanding of the typology of an employee as it enables a leader to change language in order to interact at the level of the person at hand.
An Integral organisation also makes certain things explicit in their values, mission statement, expectations and way of operating that would not be found in a ‘normal’ organisation.
A further significant difference is in the hiring practices of the organisation. The implementation of an assessment tool to produce a AQAL psychograph of each employee enables a more comprehensive matching of employee to position. This ensures:
the employees are compatible with the tasks, skills and competencies required of them
the employees are compatible with the immediate team members and overall working environment
the employees are compatible with the values of the organisation
This provides a significant benefit for HR placements as well as creating a congruent and aligned match between the individual’s values and the values of the organisation. On a more macro level, Wilber cited two references to works related to
Integral organisations:
1. Christianson – “Disruptive Technologies”
2. Geoffrey Moore – Looks at four different types of companies at the blue, orange, green and yellow level.
Integral Coaching:
From Wilber’s perspective, he believes that there are three elements that underpin the process of coaching.
1. Consent of the person – there can only be forward movement if the individual is a willing participant in the coaching relationship. It is a possibility that over a period of time an unwilling individual may come to value the coaching experience however this is not a given nor the ideal scenario for a positive, beneficial coaching relationship that generates change.
2. Time – the coaching relationship creates the most substantial change over a period of time therefore the individual must be willing to dedicate time and energy into the process, including committing to homework agreed upon by the two parties, that is the stimulus for change in the person’s life. Without the time commitment, it is highly likely that very little significant change will take place.
3. Cross training – greater gains can be found if training is conducted simultaneously across several developmental areas such as cognition, physical fitness, emotional understanding and behaviour. Three areas cross trained simultaneously result in a higher degree of improvement however research has shown that a person who is practicing Transcendental Meditation and weight lifting in the same period experience more dramatic benefits than someone who is participating solely in one medium. Thus the integral, transformative practice of cross training is a multimodal approach to facilitating change within an individual as long as the two criteria mentioned above are present in the process.
Further to the success of integral coaching is for the coach to have an understanding of the AQAL map and use it to determine a generalised map of the level at which the individual is functioning. To determine the psychograph, development typology can be ascertained through the use of assessment tools such as the MBTI, the Enneagram, and 360 degree feedback for example. Understanding defence mechanisms can also lead to a general determination of levels by identifying something that the person excels in and something that the person continues to sabotage in their life. Clarifying the level of an individual then creates a basis of understanding of their centre of gravity and allows the coach to shift their own way of being to fully complement the individual. The ability of the coach also depends on where the coach’s centre of gravity lies. A coach at the orange level will interact well with all clients at the same level and below but will find it difficult to coach an individual that has a centre of gravity above that of orange. An integral coach has the ability to change their language to whatever level the client is at. Furthermore, as with the integral leader, an integral coach is someone who’s cognitive and self line are congruent – they are ‘walking the talk’ and ‘know thy self’. Wilber suggests that it is preferable that the coach has a psychology background and, if not, exhibit a deep understanding of human behaviour. Essentially, by giving an individual the tools to strengthen their gifts, the coaching relationship is invaluable.
Feature Article: Antonia Clissa Q&A
1. Describe your strengths as a Consultant and Executive Coach?
It is always challenging to speak about oneself. So here we go. I believe that my strengths lie in my capacity to connect with a wide range of people. I have a genuine curiosity about people that enables me to find a point of connection. I think that being able to listen deeply to people helps me enormously in my work as a coach and facilitator. In terms of my approach as a Consultant and Executive Coach I believe that I am collaborative and appropriately challenging and endeavour to walk alongside people as they work towards their goals. I find that doing this work is an enormous privilege and I learn a great deal in the process.
2. What’s your most memorable workshop you’ve conducted and why?
Each workshop holds some memorable element of learning for me. However the most recent workshop I conducted that was most memorable involved facilitating a team in conflict. The reasons it was memorable for me was that it reinforced the absolute importance of creating a safe space for people to be heard and validated as the first step towards healing differences and resolving conflict.
3. What are your thoughts on Leadership for the future?
In my view responsibility for Leadership for the future lies with each one of us. I believe it is incumbent on each one of us to take responsibility to exercise leadership in our own lives and in whatever situation or circumstance we find ourselves and also to encourage each other to take up the mantle of leadership as events or opportunities require.
4. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
This is a hard question to answer as there are many fascinating people that I would like to invite to dinner. Of course I would love to spend an evening with the newly elected President of the USA and the very inspiring First Lady. I have had a long standing interest in politically troubled Timor Leste or East Timor and the current and second President Jose Ramos-Horta. He shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Bishop Ximenes Belo for their tireless fight against the oppression of the “small people”. In 2008 he survived an assassination attempt and was flown to Darwin for treatment. Then there is the father of anti-apartheid in South Africa the most esteemed Nelson Mandela. Lastly I would want to invite my partner James so that we could share the experience for many years on.
5. Who is the Leader that inspires you and why?
I have been inspired by many people and not all of them who would be readily identifiable as Leaders. However there is a Western Australian, Sir Ronald Wilson who died in 2005 whose humility and quiet determination inspired me. His desire for the wider Australian community to better understand the history of indigenous Australians led him to work and travel widely well after retirement. He co-authored the 1997 Stolen Generation report which resulted in the establishment of National Sorry Day and culminated in the remarkable Reconciliation walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge which involved some 400,000 people and thousands more participating across Australia.
6. If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 items would you like with you?
I would want my MP3 player so that I could listen to my favourite music and of course podcasts of ABC Radio National especially my favourite program Late Night Live with Phillip Adams; a copy of Richard Rohr’s book Everything Belongs and snorkeling gear to explore the hidden magic of the island’s waters.
It is always challenging to speak about oneself. So here we go. I believe that my strengths lie in my capacity to connect with a wide range of people. I have a genuine curiosity about people that enables me to find a point of connection. I think that being able to listen deeply to people helps me enormously in my work as a coach and facilitator. In terms of my approach as a Consultant and Executive Coach I believe that I am collaborative and appropriately challenging and endeavour to walk alongside people as they work towards their goals. I find that doing this work is an enormous privilege and I learn a great deal in the process.
2. What’s your most memorable workshop you’ve conducted and why?
Each workshop holds some memorable element of learning for me. However the most recent workshop I conducted that was most memorable involved facilitating a team in conflict. The reasons it was memorable for me was that it reinforced the absolute importance of creating a safe space for people to be heard and validated as the first step towards healing differences and resolving conflict.
3. What are your thoughts on Leadership for the future?
In my view responsibility for Leadership for the future lies with each one of us. I believe it is incumbent on each one of us to take responsibility to exercise leadership in our own lives and in whatever situation or circumstance we find ourselves and also to encourage each other to take up the mantle of leadership as events or opportunities require.
4. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
This is a hard question to answer as there are many fascinating people that I would like to invite to dinner. Of course I would love to spend an evening with the newly elected President of the USA and the very inspiring First Lady. I have had a long standing interest in politically troubled Timor Leste or East Timor and the current and second President Jose Ramos-Horta. He shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Bishop Ximenes Belo for their tireless fight against the oppression of the “small people”. In 2008 he survived an assassination attempt and was flown to Darwin for treatment. Then there is the father of anti-apartheid in South Africa the most esteemed Nelson Mandela. Lastly I would want to invite my partner James so that we could share the experience for many years on.
5. Who is the Leader that inspires you and why?
I have been inspired by many people and not all of them who would be readily identifiable as Leaders. However there is a Western Australian, Sir Ronald Wilson who died in 2005 whose humility and quiet determination inspired me. His desire for the wider Australian community to better understand the history of indigenous Australians led him to work and travel widely well after retirement. He co-authored the 1997 Stolen Generation report which resulted in the establishment of National Sorry Day and culminated in the remarkable Reconciliation walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge which involved some 400,000 people and thousands more participating across Australia.
6. If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 items would you like with you?
I would want my MP3 player so that I could listen to my favourite music and of course podcasts of ABC Radio National especially my favourite program Late Night Live with Phillip Adams; a copy of Richard Rohr’s book Everything Belongs and snorkeling gear to explore the hidden magic of the island’s waters.
Women Who Run with the Wolves (article by Ken Milling)
In her book Women Who Run with the Wolves Jungian psychoanalyst and award winning poet, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, focuses on the challenges faced by women in asserting themselves in their work and private lives.
The aim of the Integral Development assertiveness workshop is to move beyond the social level of interaction to further develop instinctual self-confidence that can enrich feminine power. One of the essential areas of focus in the workshop is aggression and one of the first steps is to investigate and recognise how each participant manages the aggression of themselves and others. A key question that participants are encouraged to answer in the workshop is “Are you able to facilitate constructive workplace outcomes when conflict is manifest either covertly or overtly and particularly when the conflict is aggressive?”
I first developed an interest in this area when over ten years I taught self-defence to females and noted a broad range of reaction to a number of physical exercises, such as the striking of focus mitts with as much aggression as possible. I also noted that this was an easier task for some than others, but that the vast majority of females reported feeling enlivened and empowered by the exercises. This led to an essential recognition that aggression is not the exclusive domain of males.
It is not unusual for aggression to be perceived as negative or undesirable, thereby repressing aggressive impulses, which leads to increased internal emotional tension. We are then much more likely to fall victim to our own deeper psychological states and suffer discomfort from our feelings and thoughts. This in turn can trigger an emotional/behavioural reaction. And with emotional/behavioural reaction the outcome will often be destructive as we override rationale.
I prefer to perceive feeling states not as positive or negative, but as a source of energy to potentially fuel constructive action. The key to greater personal choice in constructive action resides in an increased sense of consciousness of our personal psychological processes and our ability to access the energy source that is inextricably linked to feeling states. When we consciously harness that energy we can potentially facilitate a process of psychological transformation.
Many women can over-identify with the care giving role and disavow deeper feelings that might conflict with this. I believe that conscious engagement with aggressive drives can be used to fuel constructive action and open the path to a sense of personal empowerment.
Ken Milling
Executive Coach
ken@integral.org.au
The aim of the Integral Development assertiveness workshop is to move beyond the social level of interaction to further develop instinctual self-confidence that can enrich feminine power. One of the essential areas of focus in the workshop is aggression and one of the first steps is to investigate and recognise how each participant manages the aggression of themselves and others. A key question that participants are encouraged to answer in the workshop is “Are you able to facilitate constructive workplace outcomes when conflict is manifest either covertly or overtly and particularly when the conflict is aggressive?”
I first developed an interest in this area when over ten years I taught self-defence to females and noted a broad range of reaction to a number of physical exercises, such as the striking of focus mitts with as much aggression as possible. I also noted that this was an easier task for some than others, but that the vast majority of females reported feeling enlivened and empowered by the exercises. This led to an essential recognition that aggression is not the exclusive domain of males.
It is not unusual for aggression to be perceived as negative or undesirable, thereby repressing aggressive impulses, which leads to increased internal emotional tension. We are then much more likely to fall victim to our own deeper psychological states and suffer discomfort from our feelings and thoughts. This in turn can trigger an emotional/behavioural reaction. And with emotional/behavioural reaction the outcome will often be destructive as we override rationale.
