The central tragedy of LOTR is found in this image. Isildur, King of Gondor has defeated Mordor but his ego compels him to take the Ring for himself. This is the metaphor for much of leadership today - where the "King" rules for himself and not for his people. As I write this, a huge new scandal has broken out in Illinois. Wall Street and Detroit is full of "leaders" that have worked only for their own ego. Many question the motives of many who run the Pentagon procurement program. Many leaders have been blind to the events that are causing us all so much trouble. Detriot's leadership has been condemned.
We have a failure not only of organization but of leadership itself. It's not that we don't have good people - it is the very concept of what is a good leader that has gone to the "Dark" side. I make these strong accusations to combat yet another of our mindsets today - that of the heroic leader. The leader who will come and take away all our problems and who will absolve us of blame, work and sacrifice.
The effective leader in a fully interdependent world that is here now - will have to be very different from that Monarch. And so will the rest of us have to be different. We too will have to play our own part.
This commentary will show you how Rory Francis is tackling both the organization and the leadership model for the interdependent age.
But first, as your commentator, I want to go a bit deeper into the metaphor of leadership that is found in the character of Aragorn, the descendant of Isildur - I do this because the new nature of leadership itself a key to our having any hope for the future. Rory would be too embarrassed to tell you that he too has made a life change to Aragorn.
The hero of myth is RELUCTANT. Aragorn refuses his inheritance at the outset of LOTR. He even lives under a false name. Yet he is a natural leader and warrior. He has all the skills of a warrior leader.
But as events become more critical, Elrond repairs the broken sword - the symbol of Kinghood and persuades Aragorn to assume his real role of the leader of men. In this image we see both the Aragorns: the proto king and the King.
The Sword, which stands for "Truth" - the core value of the Nurturer, is all he has. At at the end, at the Black Gates, he charges initially alone into the hordes. He is prepared to give all for his people. This is the leadership that Kennedy asked for and this is what we have lost.
Only this idea of leadership will have any chance of taking us home.
This is the work of the new/ancient leader. S/he is a Nurturer. Their job is to set the optimal container so that their organization can grow to its full potential.
Being a Nurturer does not mean being weak or soft. It means being a truth teller and it means putting the interests of the whole before one's own. Like a good mother. Like being a good mother, this implies both sacrifice if called for and also being a warrior.
It also means not creating dependency. The good mother knows her role is to set up the conditions where her children can be fully realized human beings. At some early point - she has to let them be themselves. She controls their environment but not them. This is a radically different view of "management" to that model we use today.
Rory's work at the PEI Bio Alliance is to Facilitate the evolution of a natural organization so that it reaches its full potential. Of course the context is John Robb's interconnected world and Chet's insight that we have to harness a harmony of differing mindsets in a common cause.
In this commentary I can give you the highlights. Ten years of struggle lie behind the simplicity of a few slides. if you are interested in the way this all began and want to see some of the bumps along the way - for this was not a smooth ride at all - here is a link that will connect you to the story.
I also assure you that at the end - the results are manifesting - PEI a tiny place with a population of less than 140,000 - is doing world class business and research at a scale way beyond what a more traditionally organized unit could hope to pull off.
Between 1996 and 2005, expenditures on research and development in the Maritimes increased by 80 percent to $770 million from $424 million. Expenditures increased $63 million from 2004.
Of the $770 million, Nova Scotia at $464 million accounted for nearly 60 percent of that total, followed by New Brunswick at $243 million then Prince Edward Island at $63 million. Research and development funding in Prince Edward Island increased nearly 54 percent between 2004 and 2005. This increase appears to be largely due to an investment in bioresources by the National Research Council. During the same period, funding increased by 8 percent in Nova Scotia and 5 percent in New Brunswick.
Up 54% vs the rest at an average of 9%! Growth indeed.
Before the Bio Alliance, each part of the research sector on PEI was both separate, under scale and saw itself as competing with the others. Sound familiar? There was no way that there could be sustained and real growth. But as a network - now look at what can be done.
The PEI Bio Alliance is a "Cluster" - this is not a new idea. But how it is organized, lead and governed is new.
Here you can see that Alliance is very culturally diverse. Without Stuart's insight getting these different members to value each other and even talk the same language would be very difficult. That is why we have such a unique organization to do just that work.
The PEI Bio Alliance Inc. is a 3 person unit lead by Rory Francis - that "Facilitates" the connections between the diverse units and mindsets. A key reason why "Inc" is so small is that there cannot be any chance that the members might think that Inc. might have an interest of its own. Inc has no ego. Inc must have no ego. It must be Aragorn and not Isildur.
This is another perspective - Inc itself is a Nurturer as are its staff and its leader. It is an Aragornish organization. It tells the truth to all and promotes and defends all. It also has a clear mission.
Its nucleus is a board that represents the members as a "whole" and has a clearly defined role as the Facilitator.
The aim of the Alliance is itself to serve its supporting social community PEI. Not some abstract shareholders - its people. As such it too has balanced out Stuart's Triad. The Whole serves the larger whole.
In the traditional model, the parts serve the interests of the leadership alone. They are not meant to but that is what has occurred.
With this model - business is realigned with the planet and with the place and people where it is located. The break between business and the planet is healed.
The tasks of Inc are very business like.
The role of Inc is not fuzzy - all is also measurable. At board meetings the metrics related to these tasks are routinely measured.
Here is another view of the Whole. It is another way of looking at John Robb's vision of "Emergence.
Its members are not Tree Huggers - this works with the most hardened of the old type of organizations and offers us all a bridge to the new/old. This is a tried and true way to migrate from the old to the new/old.
Beyond the substantial increase in resources - up 54% vs 9% for the rest - the cluster has measurable gains in all of these vectors.
In these frightening times, when all will be short of resources, such a model is surely worth trying.
What would for instance Public TV and Radio look like if they adopted this model? Where the "Whole" was the context and the network effect could apply to all?
Rory's next test in in Agriculture. In his spare time (Joke!) he has been the co commissioner of the body looking at the future of Agriculture on PEI.
Every part of agriculture is split from the other. Most feel powerless. Most are over capitalized. Most are divorced from their real consumers. Most are in thrall to powers from far away.
Until now those who care have only been able to rail against the injustice.
But now we have a model for how to bring all these divergent groups and interests together. As in Chet's Boydian Model - to align them in a mission and in harmony.
Watch this space!
Rory's slides are here Download Boyd Conference 08 Rory
