K.E.E.N. skills | The Fourth Revolution Blog

The 5 career things I did believe, but don’t believe any more

I liked the idea of this post of Amber Naslund about thinking about the things that we did believe, but do not believe anymore. She did it in the field of her career.

looking into the rear-view mirror of your life: what do you see?

I’ll do it in the field of the Fourth Revolution’s K.E.E.N.’s (Knowledge Enhancing Exchanging Networker) career. Here are a few things that I believed, but do not believe any more.

Corporate jobs are safe

Corporate jobs are not safe any more, and in particular if you get closer to the top or older. There are many examples on a daily basis. Or, they are not safer than being on your own. Still companies would like us to believe that it is safer to be with them because it simplifies their management.

The only career path is to climb up in a specific function

I had many recommendations to try to be a specialist in a single function, and I used to think that the only career path was upwards; I found much more satisfying occupations when moving side-ways and becoming a generalist. It even increased dramatically my worth and marketability. But for some reason the normal career path is up through a narrow funnel.

Expatriation is just a must-do temporary assignment

Expatriation is generally presented nowadays as a must-do for career development; but at the same time it is not recommended to stay too far from headquarters for too long or be forgotten – the rule is to come back quick!. I found the expatriation experience a life-changing experience; and as a K.E.E.N. now, while I feel that my roots are still in France, I don’t mind continuing to live wherever I can best exercise my talents.

Protect your ground to avoid being eaten up by more ambitious

Lots of the corporate life is made of battles to consolidate one’s chiefdom; and this generates all the internal politics. Collaboration is, on the long term, a much better strategy; the K.E.E.N. exchanges its knowledge and creates conversations to create new, disruptive insights at the interface between specialties and industries.

The corporation needs to defend itself from the outside by all means

The traditional corporation is a closed world with limited relationship with the outside. Discussion with stakeholders is strictly regimented. Social networks are forbidden. Those corporations will be overtaken by the evolution of the world. Openness, creating conversations and a tightly knit network of supporters and followers, is now necessary for the organizations to thrive.

And you, what are the beliefs you had that you don’t believe any more?

Organizations today “are leading a workforce of communicators”

Contrary to what you might think, this is not an assertion by some hyped Californian startup leader.

Admiral Gary Roughead on social networks

It is a very serious statement by Adm. Gary Roughead, until recently the Chief of Naval Operations of the US Navy.

Like any other organization, the military finds that it is good to adopt social networks and a proactive social networks policy. Just erecting high walls and prohibiting people from using social networks would be a disaster.

And the Navy has found how social networks like Facebook can bring tremendous value to their action. Compared to official reporting, social networks give a more agile and deeper communication system, allowing to touch people directly, allowing a community to form and help on a local level, complementing the traditional hierarchical system of command.

As an organization, through social networks, the Navy also engages successfully the community of the sailors families, future recruits and any other person concerned by a Navy’s operation.

Adm Roughead goes on to mention three challenges for leaders in the Fourth Revolution:

the limit between work and private life is blurring considerably;
a balance needs to be found between accountability and empowerment;
resist the temptation to make it about you – don’t be ego-driven.

A final quote from Adm Roughead:

“it would be a strategic error of the most basic nature to not do everything you can to empower your workforce to communicate on behalf of the organization”

I encourage you to read Adm Roughead entire speech on social networks.

If the military can open to social networks and even leverage on them to be more effective, why are you still shy of adopting them in your organization?

Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans

This ultra-famous quote from John Lennon resonates daily with me.

life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans — What happens to you while you had made other plans!

I am particularly future-oriented and I like to have plans. And I don’t like things that have not been planned. And guess what – my long term plans are often defeated by the reality of life. On a daily basis.

Is the solution not making plans at all? I don’t think so, because only plans allow to move forward toward what we have chosen at that time to be our goal. Only through planning can we have follow-through. Still, flexibility is necessary to accommodate what really happens. Does that change our goal, our purpose? Not necessarily, it just makes the way to get there more uncertain.

Lennon - life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans — John Lennon

Those moments where the plans we had made and cherished for weeks or months find themselves completely torn apart by the reality of our life are fundamental moments that define our destiny. When we realize that reality does not fit any more with our plans is when we take the true bold decisions that will determine the direction of our life. These are the decisions to life with a partner, to have children, to change fundamentally one’s career…

The key is to be able to see that the discrepancy between your plans and reality increases to a point where a fundamental reframing has to take place. It should not happen too often, it should not happen too rarely. But when it happens… let it be!

The PEOPLE CATALYST, the Fifth and last Project Soft Power Role

Finally we come to the last role, the PEOPLE CATALYST. Where the TEAM COACH enhanced the effectiveness of the team, the PEOPLE CATALYST uncovers people’s hidden talents for the benefit of the team and the project.

Project Soft Power: the People Catalyst role

The successful project leader is not only an outstanding team coach, he also knows how to unleash individual people’s talents, and to support the expression of individual’s potential.