I prefer to perceive feeling states not as positive or negative, but as a source of energy to potentially fuel constructive action. The key to greater personal choice in constructive action resides in an increased sense of consciousness of our personal psychological processes and our ability to access the energy source that is inextricably linked to feeling states. When we consciously harness that energy we can potentially facilitate a process of psychological transformation.
Many women can over-identify with the care giving role and disavow deeper feelings that might conflict with this. I believe that conscious engagement with aggressive drives can be used to fuel constructive action and open the path to a sense of personal empowerment.
Ken Milling
Executive Coach
ken@integral.org.au
Q&A: An Interview with Ken Milling
1. Describe your key strengths and personality as a consultant
As an executive coach, one of my key strengths comes partly from my experience as a psychotherapist working with a diverse range of people and issues. Where possible I like to facilitate an area of focus that is meaningful for the client, rather than present a prescriptive agenda informed by my personal perspective. I take a collaborative approach to coaching and believe that when the client has a sense of being supported by the coach the more difficult issues can be engaged with. Another of my strengths is that I enjoy the ongoing commitment to professional development that my work demands.
2. What’s your most memorable moment or workshop you’ve conducted and why?
I recently participated in an intensive management course where my role was to observe two participants over three days, then provide constructive feedback on their leadership ability and facilitate their development in specific areas of this. I enjoyed working with the Integral Development team in a pressured environment that stretched our own skills and, most importantly, the participants reported gaining a great deal from the three days, saying that they left feeling energised and ‘renewed’. For me, it was really gratifying to receive favourable feedback on the workshop.
3. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
Although Australia is in a relatively strong position in the current global economic downturn, there is no denying that into the future the state of the global economy will continue to affect us all by degree. It is essential that companies focus on developing their management teams and workforce to remain at the cutting edge of productivity and leadership. This is where Integral Development comes to the fore, with a group of professionals who are individually as committed to their own personal and professional development as they are to that of their clients. As a team we genuinely believe in making constructive contributions to our client companies and organisations. In five years I see Integral Development continuing as a well respected management company in great demand. In my view, our only limiting factor, albeit constructive, is our focus on quality rather than quantity.
4. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
I would invite ‘superchef’ Gordon Ramsey to prepare the meal, thus providing entertainment along with the food, and my guests would include His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and my wife Bev!
5. Who is a leader that inspires you and why?
I can think of a number, but currently it is Barack Obama who appears to be performing well under enormous pressure, having inherited a collapsing US economy, the extremely complex circumstances of international conflicts, and a nation that has long laboured under the burden of ‘poor PR’. I trust that he will bring to his administration integrity that goes beyond ‘next election rhetoric’ and that he will lead the way to international goodwill with his policies and approach. I believe that we can all contribute to this by broadening our perspectives and positive expectations.
6. If you were stranded on a desert island, what two items and one book would you like with you?
If I was stranded tomorrow, I would like with me a satellite phone with which I could assuredly place a call to my rescuers once I had finished the contents of a gourmet survival pack and the book The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr Norman Doidge!
As an executive coach, one of my key strengths comes partly from my experience as a psychotherapist working with a diverse range of people and issues. Where possible I like to facilitate an area of focus that is meaningful for the client, rather than present a prescriptive agenda informed by my personal perspective. I take a collaborative approach to coaching and believe that when the client has a sense of being supported by the coach the more difficult issues can be engaged with. Another of my strengths is that I enjoy the ongoing commitment to professional development that my work demands.
2. What’s your most memorable moment or workshop you’ve conducted and why?
I recently participated in an intensive management course where my role was to observe two participants over three days, then provide constructive feedback on their leadership ability and facilitate their development in specific areas of this. I enjoyed working with the Integral Development team in a pressured environment that stretched our own skills and, most importantly, the participants reported gaining a great deal from the three days, saying that they left feeling energised and ‘renewed’. For me, it was really gratifying to receive favourable feedback on the workshop.
3. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
Although Australia is in a relatively strong position in the current global economic downturn, there is no denying that into the future the state of the global economy will continue to affect us all by degree. It is essential that companies focus on developing their management teams and workforce to remain at the cutting edge of productivity and leadership. This is where Integral Development comes to the fore, with a group of professionals who are individually as committed to their own personal and professional development as they are to that of their clients. As a team we genuinely believe in making constructive contributions to our client companies and organisations. In five years I see Integral Development continuing as a well respected management company in great demand. In my view, our only limiting factor, albeit constructive, is our focus on quality rather than quantity.
4. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
I would invite ‘superchef’ Gordon Ramsey to prepare the meal, thus providing entertainment along with the food, and my guests would include His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the 44th President of the United States Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and my wife Bev!
5. Who is a leader that inspires you and why?
I can think of a number, but currently it is Barack Obama who appears to be performing well under enormous pressure, having inherited a collapsing US economy, the extremely complex circumstances of international conflicts, and a nation that has long laboured under the burden of ‘poor PR’. I trust that he will bring to his administration integrity that goes beyond ‘next election rhetoric’ and that he will lead the way to international goodwill with his policies and approach. I believe that we can all contribute to this by broadening our perspectives and positive expectations.
6. If you were stranded on a desert island, what two items and one book would you like with you?
If I was stranded tomorrow, I would like with me a satellite phone with which I could assuredly place a call to my rescuers once I had finished the contents of a gourmet survival pack and the book The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr Norman Doidge!
Interview with Pamela Hartigan
Pamela Hartigan is the Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University’s Said Business School. She is also a Volans Founding Partner and Non Executive Director. From 2001 to 2008 she was the Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, a Swiss-based organization focused on advancing the practice of social entrepreneurship nationally, regionally and globally. The Foundation is the second organization started by Klaus Schwab, the first being the World Economic Forum. Dr. Hartigan is the first Managing Director of the Foundation and has been responsible for shaping the strategy and operations pursued by the Foundation to achieve its mission.
Dr. Hartigan is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, holds a Masters degree in International Economics, a Masters in Education and a PhD in Cognitive Psychology. Her new book, entitled The Power of Unreasonable People: How Entrepreneurs Create Markets that change the World and co-authored with John Elkington, will be released in February 2008 by Harvard Business Press. She is a frequent lecturer on social entrepreneurship and innovation at graduate schools of business in the USA, Europe and Asia, and is an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia School of Business in New York City. She serves on the Board of five social enterprises and advises many more.
Throughout her career, Dr. Hartigan has held varied leadership positions in multilateral health organizations and educational institutions as well as in entrepreneurial non-profits. She has been responsible for conceptualizing and creating new organizations, departments or programs across a variety institutional arrangements and multi-stakeholder platforms. In the area of health, Pamela headed up the Department of Health Promotion at the World Health Organization (1999-2001); was Programme Manager and Area Co-ordinator for Applied Field Research in the Special Programme on Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) of the World Bank, WHO, and UNDP (1997-1999). Between 1990 and 1997, she worked in WHO’s Regional Office for the Americas, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), as Chief of the Gender, Health and Development and Manager for Special Initiative in the HIV/AIDS Programme.
Q&A: An Interview with Jonah Cacioppe
Q&A – Jonah Cacioppe
1. Describe your key strengths and personality as Business Manager of Integral Development?
“I think I have the ability to see others key skills and the desire to bring them together to create something greater than the sum of the parts. I also enjoying the planning and strategic process, although I do like the joke; “How do you make God laugh?” “Tell him your plans.”
2. What’s your most memorable moment?
“Hmmm. The first day I stood up on a surfboard was pretty memorable as was the day I nearly drowned on one several years later up at Yanchep.”
3. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
“In 5 years time I see Integral Development positioned as the leading boutique leadership development consultancy in Perth and on its way to being one of the most innovative and unique consultancy’s in Australia. By 2014 I we aim to be opening an office in Sydney, and be attracting more and more business from Asia. After all we are in a privileged position here in Perth with 60% of the world’s population sharing our time zone – this time zone is where most of the world’s economic growth will be occurring in the next decade and we want to be there to facilitate that growth and assist it in being healthy wise development, rather than just economic growth at the cost of the environment and well being of all.
We also aim to be delivering more and more innovative leadership programs, programs that incorporate some of our core values and skills, specifically in areas such as sustainability, personal development and using techniques such as meditation to facilitate leaders in being the best they can be. We see the market rapidly shifting to embrace some of these issues and techniques.”
4. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
“I’d love to have over William McDonough, he is one of America’s leading environmental thinkers and developed the ‘Cradle to Cradle’ framework and is involved in sustainability projects with Nike, Ford and the Chinese government that are quite inspiring. If you haven’t read his work do it.
I would also love to have over the founder of Zen, Bodhidharma. He spent seven years meditating in front of a wall before he became enlightened so he might not be the best conversationalist but I’m sure he would be interesting and inspirational nevertheless.
As for my third guest I think James Martin might be a good one, he is Britain’s leading futurist and famous for his book “the wired society” which foresaw the impact of the internet on culture. I am currently reading his latest book, “the meaning of the 21st Century” that very clearly outlines the key challenges facing humanity in the next 100 years. Both troubling and inspirational stuff.
I’d of course have to have my girl friend Jasmin, not only would she be extremely annoyed if I didn’t invite her, she also makes the most amazing chocolate mouse!
Last but not least, I’m thinking it's a toss up between Barack Obama or an artist like James Turrell or Bill Viola. Obama seems like an incredible and intelligent man and I would love to know how such a young and relatively new man in American politics has coped with such pressure. I think it is a key skill of any great leader to be cool, calm and compassionate under pressure and Barack seems to have this skill in one of the most difficult periods in recent history. If Barack wasn’t available I might go for James Turrell a US artist who owns a volcano in Arizona and creates some of the most incredible light installations on the planet.
5. Who is a Leader that inspires you and why?
“Besides the bunch I would like to have to dinner. I am actually convinced that everyone has the potential to lead and that everyone does so when they are in their most fundamental and authentic state, in the zone so to speak. Positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, in his seminal work, 'Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience', suggests and I agree that people are most happy when they are in a state of flow, a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. Where a person meets the need of the situation in front of them rather than focusing on their ego’s doubts, desires and thoughts about it.
Csíkszentmihályi described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost." In this state I think everyone is a leader and is exhibiting all the core qualities of a great leader. I’m always inspired by watching anyone expressing or acting from this state – whether it be a great business leader like Ray Anderson, Martin Luther King mid flow in his ’I have a dream speech’ or the Barzillian soccer team at their best. My vision for Integral Development is that we facilitate more and more people to get into this space more and more.”
6. If you were stranded on a desert island, what 2 items and one book would you like with you?
“My iphone so I could call and get picked up in the not too distant future, a pair of board shorts and a surfboard so I could go surfing while I wait and Shankara’s ‘Crest Jewel of discrimination’ (an 8th Century Indian spiritual classic) to read that evening while I wait for the love boat to cruise by and pick me up.
