When people form the US Republican side wanted to dismiss the importance of a ‘less-well-known’ Obama coming to the fry, they referred to him as a ‘community organiser’. It was a way to downplay his importance and credentials, I suppose, instead of, say, that Harvard Lawyer from Chicago. Yet, ‘community organising ‘ as a skill did not turn out to be a bad pedigree.
‘Organizing’, like ‘orchestrating’, or ‘mobilizing’ ( I tend to use, unapologetically, ‘orchestrating’ or ‘social-engineering’ when talking about Viral Change TM ) is the new management.
Old management is : this is what you need to cook ,and this is how. New management is : welcome to the kitchen, shelves are full, recipe book on the table, my extension is 225.
Of course management has not disappeared, won’t disappear, should not disappear. But ‘management’ has to be redefined. Indeed, this is perhaps the most exciting part of running organizations today: the reinvention of ways to create a healthy fabric and a successful platform for collaboration, shared commitments and unbounded energy. Call it ‘the company’.
My 2015 professional, intellectual, rejuvenating, caffeine rich quest is here: mobilizing people, organizing commitments, engineering remarkable organizational fabrics. My overall theme, ‘Building Remarkable Organizations’, is not new in my portfolio, but it needed a caffeine shot. It got one in the New Year. Done.
Reinventing management. I am starting a movement: The ‘Building Remarkable Organizations’ movement. Looking for ‘community organisers’ or cooks. Harvard lawyers welcome, but also architects or builders. Mainly managers and leaders who think that, in 2015, there must be better ways to shape the enterprise.
Note: Not all of us live in Silicon Valley, work for Zappos, have Google-esque environments or pontificate via Skype from Necker Island. Forget the stereotypes. Come down to earth. The kitchen is booked.