His appreciative way of looking at individual’s talents will be sometimes destabilizing, because he will look beyond the conventional professional identity of people to appreciate their overall potential. To the remote observer, strange things will happen as people suddenly start doing activities that are quite distinct from what they would have been expected to do as professionals in a certain field.

Through this appreciative action, the project leader not only releases talents that will ensure the success of the project. He will also create a strong emotional linkage with the person which will last long beyond the completion of the project, and puts the seed of people’s future development in a radically entrepreneurial act.

The People Catalyst role is about developing a deep, appreciative view of people and identify how their talents could support the project. Beyond people’s professional identities, the successful project leader can catalyse evolutions in team member’s roles and identities, bringing them and the project tremendous value.

How much do you catalyze people’s development in your team?

Project Soft Power is now released to the world!

Project Soft Power on Amazon.com and Kindle

How “thinking big” is so useful as an entrepreneur

Before I really started to build my own company I read all this motivational literature about “thinking big”, and I thought it was a bit borderline BS…

It is not that I did not know about ambition or wanting (dreaming) to build big things, but I did not really understand what was meant.

Then I happened to read some books by Michael Port as I started my company and I found he really insisted on this concept. True enough when I looked at it with the eyes of an entrepreneur I understood that he meant looking at one’s creation taking into account from the onset, what shape it should have when it is big. Not limiting oneself by thinking ‘it’s just a one-man show operation at the moment and it should feel, smell and look like it, we’ll see later’.

So I worked on my vision for my company, on my niche, how I would like to grow it internationally with small consulting offices in many countries offering high-level advice. And even if it is a one-man show at the moment (and soon a two-men show) I have already taken into account this future growth in the way I organize things. My new partner’s external job title is ‘Manager South-East Asia’. Not that he’ll manage a lot yet. But because I am following my “think big” idea.

The most amazing thing is by behaving as the head of a large consulting company, by having a “think big” approach to our website, documentation and intellectual property, people and clients do react as if we were really already a large, established company! And it just snowballs. We’re just a little kitten and they see the shape of the lion.

The way you believe in your dream shapes the way you behave and ultimately, how people react to it.

Believe big. When do you start?

Nice image by Babekha.

The TEAM COACH, the Fourth Project Soft Power Role

The successful project leader is like the familiar figure of the collective sports TEAM COACH.

His leadership approach can potentially transform a team from a mere collection of individuals into an unstoppable team. He can lead the team to produce results that could not have been achieved without the special teamwork approach and the specific practices he implements, leveraging the capabilities of each team member into an incredible collective capability.

The magical aspect of the successful team coach is only the persistent, disciplined application of a limited number of key practices. Done well, it can unleash incredible potential. It can move a team from good to great even if the members are not stars.

One good example is Barcelona football club vs Real Madrid. Barcelona is a team that invests heavily in the training and growing of young talents, and has a definite strength in its collective game. On the contrary, Real Madrid invests heavily on expensive divas and not so much in a training school. Bet who has got the most consistent results?

Pep Guardiola Barcelona team coach gives feedback to Messi

And as the behavior of the team coach Pep Guardiola is both supportive but also sometimes assertive. One of the skills of the successful team coach is the capability to give honest and have tough conversations with his team members.

The Team Coach role is about creating an effective team, a team that will be successful and keep momentum and cohesion when facing the odds against the project. The successful Project Leader knows how to create a diverse team, and foster its development by allowing roles to evolve, and people that don’t fit to leave the team. The Project Leader also knows when and how to have tough conversations with team members when needed.

How good are you as a team coach?

Project Soft Power is now released to the world!

Project Soft Power on Amazon.com and Kindle

Why leadership practice will never be the same again: the Fourth Revolution at work

The Fourth Revolution transforms fundamentally the practice of leadership. Even if leadership has been refined as a concept only since the 1980’s, it has transformed surreptitiously since. Leadership just does not imply the same behavior and tools.

Why? Simply, because leadership is about building relationships. And the way we are building and maintaining relationships has changed dramatically with the Fourth Revolution.

In the Industrial Age, where Broadcasting was ubiquitous but 2-way communication scarce, organizations have defined a leadership mainly built on broadcasting. Communication systems and channels were put in place; the effectiveness of the broadcasting media evaluated afterwards and the message adapted in the next iteration. There was always a large distance between the leader and the follower, enhanced by a number of intermediaries and systems.

Today, instantaneous 2-way communication transforms the relationship. The distance between the leader and the follower has been dramatically reduced. Leaders need to demonstrate reactivity and genuineness. Leaders need to demonstrate willingness to exchange. Feedback on the leader’s communication is immediate. At an organizational or personal level, authentic presence is required.

Today, leadership cannot rely any more on systems. Human authenticity is key.

Remember, “leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow” (Kouzes and Posner). People today are faced with far more leadership choices. To make it, a leader needs to be present and authentic.

When will our institutions stop focusing on a conventional, Industrial Age leadership of controlled messages and distance to the followers? Let the new Collaborative Age develop their tribe through human touch and connection!

The power of crowdfunding, illustrated. Again. When will you change the world too?