1. Describe your key strengths and personality as Business Manager of Integral Development?
“I think I have the ability to see others key skills and the desire to bring them together to create something greater than the sum of the parts. I also enjoying the planning and strategic process, although I do like the joke; “How do you make God laugh?” “Tell him your plans.”
2. What’s your most memorable moment?
“Hmmm. The first day I stood up on a surfboard was pretty memorable as was the day I nearly drowned on one several years later up at Yanchep.”
3. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
“In 5 years time I see Integral Development positioned as the leading boutique leadership development consultancy in Perth and on its way to being one of the most innovative and unique consultancy’s in Australia. By 2014 I we aim to be opening an office in Sydney, and be attracting more and more business from Asia. After all we are in a privileged position here in Perth with 60% of the world’s population sharing our time zone – this time zone is where most of the world’s economic growth will be occurring in the next decade and we want to be there to facilitate that growth and assist it in being healthy wise development, rather than just economic growth at the cost of the environment and well being of all.
We also aim to be delivering more and more innovative leadership programs, programs that incorporate some of our core values and skills, specifically in areas such as sustainability, personal development and using techniques such as meditation to facilitate leaders in being the best they can be. We see the market rapidly shifting to embrace some of these issues and techniques.”
4. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
“I’d love to have over William McDonough, he is one of America’s leading environmental thinkers and developed the ‘Cradle to Cradle’ framework and is involved in sustainability projects with Nike, Ford and the Chinese government that are quite inspiring. If you haven’t read his work do it.
I would also love to have over the founder of Zen, Bodhidharma. He spent seven years meditating in front of a wall before he became enlightened so he might not be the best conversationalist but I’m sure he would be interesting and inspirational nevertheless.
As for my third guest I think James Martin might be a good one, he is Britain’s leading futurist and famous for his book “the wired society” which foresaw the impact of the internet on culture. I am currently reading his latest book, “the meaning of the 21st Century” that very clearly outlines the key challenges facing humanity in the next 100 years. Both troubling and inspirational stuff.
I’d of course have to have my girl friend Jasmin, not only would she be extremely annoyed if I didn’t invite her, she also makes the most amazing chocolate mouse!
Last but not least, I’m thinking it's a toss up between Barack Obama or an artist like James Turrell or Bill Viola. Obama seems like an incredible and intelligent man and I would love to know how such a young and relatively new man in American politics has coped with such pressure. I think it is a key skill of any great leader to be cool, calm and compassionate under pressure and Barack seems to have this skill in one of the most difficult periods in recent history. If Barack wasn’t available I might go for James Turrell a US artist who owns a volcano in Arizona and creates some of the most incredible light installations on the planet.
5. Who is a Leader that inspires you and why?
“Besides the bunch I would like to have to dinner. I am actually convinced that everyone has the potential to lead and that everyone does so when they are in their most fundamental and authentic state, in the zone so to speak. Positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, in his seminal work, 'Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience', suggests and I agree that people are most happy when they are in a state of flow, a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. Where a person meets the need of the situation in front of them rather than focusing on their ego’s doubts, desires and thoughts about it.
Csíkszentmihályi described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost." In this state I think everyone is a leader and is exhibiting all the core qualities of a great leader. I’m always inspired by watching anyone expressing or acting from this state – whether it be a great business leader like Ray Anderson, Martin Luther King mid flow in his ’I have a dream speech’ or the Barzillian soccer team at their best. My vision for Integral Development is that we facilitate more and more people to get into this space more and more.”
6. If you were stranded on a desert island, what 2 items and one book would you like with you?
“My iphone so I could call and get picked up in the not too distant future, a pair of board shorts and a surfboard so I could go surfing while I wait and Shankara’s ‘Crest Jewel of discrimination’ (an 8th Century Indian spiritual classic) to read that evening while I wait for the love boat to cruise by and pick me up.
Pamela Hartigan: Why Social Entrepreneurship is more than a passing trend
Combining Markets and Meaning : Why Social Entrepreneurship is more than a passing trend
Pamela Hartigan
Social Ventures Australia
March 2009
I am delighted to be here and would like to thank you all for this opportunity to exchange perspectives and advance understanding of how “social entrepreneurship” is developing around the world. I want to plunge right in by providing you with a definition of social entrepreneurship that I and others have been continuously refining as we understand more about this emerging field.
Social entrepreneurship refers to the practice of combining innovation, opportunity and resourcefulness to address some of our most challenging social, economic and environmental problems. The ventures social entrepreneurs create may be for profit or not for profit, but the priority is on generating systems change that improves people’s lives.
So what is the difference between a business and a social entrepreneur? Both are propelled by a perceived opportunity which they relentlessly pursue. Neither is propelled primarily by making money. But for the business entrepreneur from the beginning of the venture, the perceived opportunity lies in creating a new or improved product or service with the expectation that it will sell, generating financial profits for the entrepreneur and for the investors.
In contrast, social entrepreneurs are driven to address market or government failures. They work where business has failed to come up with innovative ways to design and deliver the goods and services needed to address social, economic and environmental challenges because the risks are too high in relation to the financial profits to be made.
Similarly, there are issues governments have been unable or unwilling to tackle because of financial, political or bureaucratic constraints, including a lack of imagination. Social entrepreneurs are drawn to deal with such challenges, transforming the systems and practices that have stood in the way of pragmatic, equitable and sustainable solutions.
I like to summarize the definition by saying a social entrepreneur is what you get when you combine Richard Branson and Mother Teresa.
To show you how social entrepreneurship is emerging around the world, I want to share a number of different models which to my mind are harbingers of the kinds of human systems that will profoundly alter the architecture of how organizations operate. These entities have astounding results in terms of their efficiency and impact. But there is something else going on as well, as you will soon discern.
So let me start with my first example, one I have known and admired for the last ten years – and which I visited again last November in India. On the surface, India is a mess. It has a population of 1 billion and growing- most of them living in squalor. Yet India is touted as the frontier of the new economy, and on my visit I understood again why this is so.
It is not because of its pioneering ICT service industry or Bollywood. Rather, India is home to some of the most innovative business models that showcase what new organizations in a new economy should be based upon – a combination of markets and values where values take precedence.
And you cannot find a better example of what such an organization looks like and how it performs than Aravind Eye Care Hospital where I spent several days last November. Aravind’s efficiency and cost effectiveness astounded the investors with me on this trip, – who were amused to learn that its operational model is based on McDonalds. But Aravind isn’t about selling hamburgers all over the world – it is about giving sight to the blind. Aravind’s productivity is staggering. On a daily basis, 6,000 outpatients come to its 5 hospitals, and every day it performs 850 to 1,000 sight restoring surgeries. It reaches out to the reluctant vision impaired poor through its screening eye camps in remote areas, examining 1,500 people a day and transporting 300 of them to the hospital for surgery. And it runs classes for 100 residents and fellows and 300 technicians and administrators. All in one day’s work.
But the most amazing aspect of Aravind is that 55% of its patients receive their eye care – including examinations, diagnosis, surgeries, hospitalization and follow up – for free. Another 22% receive these services at a highly subsidized rate. The remaining 30% pay about US$1 per consultation and have their choice of accommodations, much like what airlines do in offering first, business and economy class. Surgery for paying clients is between $110 and $240, depending on the nature of the surgery. To give a point of comparison, it costs Aravind about $10 to conduct a cataract operation. It costs hospitals in the US about $1,650 to do the same.
One of the reasons Aravind has managed to keep costs down is its creation in 1992 of Aurolab, a pioneering initiative that produces high quality, low costs intraocular lenses, sutures, surgical instruments and eye-care related pharmaceuticals. How affordable? Aurolab has reinvented pricing, bringing the cost of IOLs, for example, from US$ 150 to US$2, creating pressure on mainstream pharmaceuticals to reduce their prices. Aurolab today has ISO 9001 certification, US FDA approval and CE Mark certification and exports to 120 countries.
Since its inception thirty years ago, Aravind has performed over 3 million vision restoring operations – and despite the fact that 70% pay nothing or next to nothing, the hospital has a gross margin of 40%, freeing it of donor dependency for expansion and R & D costs.
I have given you a taste of Aravind’s astounding efficiency. Yet it is its HUMANITY that makes it an illustration of what a new organization structure in a different economy could look like. Its founder, Dr. Venkataswamy (Dr. V), did not set out to run a profit-maximizing business. He set out to restore sight to the blind. A deeply spiritual man, his leadership began with the pursuit of self-knowledge and a vision bigger than what defines present day corporations. The question that propelled him was “How can my work make me a better human being and make a better world?” If only corporate leaders on Wall Street could ask the same question.
Part of Aravind’s service package includes love, courage, and total care. And that philosophy is evidenced across Aravind, from the most senior staff to the receptionist who greets the hordes of people who come on a daily basis. Aravind’s retention rate is the envy of any organization. The key is, Aravind employees don’t work for the salary or the perks. They are inspired by the knowledge that they are truly contributing to improve the conditions of their countrymen and women.
So let’s go on to the second example. And here I would like to bring in the concept of “market driving” is a term coined by Philip Kotler, a professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. It refers to the creation of a market that didn’t exist before. What all market-driving companies have in common is that they are guided by a vision or a radical idea rather than by traditional market research. These visions involve high risk – and unlimited potential rewards.
And with the concept of “market drivers” in mind, and what Aravind has achieved in building a market, I turn now to a very different example but also revolutionary in its vision, organizational set up and impact. Endeavor is based in New York City – but it executes a highly successful global mission driven by Linda Rottenberg, its pioneering co-founder and CEO.
The saying goes “If you are looking for a big opportunity, find a big problem” - and Linda found both. The big problem she identified was as follows: in the US, there is a wealth of resources available to business entrepreneurs – no where else in the world is it so easy for someone with an idea to set up a business, access angel investors or venture capital, and recruit talent. This is not the case in emerging markets. The majority of folks who get their ventures off the ground are those who come from the right families, have gone to the right schools and therefore have the right connections. Yet economic and social development in these countries depends on growing a healthy diversity of medium and larger business enterprises.
And that was the big opportunity Linda tapped into when she set up Endeavor. Linda was convinced that the best way to catalyze sustainable economic growth in emerging markets was to identify and support high-impact entrepreneurs in those countries. She was basing her hunch on studies in industrialized countries proving that high-impact entrepreneurship and new venture creation are essential drivers of economic growth and social mobility. But entrepreneurship as an engine of economic growth was largely absent from emerging and developing countries where aid, not entrepreneurship, has dominated development thinking. Her plan was to supply the missing ingredients to encourage entrepreneurship as a tool for development by creating the support systems to nurture entrepreneurial talent to emerge and grow, by providing exposure to investors, encouraging the audacity to think big, and building a network of role models and mentors.
But rather than going to USAID or the World Bank to secure the funds to get Endeavor off the ground, she opted for a strategy that everyone thought was completely crazy. Why? Because she decided that if Endeavor was to work, it had to secure the commitment of the handful of successful business entrepreneurs in a given country – precisely those who had made it because of family, education and connections. Few thought this would be possible.
