In reading Frydman, Wilson, & Wyer’s book, The Power of Collaborative Leadership, (2000, Butterworth-Heinemann), I had the following thoughts as I read the section on Seventh Learning: No Single Path in Chapter 9, Leadership: An Inquiry and contemplated its relevance to us as Information Renaissance Leaders.
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The following are thoughts based on reflections on parts of Brown & Duguid’s book, The Social Life of Information (2002, Harvard Business School Press, pp. 120-129) and my own experience.
In business today I see an increasing emphasis on defining “business processes” as a knowledge capture method. While these business processes deal with how information is handled and used what I find is, and have even heard stated, the intent is to minimize the “human element” so things get done “right”. However, I think there is a fundamental flaw in this approach. I believe Brown & Duguid say it well when they note “focusing on processes draws attention away from people”. Also, when I think of Dr. Jay Gillette’s quote “Information is Knowledge in Motion” I want to add “only when it is moving through people”. As Information Renaissance leaders I believe we need to understand this and work to make our information processes embrace the “human element” by making them “people-focused” and “knowledge-focused”. Brown & Duguid indicate that by doing this the attention is turned away from the process and instead the focus becomes on the “knowers”; i.e., the people with knowledge. Also, as the business environment becomes more complex, both because of the increasing amount of information available and due to the quick and discontinuous changes that can occur in the business world, people are who adapt and not the process. If the process adapts this is because people gained the knowledge to know the process needed to be changed. This is because a business process is designed based on “know that” which is different from “know how” as Brown & Duguid point out. “Know how” is people practicing what they know and this is why focusing on just the process leads to potential problems in today’s dynamic business environment. Being able to recognize this and bring the focus to the “knowers” in the process is one of the challenges we have as Information Renaissance leaders of the 21st century.
These are some observations and thoughts I had during my visit to China during the month of March.
While the U.S. is still considered a technology leader I have to wonder how much longer we will continue to be when I think of the competitive disadvange that we have constructed for ourselves in the U.S. by fhaving an "English" only attitude.
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In their book, The Social Life of Information, Brown and Duguid refer to Downes and Mui’s “Law of Disruption” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_disruption) which notes that “social, political, and economic systems change incrementally but technology changes exponentially.”
As Information Renaissance Leaders for the 21st century I believe that we need to understand and appreciate not only this concept but also other non-linear changes that can lead to disruption. Just remember that if you recognize a coming disruption in your industry, or even better if you are the one causing it, you have a competitive advantage to exploit.
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As leaders we need to always be seeking to view problems or issues in a new context so that by reframing them we can see solutions or paths that we were blinded to before. I think this item that was found on the web by a co-worker of mine serves to illustrate this point. It is titled: The Problem of the Square Watermelon and I believe it is well worth taking a look at.
Please follow this link: http://www.financialhack.com/2007/12/04/10145_lessons-of-the-square-watermelon.html
In chapter 59 of Wren's text, The Leader's Companion, Roger Smith's speech titled Talent and Training for Leadership is given. While the chapter makes a number of good points and if one had never worked for General Motors during Smith's tenure one would think that this was written by a good leader; however, this is not the case.
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During my recent trip to China while touring one of the beautiful Suzhou gardens I came across what was termed a 9-turn bridge. I asked my host about this and her answer intrigued me. She told me that the reason for the nine
turns was so that one can view the garden from the bridge from a new and different perspectives as you walked across it.
I believe this same concept can be related to leadership. As a leader we walk across the bridge of time and view our garden of vision and like on the 9-turn bridge we need to strive to look and see this garden we have created from a new perspective not only to better appreciate and understand it but to also try to see it in a new way each time.