Our Bright Future

Finding Happiness at Work

I recently read an article from Harvard Business Review that said the happiest people are those working collaboratively on difficult issues. People with less of a stake in their work, says the author, tune out, turn off or think of leaving their position.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter speaks about the passion of social entrepreneurs launching conversation projects or bringing music to disadvantaged youth. What got me excited was to read that she sees the same happiness factor in business teams that are working together to create a new initiative they believe in.

What I've noticed is that while launching creatively into new ways of working together may not always be smooth sailing, once you get through the rougher waters, the joy of co-creating something new does take over. What is possible on the other side of conflict is worth moving towards. When we do that together, it is all the more fun.

Creativity and Innovation

IDEO is an award winning product design firm that operates from what they call a human-centered and empathetic approach. Their interest in gathering innovative thinkers from a wide variety of disciplines to come up with the most creative solutions to design problems is inspiring and very much what we advocate at Lenox Leadership Development.

I really enjoyed this "60 Minutes" interview with founder and creative genius extraordinare, David Kelley. With all the multi-colored sticky notes on their walls, it looked a lot like some of the retreats I've hosted!

From IDEO's website: "Design thinking is a deeply human process that taps into abilities we all have but get overlooked by more conventional problem-solving practices. It relies on our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that are emotionally meaningful as well as functional, and to express ourselves through means beyond words or symbols. Nobody wants to run an organization on feeling, intuition, and inspiration, but an over-reliance on the rational and the analytical can be just as risky. Design thinking provides an integrated third way."

Collaboration is the New Competition

The Harvard Business Review blog is filled these days with articles on collaboration. Today's article, Collaboration is the New Competition, written by Ben Hecht, starts off like this:

"Leaders and organizations are acknowledging that even their best individual efforts can't stack up against today's complex and interconnected problems. They are putting aside self-interests and collaborating to build a new civic infrastructure to advance their shared objectives. It's called collective impact and it's a growing trend across the country.

A diverse group of local leaders — private, public, philanthropic, and nonprofit — fed up with the dysfunction around them, come together to challenge conventional wisdom and fix problems long written off as unsolvable, such as poverty, unemployment, and a failing education system."

As I begin to envision a vibrant Leadership Center in Lenox and invite people into conversation about what that could look like and how it can impact people, organizations and neighborhoods here in the Berkshires and beyond, it thrills me to see all the articles supporting the use of collective intelligence and collaboration that abound.

Whole System Collaboration

When all the parts of a system begin working together and there is no “other” to combat or protect against, more innovative and generative solutions start to emerge. I call the process of bringing the whole system into collaboration building a unitive field. 
~ David Gershon, Transformational Leader; Author, Social Change 2.0

I am excited that in January 2013 I will begin a Masterclass with David Gershon, one of my very first mentors in the field of transformational leadership. He is offering a free teleseminar highlighting the upcoming program. David is a visionary and world reknowned expert in large system social change.

Hear David speak about Social Change 2.0 this January 13, 2013.