Determined to prove the naysayers wrong, Linda stalked her potential investors at the gym and outside restrooms. She logged over a million airline miles and ultimately convinced top business leaders first in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, and then onto Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and India - and still growing, convincing these highly successful businessmen not only to invest funds to set up Endeavor in their respective countries, but also to dedicate their time and passion to the organization and its entrepreneurs. And she did it.
But before I give you some results, let’s look at why Endeavor is an interesting example from an organizational development perspective.
First of all, Endeavor is a non-profit organization that is focused on stimulating and growing for-profit businesses in emerging markets. Many have asked why Linda opted to set up a non-profit, given that she could have made millions if she had set up a consultancy. But the decision was a strategic one. For one, Endeavor did not want to be seen by its selected entrepreneurs as competing with them for capital. But as importantly, Endeavor’s non-profit status created what are perhaps its two most important assets – on the one hand, it generated a high level of trust between Endeavor, its supporters and the entrepreneurs it selected. And secondly and closely linked to the trust, it conferred neutrality. Unlike a venture capital company that has financially invested in an enterprise, Endeavor’s commitment to its selected entrepreneurs has never been financial. It is tactical. Endeavor opens doors to investors, to talent and to huge opportunities.
And in doing that, it has garnered enormous respect worldwide, with business entrepreneurs in emerging markets around the world clamouring for Endeavor to consider setting up operations in their country.
So let’s look at how it does that. Endeavor operates a mixed model that combines a franchise with a hub and spokes models. Endeavor Global, based in New York City, is the hub that sets the standards, and - as it was based in the US, opened the doors of US based investors, banks, entrepreneurs and talent to its selected and highly promising Endeavor entrepreneurs all over the world.
But Endeavor Global does not run its country spokes. Each office independent and mobilizes its own funds. And so there is an Endeavor Argentina, and Endeavor Brazil, Endeavor Jordan, Endeavor South Africa and so on. Each has its own board comprised of the leading businessmen and women in the country – giving Endeavor huge visibility in that country.
The point is, Linda and her colleagues have succeeded in securing a sense of ownership and commitment in each of the countries where Endeavor has operations. To illustrate, Linda proudly tells the story of a recent trip to Brazil where she was introduced to a leading government official as the founder of Endeavor, to which he replied: “Endeavor? But that is a Brazilian organization that supports business entrepreneurs”.
What does it cost to run Endeavor? Endeavor Global and its 10 offices do all they do with 6.8 million dollars a year. Considering that in 2007 Endeavor Entrepreneurs had generated 2.5 billion dollars in revenues in their respective countries, we are looking at an order of magnitude of about 290 times its operating budget. And by the way, 96% of Endeavor supported enterprises are still operating and growing. In fact, these entrepreneurs have been so successful that many have turned into “country benefactors”, supporting their mother ship that was responsible for their success. And Endeavor is ramping up to reach 25 countries by 2015.
And now let’s turn to Japan for our last example – a dramatically different one from the first two but no less in its impact. What I will describe to you is not an organization – think of a spider web where Takao Furuno, a lone Japanese farmer in Fukuoka, Japan, sits in the middle of the web and transforms agricultural practices through a vast network of interlinked farmers throughout Asia. Together, this collective has taken on the agro-chemical industry and has started what Furuno calls the “duck revolution”
Consider the following: The Green Revolution method of agriculture was introduced 35 years ago in Asia, facilitated by northern research aid, World Bank credit and the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) technical assistance. It swept through Asia, and by 1990, 75% of Asian rice areas made use of this technological package of “miracle” seeds which sharply raised farm yields in the short run because of their high response to big doses of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Yet over the years, several trends emerged that forced the World Bank and FAO to retract their support for this massive agricultural production method, including increasing soil infertility, chemical pollution of water resources, pesticide poisoning and pest infestation caused by growing immunity to pesticides.
When Furuno started his work in organic rice farming 30 years ago, Japanese farming was caught up in the Green Revolution and his work was considered nothing short of heretical. But despite the huge challenges, Furuno had been inspired by Rachel Carson’s seminal work, Silent Spring, published in the 1970s and ushered in the environmental movement. Furuno was determined to turn his farm organic. He spent ten years doing the backbreaking work of pulling out weeds by hand so as not to use the chemicals his neighbors relied on. And then in 1988, he came upon a centuries-old Chinese practice of using ducklings to protect rice. Placing the ducklings in the rice paddies when the rice is first seeded, the ducks eat insects, pests and snails. They also use their feet to dig up weeds, in the process oxygenating the water and strengthening the roots of rice plants. The Furuno farm is 2 hectares, 1.4 of which are rice paddy fields, while the rest is devoted to growing organic vegetables. As a result of the duck rice method, the small farm yields annually 7 tons of rice, 300 ducks, 4,000 ducklings and enough vegetables to supply 100 people.
The end result is the successful marketing of duck rice, which now sells at a 20-30% premium over conventionally grown rice in Japan and other countries and does not use any chemicals.
The method has been researched and perfected over the years in the Furunos own field and elsewhere in Asia. Although he is a farmer, Furuno is an agricultural scientist as well, and continuously investigates every facet of the method and its comparative advantages over others.
But to do so, Furuno did not set up a resource intensive organization. Rather, he has set up a human network of farmers, agricultural research institutes and ministries of agriculture with a common mission. He travels throughout Asia to spread the knowledge of the integrated duck-rice method. Currently, about 75,000 farmers have taken up his method, including around 10,000 Japanese farmers. His biggest impact has been in Korea, where the government was so impressed with the method that it supported its spread through favorable policies. Likewise in Vietnam, the Mekong Delta is filled with farmers using the duck-rice system as a result of Furuno's engagement. He has also supported farmers in the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia to introduce the method, using ducks and fish from the area. Field trials have also begun in Tanzania. Farmers have increased their yields by 20 to 59% in the first year alone.
So with these three examples in mind, let’s step back and consider some of the elements common to all three and what the lessons might be how the organizations of the future might look like.
First of all, all three strategies have focused on changing the status quo and accompanying beliefs, attitudes and organizational structures to better fit emerging challenges.
• Aravind reinvented pricing and delivery of sight restoring medical interventions – not as a product, but as a care system that encompasses a human being – not just an eyeball.
• Endeavor created a thriving entrepreneurial culture where it did not exist, secured the commitment of top business leaders and inspired a nation of closet entrepreneurs who had never had the access needed to get their ventures kick started.
• Furuno took on the agrichemical industry in a very pragmatic way – not by parading outside big chemical companies holding placards with protest messages – but by proving that an effective, high yielding alternative is possible – and working through a wide network of like-minded agricultural practitioners.
Second, none of these leaders were “command and control” types. Rather, their strategy has been to inspire others to tap into their respective strengthens and passions. None will have so called “succession challenges” or need to continuously restructure their organizations – the excuse so many companies resort to when trying to bide time for failed leadership.
The nature of leadership in these new human systems is best captured by two of my favorite and iconoclastic business school teachers out of the University of Stockholm, Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom. They note that “The traditional hierarchical firm won’t be a problem in the 21st century – it won’t be around. The new organization will be heterarchical – containing many hierarchies of different kinds. So forget organizational pyramids with the CEO sitting atop them. Who wants to work in pyramids, the greatest tombs ever created by man? Playgrounds must gradually replace pyramids.”
In the case of Aravind, Dr. V -who started Aravind at the age of 58 – he died two years ago leaving in place a cadre of talented and inspired leaders at all levels of the Aravind network. Likewise, Linda may be the Global CEO – but she has managed to infect all who come into contact with Endeavor with a burning desire to commit themselves to advance an entrepreneurial culture in their own countries. And of course Furuno has only his ducks to boss around – perhaps he is one of the first truly networked farmers in the world.
According to Kouzes and Posner, gurus on the subject of leadership, they define it as “… the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations. All leadership involves inspiration, vision, competence and interpersonal skills.” And that is exactly what Dr. V, Linda and Furuno have achieved. It takes courage, imagination and persistence to drive through the kinds of fundamental changes needed to respond to new challenges and opportunities. And that can only be done through a more open style of leadership that combines intellectual humility and personal confidence which doesn’t confuse ambition with omniscience. As a leader, enhancing the architecture of participation means imposing limits on one’s ego, overcoming the know-it-all style of leadership that seems to be the default mode in most companies. You can think big without having to think of everything yourself. Dan Weiden, who set up one of the most respected advertising agencies and is known for its iconic work for Nike, including the tag line, “Just Do It”, notes that “Whatever day it is, something in the world changed overnight, and you better figure out what it is and what it means. You have to forget what you just did and what you just learned. You have to walk in stupid every day.”
“Walking in stupid every day” means questioning personal and long-held assumptions, expertise and experience – the very cornerstones of what traditional careers are built upon. But the ability to “unlearn” also ushers in openness to creative, innovative and market-generating ideas that no one else has detected.
And that is why all three of these are market driving organizations. That is, to create the changes they have sought, they have to educate all in their respective “ecosystems”, so to speak, in order to change mindsets and attitudes. It is not enough to change the internal workings of an organization. The wider context also must be influenced, and they have understood this. In the case of Aravind, it does this through community work and outreach camps which its doctors and technicians routinely undertake. They set out for remote villages sometimes driving for days. Once there, they work round the clock examining people and working to identify those who will need to be taken for surgery. In this way, they influence community leaders to encourage the reluctant poor into seeking help for vision problems – instead of assuming that diminishing visual acuity is their lot.
In the case of Endeavor it reaches out to business and business school talent in the US and in its 10 countries of operations, changing the perception that successful entrepreneurial ventures in emerging markets are rare, and those that are successful are only so because of connections, not merit. And Furuno has created a thriving organic market for rice and other foodstuffs where these simply did not exist in Asia.
Fifth, I want you to note that none of these organizations is solely focused on the financial bottom line. They refuse to dichotomize how they make their money from how they improve society. Social entrepreneurs and their ventures thrive where markets and governments haven’t stepped up to the plate. And in responding to these opportunities, they are the harbingers of the new business models and what could hopefully be a way of combining markets and meaning, something we have lost sight of over the last few decades and which has blown up in our faces in the last twelve months.
I know over the last few months, many professionals working in large, medium and small businesses have had good reason to worry. With access to credit significantly restricted, consumer spending plunging and unemployment skyrocketing, we all have reason to worry. But we also have reason to be excited, for this is an enormous opportunity to fix our broken capitalistic system.
So what is the way forward for sustainable capitalism? First of all, it requires changing mindsets, and that is the biggest challenge of all. But it can be done. It is hard for us who have been born and raised in the context of capitalism and the large corporation - to reflect on the fact that not many centuries ago, humankind finally began to achieve a surplus, something more than the necessities for survival..
There is no doubt that the modern corporation as we know it today has empowered individual genius and bestowed great social benefits. Yet it has also done social harm.
Many of the ills of modern life – non-sustainable levels of personal and institutional debt, toxic air and water, workplace injury, loss of livelihoods for communities, political bribery – can be traced to corporate lack of responsibility to one or more constituencies. This is not intentional. No one wants to cause poverty, pollution, disease, unemployment and corruption. Rather, they want to make profits. But in that pursuit, they may find anti-social behavior pays. To achieve profits in the short term, corporations exact a “social and environmental price” and that price is high and rising.
