Johnnie has written I think an important article in a new book called More Space. I first came across Johnnie as a result of another book Beyond Branding that he had a part in. His chapter stood out for me as does his new chapter in More Space.
In this chapter Johnnie gets to what I believe to be the heart of the real new economy. The real new economy is all about being human and hence rejects everything to do with the machine. Machines are complicated but humans are complex. There is a huge difference between Complicated and Complex and those that miss this, miss it all. How does he see the difference?
Complicated - understanding how an engine works - not simple but ultimately knowable
Most organizations seek to know and to control. Management seeks to narrow the options ands narrow the conversation. Hence the stovepipes and the inability to see the whole for the parts.
Complex - Humans are not simple and never fully knowable. Just too many variables interact
In a complex world as J quotes Mihaly Ccikszentmihaly "One of the key tasks of management is to create an organization that stimulates the complexity of those that belong to it."
Most organizations try and see and operate in the first paradigm. This is why as Johnnie tells us that Southwest laugh at their competitors who think that it is all about fleet management. Its secret was in fact all about being open to what everyone needed to have a good life at work.
Most organizations close down instead.
"As organizations grow, there's a tendency to reduce ambiguity by adding to the rule book. In part this is a natural desire to embody the lessons of our past mistakes. But the effect over time can be sclerotic. Look at traffic lights in cities. Over time, more and more junctions in London have been graced with traffic lights in an effort to prevent gridlock and improve traffic flow. The trouble is that while these lights may work in isolation, their cumulative effect is often to make traffic worse. Recent experiments have shown that stripping all the lights out of a stretch of road
has actually reduced congestion."
So how do we get from a machine world to a human world?
Johnnie tells us that the answer is simple but difficult. Difficult because the answer demands that we converse in a different way. Yes the simple idea is that we talk to each other differently. The challenge is that to do this we have to give up some hard wired habits.
What we have to give up is using conversation as a duel or a combat where the dominant player wins and all ideas that don't fit are killed as are of course the divergent thinkers. What we need is a conversation that opens up new ideas and that builds community.
His advice - look at how Improv works in Theatre. The rules are simple:
- Yes, And
- Be affected
- Embrace surprise
His chapter then takes the reader though how to use these simple rules in a most engaging and practical way.
It is a gem. His blog is too. So is he.
