To enable my plan for NPR and BPP to work - some things have to be put right at NPR. NPR has to have the environment that will support the new.
The Lesson of the Innovators Dilemma - BPP or any of the new at NPR has no sponsor at the management table equal in power to the legacy.
The lessons of the Innovators Dilemma remind us that not protecting the new from the legacy guarantees failure for the new.
It matters not that the CEO wants the new. Without a Prince of the new at Court - the legacy will kill the new.
This is not just a theory for me. When I was at a regular bank, CIBC, in the early 1980's I was part of a small team whose job it was to get investment banking going. We had the committed support of the Chairman - Bank chairmen then made Saddam Hussein look weak. But we reported into the Corporate bank - the power base of the legacy. In spite of the chairman's support - he even resorted to having us report directly to HIM - we were constantly sabotaged by the leaders of the legacy bank. Not even the chairman could get around the power of the system at the bank.
With a new chairman, we took off. How and why? Because the new Chairman made an organizational rather than a personal move. He made a senior appointment for the new and told the others that this man, Paul Cantor, with less than 50 employees and losing money hand over fist was their equal. This was the breakthrough organizational move. This one move enabled the new to get the protection that the new always needs. The investment bank took off.
No one at NPR is responsible for the new at the table equal to the legacy system. Without this appointment, NPR will never go there - even though the CEO and the Board want it to go there - there is too much legacy power to allow this.
So please NPR - please make this organizational move.
It's all about culture - You need a critical mass of people inside NPR in senior positions who are social media natives. You can't train for this. People have to live it.
So how many people at NPR "live the new"? My bet is that of the 800 plus and the board that at a stretch, including the CEO who is a true native, there are not more than 10 who have a say in anything.
There is not a critical mass and even with an appointment of the Person for the New who sits as an equal to the legacy, there is not enough horse power there - a lot of the horsepower by the way lives in New York in BPP.
More critical mass of natives who live the culture is essential. Redeploying non natives is a waste of time and is actually obstructive.
NPR needs help - Thirdly who can advise NPR on how best to go to the new?
2 years ago, I called Jeff Jarvis and asked if he could use his influence and help me bring together the AAAAAAA list of people who understood the new and to spend a day at NPR giving as THEIR GIFT a full day of conversation. NPR paid only our travel expenses. Here is Dennis Haarsager's post about that meeting.
Jeff remains in his offer for help and his advice remains consistent today - he will be in Washington talking about this later this week
It was my hope and my explicit conversation at NPR that such a body could be given life. Look here at the immense power generated by that meeting. The group had agreed to remain a body of advice in waiting. They have never been called on. What a waste! Worse, a mistake. Worse, a mistake of hubris.
Please ask for help. There are many like myself and Jeff who pray and who long for your success. Please don't retreat into yourself.
I say this in all humility because I am as much a sinner as anyone. I know all about hubris. I have lived this moment for myself.
Years ago, I had left investment banking and had come into the world of HR as the person who was going to link the real needs of the enterprise to the resources of HR. I had been used to being an expert in my field and all the HR stuff was new and foreign to me - as maybe social media is to most at NPR.
I retreated into my old persona of arrogance as I felt myself failing for the first time in my life. The more I realized that I was failing, the more angry and arrogant I became.
Finally I went to see my boss who was and is a great man. I told him that I was failing. He agreed with me. But he added, but your friends don't want you to fail. I was sure that they were all laughing at me.
He said "I have confidence that you can turn this around. But do you have confidence?" I said that I was not sure now for I was stuck. I did not know what the first step would be.
John said "You have to ask for help!" "You have to ask your colleagues for help"
I had never asked for help in my life. This was like being asked to kill myself."Who should I ask?" I said. "The person you fear the most" was his reply. "The person you feel most ashamed about not talking too"
So trembling with shame and fear, I went to see Hubert Saint Onge. Who was compassion embodied. I never looked back.
Ask for help - Ask for help - Ask for help!!!!!