The key to sustainable capitalism is reasonable profits as opposed to maximizing profits. In our current system, a segment of society is trying to maximize profits without concern for the impact on the well being of the society as a whole, while another segment of social organizations have to deal with the fall out. The system is not working, and the chickens have come home to roost. Oddly enough, even intelligent people still want to believe we only need to manipulate things a bit to get it right again. It hasn’t been right for a very long time, and fixing it to where we were before is not the path to take. We need to completely rethink our system, and fortunately, the economic crisis is forcing us to do exactly that.
And now a word about governments and social entrepreneurship. Most don’t understand that these entrepreneurs are not simple service delivery subcontractors like many non-profit organizations. Quite the contrary. Social entrepreneurs are change agents, system’s changers. Like business entrepreneurs who are the innovators in the corporate sector, social entrepreneurs are the innovators of the public sector. Governments should create the needed support systems to allow them to innovate and scale, without wanting to take over the innovation process and kill it as a result.
Social entrepreneurship is not a new field or discipline. It is a term that captures a unique approach to applying market principles to problems of unsustainable livelihoods, an approach that cuts across sectors and disciplines. It is this approach that sets the social entrepreneur apart from the rest of the crowd of well-meaning people and welfare based organizations who dedicate themselves to social improvement. It is also that approach that distinguishes them from companies who seek first and foremost to maximize profits, and worry about the social and environmental fallout later – and only when pressured to do so.
We now have the opportunity to rebuild our economy from its ashes and shape an economy that combines markets and values. The role of each of you in this process cannot be minimized. People will turn to you for guidance. And when they do, make sure you do not rebuild the house on the same weak foundations, but seek to draw inspiration from the growing number of mavericks who know that all of us want to work for a company that is fundamentally innovative, morally compelling and philosophically positive.
Pamela Hartigan
Social Ventures Australia
March 2009
I am delighted to be here and would like to thank you all for this opportunity to exchange perspectives and advance understanding of how “social entrepreneurship” is developing around the world. I want to plunge right in by providing you with a definition of social entrepreneurship that I and others have been continuously refining as we understand more about this emerging field.
Social entrepreneurship refers to the practice of combining innovation, opportunity and resourcefulness to address some of our most challenging social, economic and environmental problems. The ventures social entrepreneurs create may be for profit or not for profit, but the priority is on generating systems change that improves people’s lives.
So what is the difference between a business and a social entrepreneur? Both are propelled by a perceived opportunity which they relentlessly pursue. Neither is propelled primarily by making money. But for the business entrepreneur from the beginning of the venture, the perceived opportunity lies in creating a new or improved product or service with the expectation that it will sell, generating financial profits for the entrepreneur and for the investors.
In contrast, social entrepreneurs are driven to address market or government failures. They work where business has failed to come up with innovative ways to design and deliver the goods and services needed to address social, economic and environmental challenges because the risks are too high in relation to the financial profits to be made.
Similarly, there are issues governments have been unable or unwilling to tackle because of financial, political or bureaucratic constraints, including a lack of imagination. Social entrepreneurs are drawn to deal with such challenges, transforming the systems and practices that have stood in the way of pragmatic, equitable and sustainable solutions.
I like to summarize the definition by saying a social entrepreneur is what you get when you combine Richard Branson and Mother Teresa.
To show you how social entrepreneurship is emerging around the world, I want to share a number of different models which to my mind are harbingers of the kinds of human systems that will profoundly alter the architecture of how organizations operate. These entities have astounding results in terms of their efficiency and impact. But there is something else going on as well, as you will soon discern.
So let me start with my first example, one I have known and admired for the last ten years – and which I visited again last November in India. On the surface, India is a mess. It has a population of 1 billion and growing- most of them living in squalor. Yet India is touted as the frontier of the new economy, and on my visit I understood again why this is so.
It is not because of its pioneering ICT service industry or Bollywood. Rather, India is home to some of the most innovative business models that showcase what new organizations in a new economy should be based upon – a combination of markets and values where values take precedence.
And you cannot find a better example of what such an organization looks like and how it performs than Aravind Eye Care Hospital where I spent several days last November. Aravind’s efficiency and cost effectiveness astounded the investors with me on this trip, – who were amused to learn that its operational model is based on McDonalds. But Aravind isn’t about selling hamburgers all over the world – it is about giving sight to the blind. Aravind’s productivity is staggering. On a daily basis, 6,000 outpatients come to its 5 hospitals, and every day it performs 850 to 1,000 sight restoring surgeries. It reaches out to the reluctant vision impaired poor through its screening eye camps in remote areas, examining 1,500 people a day and transporting 300 of them to the hospital for surgery. And it runs classes for 100 residents and fellows and 300 technicians and administrators. All in one day’s work.
But the most amazing aspect of Aravind is that 55% of its patients receive their eye care – including examinations, diagnosis, surgeries, hospitalization and follow up – for free. Another 22% receive these services at a highly subsidized rate. The remaining 30% pay about US$1 per consultation and have their choice of accommodations, much like what airlines do in offering first, business and economy class. Surgery for paying clients is between $110 and $240, depending on the nature of the surgery. To give a point of comparison, it costs Aravind about $10 to conduct a cataract operation. It costs hospitals in the US about $1,650 to do the same.
One of the reasons Aravind has managed to keep costs down is its creation in 1992 of Aurolab, a pioneering initiative that produces high quality, low costs intraocular lenses, sutures, surgical instruments and eye-care related pharmaceuticals. How affordable? Aurolab has reinvented pricing, bringing the cost of IOLs, for example, from US$ 150 to US$2, creating pressure on mainstream pharmaceuticals to reduce their prices. Aurolab today has ISO 9001 certification, US FDA approval and CE Mark certification and exports to 120 countries.
Since its inception thirty years ago, Aravind has performed over 3 million vision restoring operations – and despite the fact that 70% pay nothing or next to nothing, the hospital has a gross margin of 40%, freeing it of donor dependency for expansion and R & D costs.
I have given you a taste of Aravind’s astounding efficiency. Yet it is its HUMANITY that makes it an illustration of what a new organization structure in a different economy could look like. Its founder, Dr. Venkataswamy (Dr. V), did not set out to run a profit-maximizing business. He set out to restore sight to the blind. A deeply spiritual man, his leadership began with the pursuit of self-knowledge and a vision bigger than what defines present day corporations. The question that propelled him was “How can my work make me a better human being and make a better world?” If only corporate leaders on Wall Street could ask the same question.
Part of Aravind’s service package includes love, courage, and total care. And that philosophy is evidenced across Aravind, from the most senior staff to the receptionist who greets the hordes of people who come on a daily basis. Aravind’s retention rate is the envy of any organization. The key is, Aravind employees don’t work for the salary or the perks. They are inspired by the knowledge that they are truly contributing to improve the conditions of their countrymen and women.
So let’s go on to the second example. And here I would like to bring in the concept of “market driving” is a term coined by Philip Kotler, a professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. It refers to the creation of a market that didn’t exist before. What all market-driving companies have in common is that they are guided by a vision or a radical idea rather than by traditional market research. These visions involve high risk – and unlimited potential rewards.
And with the concept of “market drivers” in mind, and what Aravind has achieved in building a market, I turn now to a very different example but also revolutionary in its vision, organizational set up and impact. Endeavor is based in New York City – but it executes a highly successful global mission driven by Linda Rottenberg, its pioneering co-founder and CEO.
The saying goes “If you are looking for a big opportunity, find a big problem” - and Linda found both. The big problem she identified was as follows: in the US, there is a wealth of resources available to business entrepreneurs – no where else in the world is it so easy for someone with an idea to set up a business, access angel investors or venture capital, and recruit talent. This is not the case in emerging markets. The majority of folks who get their ventures off the ground are those who come from the right families, have gone to the right schools and therefore have the right connections. Yet economic and social development in these countries depends on growing a healthy diversity of medium and larger business enterprises.
And that was the big opportunity Linda tapped into when she set up Endeavor. Linda was convinced that the best way to catalyze sustainable economic growth in emerging markets was to identify and support high-impact entrepreneurs in those countries. She was basing her hunch on studies in industrialized countries proving that high-impact entrepreneurship and new venture creation are essential drivers of economic growth and social mobility. But entrepreneurship as an engine of economic growth was largely absent from emerging and developing countries where aid, not entrepreneurship, has dominated development thinking. Her plan was to supply the missing ingredients to encourage entrepreneurship as a tool for development by creating the support systems to nurture entrepreneurial talent to emerge and grow, by providing exposure to investors, encouraging the audacity to think big, and building a network of role models and mentors.
But rather than going to USAID or the World Bank to secure the funds to get Endeavor off the ground, she opted for a strategy that everyone thought was completely crazy. Why? Because she decided that if Endeavor was to work, it had to secure the commitment of the handful of successful business entrepreneurs in a given country – precisely those who had made it because of family, education and connections. Few thought this would be possible.
Determined to prove the naysayers wrong, Linda stalked her potential investors at the gym and outside restrooms. She logged over a million airline miles and ultimately convinced top business leaders first in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, and then onto Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and India - and still growing, convincing these highly successful businessmen not only to invest funds to set up Endeavor in their respective countries, but also to dedicate their time and passion to the organization and its entrepreneurs. And she did it.
But before I give you some results, let’s look at why Endeavor is an interesting example from an organizational development perspective.
First of all, Endeavor is a non-profit organization that is focused on stimulating and growing for-profit businesses in emerging markets. Many have asked why Linda opted to set up a non-profit, given that she could have made millions if she had set up a consultancy. But the decision was a strategic one. For one, Endeavor did not want to be seen by its selected entrepreneurs as competing with them for capital. But as importantly, Endeavor’s non-profit status created what are perhaps its two most important assets – on the one hand, it generated a high level of trust between Endeavor, its supporters and the entrepreneurs it selected. And secondly and closely linked to the trust, it conferred neutrality. Unlike a venture capital company that has financially invested in an enterprise, Endeavor’s commitment to its selected entrepreneurs has never been financial. It is tactical. Endeavor opens doors to investors, to talent and to huge opportunities.
And in doing that, it has garnered enormous respect worldwide, with business entrepreneurs in emerging markets around the world clamouring for Endeavor to consider setting up operations in their country.
So let’s look at how it does that. Endeavor operates a mixed model that combines a franchise with a hub and spokes models. Endeavor Global, based in New York City, is the hub that sets the standards, and - as it was based in the US, opened the doors of US based investors, banks, entrepreneurs and talent to its selected and highly promising Endeavor entrepreneurs all over the world.
But Endeavor Global does not run its country spokes. Each office independent and mobilizes its own funds. And so there is an Endeavor Argentina, and Endeavor Brazil, Endeavor Jordan, Endeavor South Africa and so on. Each has its own board comprised of the leading businessmen and women in the country – giving Endeavor huge visibility in that country.
