Relational Business
Transparency, Openness, & Trust
If you imagine a company as a house, envision the typical departments occupying various rooms throughout the house. Perhaps human resources is in the foyer, operations in the basement, product development in the kitchen, and so forth. In this analogy, the traditional role of marketing has been to create a winsome awning and a fine […]
Principle of Participation
Peter Block captured the timeless truth that “people will be accountable and committed to what they have a hand in creating.” This principle applies to both customers and employees. Advocacy increases when people are not just “consuming” or “working” but are directly participating in a worthwhile endeavor. In a connected world, business models that are […]
Patterns & Principles
“All good methods, explanations, and theories inevitably distance us from our primal sense of participation.” — David Tracy How do we get to engagement? Sales? Innovation? How does transformation happen? If anyone gives you a Step A, B, and C, beware. Methodologies are captivating. We are always trying to make sense of the world, and […]
Relational Business Design
“An organization’s fitness—like that of an organism—cannot be assessed in a vacuum; it is a product of compatibility with the surrounding environment.” — General Stanley McChrystal With the present-day cynicism towards large institutions, we have lost our sense of their potential. The complex states of government, academia, corporations, networks, and multinational nonprofits are an evolutionary […]
Building Trust
“When a living system is suffering from ill health, the remedy is found by connecting with more of itself.” –– Francisco Varela Recently we’ve been exposed to a barometer on trust, a report on trust, global conversations about trust, and a meme arising across the spectrum of institutions. Leaders are seeking answers to the questions, […]
Relationships are Complex
“The world is made of Circles And we think in straight Lines” — Peter Senge Esko Kilpi wrote this week about Men and Machines. He explored how “the sciences of uncertainty and complexity have helped us to understand that organizations are patterns of interaction between human beings. An enterprise that is conceptualized as a social […]
Relational Awareness
“The quality of results produced by any system depends on the quality of the awareness from which people in the system operate.” — Otto Scharmer How Do Organizations Change? When a board of directors is disappointed with results, they typically push for one of the following actions: Change of leadership Change of strategy Reorganization There […]
What is a Canopy Gap?
“To understand ecosystems, we need to understand relationships.” — Fritjof Capra The name “Canopy Gap” comes from a phrase used in ecology referring to the open spaces in forest canopies where sunlight allows new growth to emerge on the forest floor. Gaps are dynamic phenomena that are created, sometimes expand, and usually disappear. They are […]