For those of you who have been interested by the adventure of Amanda Palmer on Kickstarter (see How Crowdfunding redefines the future of Creation for million of artists), I just had a glimpse of her campaign’s result which just closed end May.

Amanda Palmer and the future of creation

Have a look at Amanda’s kickstarter page. She had an objective to raise 100,000$.

Ready?…

Sure?…

Are you seated?…

She raised 1,192,793$. In less than 2 months.

She’ll do her compelling project, probably much more and most certainly we’ll hear about her in the future with some new, amazing, awesome projects.

No label, no publisher (which she dumped two years ago). Just the power of the crowd. People voted with their wallets.

Let’s look at the stats: 24,883 backers contributed an average of 48$ each. Out of them 11,100 contributed less than 5$. 20,500 contributed less than 25$. Ouch! Isn’t that democracy? Don’t you have 5$ to spend to support an artist you love??

I’m sure you want to change the world too. When will you leverage the power of the crowd for your project, and stop waiting for somebody else to decide whether what you are doing is right?

The ENTREPRENEUR, the Third Project Soft Power Role

Following the SPIDER and the KUNG FU MASTER, the ENTREPRENEUR role is particularly important when it comes to large, complex endeavours.

Project Soft Power: the Entrepreneur role

It might at first seem contradictory, because a project is fundamentally a short term endeavour: still, the successful project leader is fundamentally an Entrepreneur, because he builds something, even if it is temporary. He builds his project as a vehicle to reach certain objectives. Obsessed by his objectives, he is able to postpone short term gains for longer term benefits; he is able to take (reasoned) risks.

The Entrepreneur mindset is often the key distinction between the successful Project Leader and the average project manager.

It is amazing how many organizations have difficulty to accept that sometimes, upfront investment is necessary to reach longer term goals, at least when it comes to investing in people, processes and systems.

The Entrepreneur role is about being able to invest early to reap larger benefits tomorrow. While it entails a certain dose of uncertainty, this practice allows the successful project leader to reap the fruits of appropriate early decisions. It is essential for ultimate the project success, yet so unfamiliar to most organization’s cost cutting cultures.

How entrepreneurial are you really in your day-to-day work?

Project Soft Power is now released to the world!

Project Soft Power on Amazon.com and Kindle

Obstacles on your road are there for a reason. Are you ready for them?

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal”

This quote is by Henry Ford. And I find it quite deep and powerful when considered carefully.

Henry Ford was a determined person. He spent years battling against the patent for “automobiles” that was held by a ‘patent troll’ – as we would say today – who tried to maintain scarcity. He wanted to be able to provide affordable cars to more people; and he eventually won after years of legal procedures.

He does not deny that obstacles can look frightening and difficult. He just states that if we have a strong goal, we’ll always find a way.

An other thinker, Randy Pausch, in his famous “last lecture“, did a statement that is for me fundamental:

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

So, obstacles are not just here to test your commitment, they are also here to make the different with those that are not passionate enough to persevere.

So, remember next time you moan or you’re scared because of some obstacle: did you take your eyes off your goal? Is your goal clear and compelling enough?

Will you work to overcome that obstacle, which will make the difference between you and the other wannabes?

Get a glimpse in how the organization of the Collaborative Age will work, today!

Once upon a time there was a company that had no boss. There were quite more than 100 people in the office, and they just organized themselves fluidly around temporary projects: who has the best idea got the support of others.

Pages from Valve Employee Handbook — Extract from Valve Employee Handbook

Desks had wheels so that project teams can join spontaneously. Just unplug, replug, and there you could work next to your new buddy.

Failure was accepted as a learning opportunity and very quickly, new hires worked directly on the main products where they could wreck havoc so easily!

Employee evaluation was based on peer evaluation; a constant stream of feedback was organized to each employee from the feedback of peers; and even salary increments were based on a peer-review ranking.

Do you think this company exists in another galaxy or is just in the Fourth Revolution’s author imagination? No, it’s a company called Valve and its employee handbook is accessible here. Get a glimpse of how the workplace of the future will look like, it is absolutely eye-opening! A real MUST-READ!

Also stroll on the company website, where all current employees are displayed alphabetically. Even the founder, Gabe Newell, is just listed there as any other employee.

Brace yourself because the workplace is going to look more frequently like that: we will be expected to take initiatives in an unstructured environment and let our contribution shine in the eyes of the others. No more boss, no more instructions. Pure initiative, pure entrepreneurship.

Are you ready for the Fourth Revolution in organizations?

The link to Valve’s employee handbook was originally in a blog post by Seth Godin with various other useful references.

BREAKING NEWS: my new book, Project Soft Power, is published!

Miracle of the Fourth Revolution, my new book is now out to the world even before I have received the copies from the local printer!

It took less than 10 days to get the title setup on LightningSource and disseminated to all e-bookshop worldwide!!

And I can now announce also the launch of the Project Soft Power website where you can know more about the Project Soft Power concept, find extracts of the book…

Can’t wait? Here are some links to buy the book. Enjoy!

and on Kindle

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