The point is, Linda and her colleagues have succeeded in securing a sense of ownership and commitment in each of the countries where Endeavor has operations. To illustrate, Linda proudly tells the story of a recent trip to Brazil where she was introduced to a leading government official as the founder of Endeavor, to which he replied: “Endeavor? But that is a Brazilian organization that supports business entrepreneurs”.
What does it cost to run Endeavor? Endeavor Global and its 10 offices do all they do with 6.8 million dollars a year. Considering that in 2007 Endeavor Entrepreneurs had generated 2.5 billion dollars in revenues in their respective countries, we are looking at an order of magnitude of about 290 times its operating budget. And by the way, 96% of Endeavor supported enterprises are still operating and growing. In fact, these entrepreneurs have been so successful that many have turned into “country benefactors”, supporting their mother ship that was responsible for their success. And Endeavor is ramping up to reach 25 countries by 2015.
And now let’s turn to Japan for our last example – a dramatically different one from the first two but no less in its impact. What I will describe to you is not an organization – think of a spider web where Takao Furuno, a lone Japanese farmer in Fukuoka, Japan, sits in the middle of the web and transforms agricultural practices through a vast network of interlinked farmers throughout Asia. Together, this collective has taken on the agro-chemical industry and has started what Furuno calls the “duck revolution”
Consider the following: The Green Revolution method of agriculture was introduced 35 years ago in Asia, facilitated by northern research aid, World Bank credit and the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) technical assistance. It swept through Asia, and by 1990, 75% of Asian rice areas made use of this technological package of “miracle” seeds which sharply raised farm yields in the short run because of their high response to big doses of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Yet over the years, several trends emerged that forced the World Bank and FAO to retract their support for this massive agricultural production method, including increasing soil infertility, chemical pollution of water resources, pesticide poisoning and pest infestation caused by growing immunity to pesticides.
When Furuno started his work in organic rice farming 30 years ago, Japanese farming was caught up in the Green Revolution and his work was considered nothing short of heretical. But despite the huge challenges, Furuno had been inspired by Rachel Carson’s seminal work, Silent Spring, published in the 1970s and ushered in the environmental movement. Furuno was determined to turn his farm organic. He spent ten years doing the backbreaking work of pulling out weeds by hand so as not to use the chemicals his neighbors relied on. And then in 1988, he came upon a centuries-old Chinese practice of using ducklings to protect rice. Placing the ducklings in the rice paddies when the rice is first seeded, the ducks eat insects, pests and snails. They also use their feet to dig up weeds, in the process oxygenating the water and strengthening the roots of rice plants. The Furuno farm is 2 hectares, 1.4 of which are rice paddy fields, while the rest is devoted to growing organic vegetables. As a result of the duck rice method, the small farm yields annually 7 tons of rice, 300 ducks, 4,000 ducklings and enough vegetables to supply 100 people.
The end result is the successful marketing of duck rice, which now sells at a 20-30% premium over conventionally grown rice in Japan and other countries and does not use any chemicals.
The method has been researched and perfected over the years in the Furunos own field and elsewhere in Asia. Although he is a farmer, Furuno is an agricultural scientist as well, and continuously investigates every facet of the method and its comparative advantages over others.
But to do so, Furuno did not set up a resource intensive organization. Rather, he has set up a human network of farmers, agricultural research institutes and ministries of agriculture with a common mission. He travels throughout Asia to spread the knowledge of the integrated duck-rice method. Currently, about 75,000 farmers have taken up his method, including around 10,000 Japanese farmers. His biggest impact has been in Korea, where the government was so impressed with the method that it supported its spread through favorable policies. Likewise in Vietnam, the Mekong Delta is filled with farmers using the duck-rice system as a result of Furuno's engagement. He has also supported farmers in the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia to introduce the method, using ducks and fish from the area. Field trials have also begun in Tanzania. Farmers have increased their yields by 20 to 59% in the first year alone.
So with these three examples in mind, let’s step back and consider some of the elements common to all three and what the lessons might be how the organizations of the future might look like.
First of all, all three strategies have focused on changing the status quo and accompanying beliefs, attitudes and organizational structures to better fit emerging challenges.
• Aravind reinvented pricing and delivery of sight restoring medical interventions – not as a product, but as a care system that encompasses a human being – not just an eyeball.
• Endeavor created a thriving entrepreneurial culture where it did not exist, secured the commitment of top business leaders and inspired a nation of closet entrepreneurs who had never had the access needed to get their ventures kick started.
• Furuno took on the agrichemical industry in a very pragmatic way – not by parading outside big chemical companies holding placards with protest messages – but by proving that an effective, high yielding alternative is possible – and working through a wide network of like-minded agricultural practitioners.
Second, none of these leaders were “command and control” types. Rather, their strategy has been to inspire others to tap into their respective strengthens and passions. None will have so called “succession challenges” or need to continuously restructure their organizations – the excuse so many companies resort to when trying to bide time for failed leadership.
The nature of leadership in these new human systems is best captured by two of my favorite and iconoclastic business school teachers out of the University of Stockholm, Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom. They note that “The traditional hierarchical firm won’t be a problem in the 21st century – it won’t be around. The new organization will be heterarchical – containing many hierarchies of different kinds. So forget organizational pyramids with the CEO sitting atop them. Who wants to work in pyramids, the greatest tombs ever created by man? Playgrounds must gradually replace pyramids.”
In the case of Aravind, Dr. V -who started Aravind at the age of 58 – he died two years ago leaving in place a cadre of talented and inspired leaders at all levels of the Aravind network. Likewise, Linda may be the Global CEO – but she has managed to infect all who come into contact with Endeavor with a burning desire to commit themselves to advance an entrepreneurial culture in their own countries. And of course Furuno has only his ducks to boss around – perhaps he is one of the first truly networked farmers in the world.
According to Kouzes and Posner, gurus on the subject of leadership, they define it as “… the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations. All leadership involves inspiration, vision, competence and interpersonal skills.” And that is exactly what Dr. V, Linda and Furuno have achieved. It takes courage, imagination and persistence to drive through the kinds of fundamental changes needed to respond to new challenges and opportunities. And that can only be done through a more open style of leadership that combines intellectual humility and personal confidence which doesn’t confuse ambition with omniscience. As a leader, enhancing the architecture of participation means imposing limits on one’s ego, overcoming the know-it-all style of leadership that seems to be the default mode in most companies. You can think big without having to think of everything yourself. Dan Weiden, who set up one of the most respected advertising agencies and is known for its iconic work for Nike, including the tag line, “Just Do It”, notes that “Whatever day it is, something in the world changed overnight, and you better figure out what it is and what it means. You have to forget what you just did and what you just learned. You have to walk in stupid every day.”
“Walking in stupid every day” means questioning personal and long-held assumptions, expertise and experience – the very cornerstones of what traditional careers are built upon. But the ability to “unlearn” also ushers in openness to creative, innovative and market-generating ideas that no one else has detected.
And that is why all three of these are market driving organizations. That is, to create the changes they have sought, they have to educate all in their respective “ecosystems”, so to speak, in order to change mindsets and attitudes. It is not enough to change the internal workings of an organization. The wider context also must be influenced, and they have understood this. In the case of Aravind, it does this through community work and outreach camps which its doctors and technicians routinely undertake. They set out for remote villages sometimes driving for days. Once there, they work round the clock examining people and working to identify those who will need to be taken for surgery. In this way, they influence community leaders to encourage the reluctant poor into seeking help for vision problems – instead of assuming that diminishing visual acuity is their lot.
In the case of Endeavor it reaches out to business and business school talent in the US and in its 10 countries of operations, changing the perception that successful entrepreneurial ventures in emerging markets are rare, and those that are successful are only so because of connections, not merit. And Furuno has created a thriving organic market for rice and other foodstuffs where these simply did not exist in Asia.
Fifth, I want you to note that none of these organizations is solely focused on the financial bottom line. They refuse to dichotomize how they make their money from how they improve society. Social entrepreneurs and their ventures thrive where markets and governments haven’t stepped up to the plate. And in responding to these opportunities, they are the harbingers of the new business models and what could hopefully be a way of combining markets and meaning, something we have lost sight of over the last few decades and which has blown up in our faces in the last twelve months.
I know over the last few months, many professionals working in large, medium and small businesses have had good reason to worry. With access to credit significantly restricted, consumer spending plunging and unemployment skyrocketing, we all have reason to worry. But we also have reason to be excited, for this is an enormous opportunity to fix our broken capitalistic system.
So what is the way forward for sustainable capitalism? First of all, it requires changing mindsets, and that is the biggest challenge of all. But it can be done. It is hard for us who have been born and raised in the context of capitalism and the large corporation - to reflect on the fact that not many centuries ago, humankind finally began to achieve a surplus, something more than the necessities for survival..
There is no doubt that the modern corporation as we know it today has empowered individual genius and bestowed great social benefits. Yet it has also done social harm.
Many of the ills of modern life – non-sustainable levels of personal and institutional debt, toxic air and water, workplace injury, loss of livelihoods for communities, political bribery – can be traced to corporate lack of responsibility to one or more constituencies. This is not intentional. No one wants to cause poverty, pollution, disease, unemployment and corruption. Rather, they want to make profits. But in that pursuit, they may find anti-social behavior pays. To achieve profits in the short term, corporations exact a “social and environmental price” and that price is high and rising.
The key to sustainable capitalism is reasonable profits as opposed to maximizing profits. In our current system, a segment of society is trying to maximize profits without concern for the impact on the well being of the society as a whole, while another segment of social organizations have to deal with the fall out. The system is not working, and the chickens have come home to roost. Oddly enough, even intelligent people still want to believe we only need to manipulate things a bit to get it right again. It hasn’t been right for a very long time, and fixing it to where we were before is not the path to take. We need to completely rethink our system, and fortunately, the economic crisis is forcing us to do exactly that.
And now a word about governments and social entrepreneurship. Most don’t understand that these entrepreneurs are not simple service delivery subcontractors like many non-profit organizations. Quite the contrary. Social entrepreneurs are change agents, system’s changers. Like business entrepreneurs who are the innovators in the corporate sector, social entrepreneurs are the innovators of the public sector. Governments should create the needed support systems to allow them to innovate and scale, without wanting to take over the innovation process and kill it as a result.
Social entrepreneurship is not a new field or discipline. It is a term that captures a unique approach to applying market principles to problems of unsustainable livelihoods, an approach that cuts across sectors and disciplines. It is this approach that sets the social entrepreneur apart from the rest of the crowd of well-meaning people and welfare based organizations who dedicate themselves to social improvement. It is also that approach that distinguishes them from companies who seek first and foremost to maximize profits, and worry about the social and environmental fallout later – and only when pressured to do so.
We now have the opportunity to rebuild our economy from its ashes and shape an economy that combines markets and values. The role of each of you in this process cannot be minimized. People will turn to you for guidance. And when they do, make sure you do not rebuild the house on the same weak foundations, but seek to draw inspiration from the growing number of mavericks who know that all of us want to work for a company that is fundamentally innovative, morally compelling and philosophically positive.
Effective Leadership
Effective Leadership:
Current Research, Theories and Skills of Effective Leadership
By Dr Ron Cacioppe
There is a new kind of leader that is emerging in modern day organisations. Ray Andersen and Dennis Littky are representatives of this new type of leader. They have a vision, an ability to inspire a concern for people and a desire to have their organisations fulfil a worthwhile purpose.
Ray Andersen is the Chairman and ex-CEO of InterfaceFlor, a company that makes carpet tiles in a way that results in no environmental damage. Ray started his company to capture a new market for office titles. After 10 years in business he read a book that changed his life when it suggested that companies should operate in a way that is socially and environmentally responsible as well as commercially successful. Since the mid 1990s Ray has built one of the largest carpet manufacturing and distributing businesses in the world and his product is totally in harmony with the environment (no toxic glues, recycled fibres, natural colours, etc.). In addition, Ray has attracted employees who are as committed to his vision as he is and who feel they are working for a great company that empowers them to be profitable and to ‘do well by doing good’.
Dennis Littky the founder of The Big Picture Company also has a strong and clear vision of what he wants his organisation to be. Littky firmly believes that the fundamental role for companies of the future is to become a catalyst for social change and to work for the greater good of the communities they serve. “The Big Picture Company”
Both Andersen and Littky are a new breed of leader. They have the personal characteristics (honesty, intelligence, charisma, etc.) of successful leaders and they have a vision which contributes to a wider purpose. They have the ability to transform the people’s ordinary day at work into a meaningful and important contribution, not only for themselves but also to the wider community they belong to.
This new type of leadership will need to have up-to-date management skills and will also need to provide a worthwhile purpose for work. This new type of leader will need to be able to reconnect individuals with their organisation and the world and to help workers provide meaningful service. This type of leader may not be common in today’s competitive business world but the rising expectations of the community and the need for environmental action will require this kind of leadership for any organisation to succeed in the future.
While leaders like Richard Branson, Steven Jobs and Bill Gates were the high profile leaders of the past, leadership at supervisory, middle and senior management levels is needed in all successful organisations. There are many Australian and New Zealand managers who are excellent leaders. In this article we explore what we have learned about leadership and which things contribute to leadership being effective and successful.
The 14 Secrets of a Happy and Productive Workplace
The Gallup organisation has compiled results from questionnaires and interviews of more than one million employees over 25 years. Using various statistical methods, the researchers identified which factors would indicate whether employees were likely to be satisfied and stay with their employers. These ‘core elements’ attract and retain productive employees and can be summarised by these questions:
1. Do I know what is expected of me?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission of my company make me feel like my work is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have someone I can confide in at work?
11. In the past six months, have I talked to with someone about my progress?
12. At work, have I had the opportunity to learn and grow?
13. Do I have a safe environment; physically, emotionally and mentally at work?
14. Does this organisation minimize its harm on the physical environment.
The last two items (13 & 14) were added by Ron Cacioppe after discussing this items with over 3000 people and finding that a number of people commented on the need for safety and better treatment of the natural environment as things they wanted in a great place to work.
According to the Gallop researchers, these questions are particularly important to productive, talented workers and less so for under-performing staff. As the results show, pay does not get mentioned and most of the items involve the quality of workplace relationships – with colleagues, bosses and workplace friends. Yet many managers today do no have the ‘soft’ skills or willingness to tackle interpersonal issues and are uncomfortable with the people side of management, preferring to focus on tasks rather than the subtle areas of human emotions and motivation.
These fourteen factors give leaders a clear idea of what their employees need to experience job satisfaction and to be productive. To start, employees want to be told what is expected of them in clear and straight-forward terms (although 70% currently indicate they are not clear what their managers expect). According to these results those leaders who help people have constructive and supportive relations at work will help that workplace become a great place to work.
Leadership is Important - Again!
Around the world there has been a new interest in leadership. Political parties, large corporations and community organisations change their leaders more frequently now that in the past. There is more debate, discussion and criticism about leadership in the workplace and in academic circles than in the past. The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, however, seems to have reignited people’s confidence in leaders.
A search of the word “leadership” on the Internet generates 138,000,000 references to explore! The number of books and journal articles describing leadership has increased dramatically in the last 5 years. Why?
One of the major reasons is change. Leaders have a lot to do with change and since Australia, New Zealand and the world are undergoing significant change, the issue of leadership has become very important. Increasing competition, computer technology, diminishing union power, outsourcing, demands for improved customer service, tighter legislation on business, racial bias, changing interest rates and downsizing are a wide range of issues leaders must deal with quickly and effectively.
Leaders are important during times of change since there is uncertainty, confusion and risk involved and leaders have two qualities that are vital during this period. First, they are able to understand the confusion, they can often see some reason for the change and what needs to be done with the organisation and people to successfully deal with the change and secondly, they have the ability to motivate and get people to do what is necessary for the new direction to be successfully implemented.
A number of organisations have recognised that they do not have a vision to steer them through the rapidly changing and challenging future that faces them. More specifically, they realise that they are over managed and under lead. The modern worker is less likely to respond to a manager that directs them to do something and expects the worker to carry it out without involvement in the decision or freedom to do it in the way he or she sees as most effective. In addition, since the environment is changing so rapidly, leadership needs to occur close to the customer rather than from central control. What this means is that leadership is becoming a key element and the nature of leadership in our modern world is changing because situations and humans are quite different from 50 years ago.
Transformational Leadership
Most of the leadership theories presented have been about transactional leaders. These kinds of leaders guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements. There exists a kind of understanding between the leader and the follower that if the goal is achieved the follower’s own interests and desires will be rewarded.
But there is another type of leader who inspires followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organisation, and who are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on their followers. These are transformational leaders like Ricardo Semler, Bob Ansett, Anita Roddick and Nelson Mandella. Transformational leaders are often also charismatic, but transformational leadership has some additional characteristics which are important.
They also pay attention to the concerns and developmental needs of individual followers; they change followers’ awareness of issues by helping them to look at old problems in new ways; and they are able to excite, arouse and inspire followers to put out extra effort to achieve group goals. In essence, most transformational leaders are also charismatic leaders because they are seen as heroic, and as having a profound and extraordinary effect on their followers.
Transactional and transformational leadership should not, however, be viewed as opposing approaches to getting things done. Transformational leadership is built on top of transactional leadership-it produces levels of employee effort and performance that go beyond what would occur with a transactional approach alone. Moreover, transformational leadership is more than charisma. ‘The purely charismatic leader may want followers to adopt the charismatic’s world view and go no further; the transformational leader will attempt to instil in followers the ability to question not only established views but eventually those established by the leader.’ A truly transformational leader not only instils a vision in followers but also builds a visionary company aimed to last for hundreds of years.
The evidence supporting the superiority of transformational leadership over transactional leadership is impressive. Transformational leaders who were school principals were shown to have significant effect on the commitment, citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction of teachers and to have some positive effect on student academic achievement. Head nurses who are more transformational are more likely to have staff nurses with higher job satisfaction and lower turnover. Studies of American, Canadian and German military transformational officers were evaluated as more effective than their transactional counterparts.
Both transformational and transactional leadership are necessary for leadership effectiveness for two reasons; First, the magnification effect of transformational leadership over and above transactional leadership means that the two approaches are needed from effective leaders, depending upon the situation. Second, the nature of the characteristics of transformational leadership (shown in the table below) means that they will be put into effect at different times and with different subordinates, contingent upon both the individuals and the situations..
Characteristics of Transactional and Transformational Leaders
Transactional leader
1. Contingent reward: Contracts exchange of rewards for effort, promises rewards for good performance, recognises accomplishments.
2. Management by exception: Watches and searches for deviations from rules and standards, takes corrective action.
3. Management by exception: Intervenes only if standards are not met.
4. Laissez faire: Abdicates responsibilities, avoids making decisions.
Transformational leader
1. Charisma: Provides vision and sense of mission, instils pride, gains respect and trust.
2. Inspiration: Communicates high expectations, uses symbols to focus efforts, expresses important purposes in simple ways.
3. Intellectual stimulation: Promotes intelligence, rationality and careful problem solving.
4. Individualised consideration: Gives personal attention, treats each employee individually, coaches, and advises.
The Australian research has generated similar research results to American studies and indicates that the paradigm of transformational leadership does not vary across the two cultures. Parry and Sarros found however, that Australians indicate that their leaders display transformational leadership characteristics less compared to Americans who rate their leaders. Australian leaders are rated as having substantially less charisma and provide less intellectual stimulation than American leaders. Research conducted in several countries including India, Italy, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Sweden showed that the transformational leadership model has considerable universal potential and can be applied across cultures.
In Conclusion
The list below summarises the key skills and abilities effective leaders have according to 50 years of research. While there are other factors such as the industry sector, the experience and the managers and leaders above a leader, the list below defines some of the most important characteristics we currently know are part of good leadership.
Elements of Effective Leadership
Transformational Ability
A motivating vision. Stimulates the followers to think. Individual consideration
Situational Skill and Contingency Factors
Able to vary style to fit. Follower’s motivation and competence. Task urgency. Power. Leader-member relations. Ability to achieve subordinate’s goals
Behavioural Style
Able to be task and people oriented. Men tend to be more task, goal directed. Women tend to be more facilitative, relationship directed.
Personality
Honesty and integrity, Self confidence, Intellectual intelligence, Energy and ambition, Emotional intelligence, Charisma, Self-monitoring, and a Desire to lead
Becoming an effective leader also involves having good followers and a good leader will select and develop followers that fit his or her style and will contribute to the vision and goals that are needed.
Making the effort and time to develop and practice good leadership is important for the people you manage, for the team and for the organisation. It not only results in a successful and profitable organisation that is providing quality service and products, it helps create a satisfying and great place to work!
Current Research, Theories and Skills of Effective Leadership
By Dr Ron Cacioppe
There is a new kind of leader that is emerging in modern day organisations. Ray Andersen and Dennis Littky are representatives of this new type of leader. They have a vision, an ability to inspire a concern for people and a desire to have their organisations fulfil a worthwhile purpose.
Ray Andersen is the Chairman and ex-CEO of InterfaceFlor, a company that makes carpet tiles in a way that results in no environmental damage. Ray started his company to capture a new market for office titles. After 10 years in business he read a book that changed his life when it suggested that companies should operate in a way that is socially and environmentally responsible as well as commercially successful. Since the mid 1990s Ray has built one of the largest carpet manufacturing and distributing businesses in the world and his product is totally in harmony with the environment (no toxic glues, recycled fibres, natural colours, etc.). In addition, Ray has attracted employees who are as committed to his vision as he is and who feel they are working for a great company that empowers them to be profitable and to ‘do well by doing good’.
Dennis Littky the founder of The Big Picture Company also has a strong and clear vision of what he wants his organisation to be. Littky firmly believes that the fundamental role for companies of the future is to become a catalyst for social change and to work for the greater good of the communities they serve. “The Big Picture Company”
Both Andersen and Littky are a new breed of leader. They have the personal characteristics (honesty, intelligence, charisma, etc.) of successful leaders and they have a vision which contributes to a wider purpose. They have the ability to transform the people’s ordinary day at work into a meaningful and important contribution, not only for themselves but also to the wider community they belong to.
This new type of leadership will need to have up-to-date management skills and will also need to provide a worthwhile purpose for work. This new type of leader will need to be able to reconnect individuals with their organisation and the world and to help workers provide meaningful service. This type of leader may not be common in today’s competitive business world but the rising expectations of the community and the need for environmental action will require this kind of leadership for any organisation to succeed in the future.
While leaders like Richard Branson, Steven Jobs and Bill Gates were the high profile leaders of the past, leadership at supervisory, middle and senior management levels is needed in all successful organisations. There are many Australian and New Zealand managers who are excellent leaders. In this article we explore what we have learned about leadership and which things contribute to leadership being effective and successful.
The 14 Secrets of a Happy and Productive Workplace
The Gallup organisation has compiled results from questionnaires and interviews of more than one million employees over 25 years. Using various statistical methods, the researchers identified which factors would indicate whether employees were likely to be satisfied and stay with their employers. These ‘core elements’ attract and retain productive employees and can be summarised by these questions:
1. Do I know what is expected of me?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission of my company make me feel like my work is important?
9. Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have someone I can confide in at work?
11. In the past six months, have I talked to with someone about my progress?
12. At work, have I had the opportunity to learn and grow?
13. Do I have a safe environment; physically, emotionally and mentally at work?
14. Does this organisation minimize its harm on the physical environment.
The last two items (13 & 14) were added by Ron Cacioppe after discussing this items with over 3000 people and finding that a number of people commented on the need for safety and better treatment of the natural environment as things they wanted in a great place to work.
According to the Gallop researchers, these questions are particularly important to productive, talented workers and less so for under-performing staff. As the results show, pay does not get mentioned and most of the items involve the quality of workplace relationships – with colleagues, bosses and workplace friends. Yet many managers today do no have the ‘soft’ skills or willingness to tackle interpersonal issues and are uncomfortable with the people side of management, preferring to focus on tasks rather than the subtle areas of human emotions and motivation.
These fourteen factors give leaders a clear idea of what their employees need to experience job satisfaction and to be productive. To start, employees want to be told what is expected of them in clear and straight-forward terms (although 70% currently indicate they are not clear what their managers expect). According to these results those leaders who help people have constructive and supportive relations at work will help that workplace become a great place to work.
Leadership is Important - Again!
Around the world there has been a new interest in leadership. Political parties, large corporations and community organisations change their leaders more frequently now that in the past. There is more debate, discussion and criticism about leadership in the workplace and in academic circles than in the past. The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, however, seems to have reignited people’s confidence in leaders.
A search of the word “leadership” on the Internet generates 138,000,000 references to explore! The number of books and journal articles describing leadership has increased dramatically in the last 5 years. Why?
One of the major reasons is change. Leaders have a lot to do with change and since Australia, New Zealand and the world are undergoing significant change, the issue of leadership has become very important. Increasing competition, computer technology, diminishing union power, outsourcing, demands for improved customer service, tighter legislation on business, racial bias, changing interest rates and downsizing are a wide range of issues leaders must deal with quickly and effectively.
Leaders are important during times of change since there is uncertainty, confusion and risk involved and leaders have two qualities that are vital during this period. First, they are able to understand the confusion, they can often see some reason for the change and what needs to be done with the organisation and people to successfully deal with the change and secondly, they have the ability to motivate and get people to do what is necessary for the new direction to be successfully implemented.
A number of organisations have recognised that they do not have a vision to steer them through the rapidly changing and challenging future that faces them. More specifically, they realise that they are over managed and under lead. The modern worker is less likely to respond to a manager that directs them to do something and expects the worker to carry it out without involvement in the decision or freedom to do it in the way he or she sees as most effective. In addition, since the environment is changing so rapidly, leadership needs to occur close to the customer rather than from central control. What this means is that leadership is becoming a key element and the nature of leadership in our modern world is changing because situations and humans are quite different from 50 years ago.
Transformational Leadership
Most of the leadership theories presented have been about transactional leaders. These kinds of leaders guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements. There exists a kind of understanding between the leader and the follower that if the goal is achieved the follower’s own interests and desires will be rewarded.
But there is another type of leader who inspires followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organisation, and who are capable of having a profound and extraordinary effect on their followers. These are transformational leaders like Ricardo Semler, Bob Ansett, Anita Roddick and Nelson Mandella. Transformational leaders are often also charismatic, but transformational leadership has some additional characteristics which are important.
They also pay attention to the concerns and developmental needs of individual followers; they change followers’ awareness of issues by helping them to look at old problems in new ways; and they are able to excite, arouse and inspire followers to put out extra effort to achieve group goals. In essence, most transformational leaders are also charismatic leaders because they are seen as heroic, and as having a profound and extraordinary effect on their followers.
Transactional and transformational leadership should not, however, be viewed as opposing approaches to getting things done. Transformational leadership is built on top of transactional leadership-it produces levels of employee effort and performance that go beyond what would occur with a transactional approach alone. Moreover, transformational leadership is more than charisma. ‘The purely charismatic leader may want followers to adopt the charismatic’s world view and go no further; the transformational leader will attempt to instil in followers the ability to question not only established views but eventually those established by the leader.’ A truly transformational leader not only instils a vision in followers but also builds a visionary company aimed to last for hundreds of years.
The evidence supporting the superiority of transformational leadership over transactional leadership is impressive. Transformational leaders who were school principals were shown to have significant effect on the commitment, citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction of teachers and to have some positive effect on student academic achievement. Head nurses who are more transformational are more likely to have staff nurses with higher job satisfaction and lower turnover. Studies of American, Canadian and German military transformational officers were evaluated as more effective than their transactional counterparts.
Both transformational and transactional leadership are necessary for leadership effectiveness for two reasons; First, the magnification effect of transformational leadership over and above transactional leadership means that the two approaches are needed from effective leaders, depending upon the situation. Second, the nature of the characteristics of transformational leadership (shown in the table below) means that they will be put into effect at different times and with different subordinates, contingent upon both the individuals and the situations..
Characteristics of Transactional and Transformational Leaders
Transactional leader
1. Contingent reward: Contracts exchange of rewards for effort, promises rewards for good performance, recognises accomplishments.
2. Management by exception: Watches and searches for deviations from rules and standards, takes corrective action.
3. Management by exception: Intervenes only if standards are not met.
4. Laissez faire: Abdicates responsibilities, avoids making decisions.
Transformational leader
1. Charisma: Provides vision and sense of mission, instils pride, gains respect and trust.
2. Inspiration: Communicates high expectations, uses symbols to focus efforts, expresses important purposes in simple ways.
3. Intellectual stimulation: Promotes intelligence, rationality and careful problem solving.
4. Individualised consideration: Gives personal attention, treats each employee individually, coaches, and advises.
The Australian research has generated similar research results to American studies and indicates that the paradigm of transformational leadership does not vary across the two cultures. Parry and Sarros found however, that Australians indicate that their leaders display transformational leadership characteristics less compared to Americans who rate their leaders. Australian leaders are rated as having substantially less charisma and provide less intellectual stimulation than American leaders. Research conducted in several countries including India, Italy, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Sweden showed that the transformational leadership model has considerable universal potential and can be applied across cultures.
In Conclusion
The list below summarises the key skills and abilities effective leaders have according to 50 years of research. While there are other factors such as the industry sector, the experience and the managers and leaders above a leader, the list below defines some of the most important characteristics we currently know are part of good leadership.
Elements of Effective Leadership
Transformational Ability
A motivating vision. Stimulates the followers to think. Individual consideration
Situational Skill and Contingency Factors
Able to vary style to fit. Follower’s motivation and competence. Task urgency. Power. Leader-member relations. Ability to achieve subordinate’s goals
Behavioural Style
Able to be task and people oriented. Men tend to be more task, goal directed. Women tend to be more facilitative, relationship directed.
Personality
Honesty and integrity, Self confidence, Intellectual intelligence, Energy and ambition, Emotional intelligence, Charisma, Self-monitoring, and a Desire to lead
Becoming an effective leader also involves having good followers and a good leader will select and develop followers that fit his or her style and will contribute to the vision and goals that are needed.
Making the effort and time to develop and practice good leadership is important for the people you manage, for the team and for the organisation. It not only results in a successful and profitable organisation that is providing quality service and products, it helps create a satisfying and great place to work!
An Interview with Ron Cacioppe
1. Describe your key strengths and personality as a Consultant?
“I have the ability to understand leaders circumstances within their organisation and to be able to help them be commercially successful, but as importantly, provide them with techniques to be authentic people so in turn they can perform and build on their products and services, environmentally and suitably to society.”
2. What’s your most memorable moment?
“Hitch-hiking in the States from California to New Jersey. I came across some interesting walks of life, criminals, hippies, American Indians and some very mixed up but gracious Americans.”
3. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
“I hope to see the people and culture within the Integral group grow to be spiritual, healthy, well known and continuing to help organisations really do their best. I’d also like to see us owning a building that is friendly to the environment where we can facilitate all our programs onsite.”
4. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
“Socrates, Buddha, Seinfeild, Marcus Aurelius and Aung San Suu Kyi”
5. Who is Leader that inspires you and why?
“Barack Obama. I find him to be very inspirational with intelligence and maturity in seeing and acknowledging different sides of complex issues. His views and acceptance of people and their backgrounds from people from low educational backgrounds, to the wealthy, his view on abortion, and his leadership style, and his willingness to speak about his own personal lacking, and share information about his wife and family. He is truly an inspiring leader!”
6. If you were stranded on a desert island, what 2 items and one book would you like with you?
“My partner Karen, my electronic keyboard with a long lasting battery and a book on Haiku (Japanese Poetry).”
“I have the ability to understand leaders circumstances within their organisation and to be able to help them be commercially successful, but as importantly, provide them with techniques to be authentic people so in turn they can perform and build on their products and services, environmentally and suitably to society.”
2. What’s your most memorable moment?
“Hitch-hiking in the States from California to New Jersey. I came across some interesting walks of life, criminals, hippies, American Indians and some very mixed up but gracious Americans.”
3. Where do you see Integral Development in 5 years time?
“I hope to see the people and culture within the Integral group grow to be spiritual, healthy, well known and continuing to help organisations really do their best. I’d also like to see us owning a building that is friendly to the environment where we can facilitate all our programs onsite.”
4. If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
“Socrates, Buddha, Seinfeild, Marcus Aurelius and Aung San Suu Kyi”
5. Who is Leader that inspires you and why?
“Barack Obama. I find him to be very inspirational with intelligence and maturity in seeing and acknowledging different sides of complex issues. His views and acceptance of people and their backgrounds from people from low educational backgrounds, to the wealthy, his view on abortion, and his leadership style, and his willingness to speak about his own personal lacking, and share information about his wife and family. He is truly an inspiring leader!”
6. If you were stranded on a desert island, what 2 items and one book would you like with you?
“My partner Karen, my electronic keyboard with a long lasting battery and a book on Haiku (Japanese Poetry).”
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