'mutual learning' leadership | The Fourth Revolution Blog

The Creativity Crisis Does Not Exist

Creativity has become a key concern. As measured by some standards our creativity seems to declibe. Yet globally creation has never been so buoyant. How can that be?

Following our blog post “the World Wants to Keep us Stupid“, a comment linked to this 2010 Newsweek paper “The Creativity Crisis”. Studies describe in this paper have measured that while IQ tends to increase from generation to generation, creativity tends to diminish since 1990 in the US – and in particular in younger children. When this paper came out it led to a number of reactions. The new Collaborative Age is the age of creativity! Is America losing the game? Are Western countries losing the game? Is the world losing the game?

Modern creativity cartoon — Creativity in the corporation. A model that will disappear?

There is one big logic failure here however: creativity can be learnt and taught. It can be developed quickly through the proper exercise. It can be also unlearnt in our society like shown in this fantastic example quoted from the Creativity at Work Blog:

In 1968, George Land distributed among 1,600 5-year-olds a creativity test used by NASA to select innovative engineers and scientists. He re-tested the same children at 10 years of age, and again at 15 years of age.

Test results amongst 5 year olds: 98%
Test results amongst 10 year olds: 30%
Test results amongst 15 year olds: 12%
Same test given to 280,000 adults: 2%

If you don’t understand why that happens in a conventional Industrial Age world, look at the cartoon!

So the result of tests on young children anyway does not predict their creativity as adults. It might be true that the modern kid might be enticed to do activities like video games and watching TV that do not develop as much creativity as figuring out how to play games with almost nothing – and I make sure my kids have moments where they need to be creative.

Yet the most important is also to make sure we train our creativity muscles during our entire life. And even atrophied creativity muscles can be trained back to be fit!

The Fourth Revolution shows us everyday how our collective creativity is increasing every day, both through the mating of ideas from the web, and the increasing emphasis on creativity as a key success factor. We can learn creativity. We need to practice creativity.

There is no creativity crisis. The only crisis is that the world might not be ready to welcome the wave of creativity that will change our societies beyond recognition.

Thanks to Julie Pigdon for the comment and reference that led to this post.

A great example of community leverage by a company: Kreg Tools

As an assiduous reader of this blog you know that in the Fourth Revolution, successful companies will leverage on their community of followers. There is a great example (and not just for wookwork lovers!): Kreg Jig community site.

The Kreg company does woodworking equipment and has an otherwise quite classical website. It is a relatively small company of a few dozen employees in a niche market.

A Kreg community member at work (owner of CherrywoodCustom.com)

Now look at the enthusiasm of the participants to its community site, how they share videos and tips and proudly show to the world their latest woodworking project! This hugely successful community site – more than 35,000 participants apparently – must be a significant driver of sales for the company, and build a fiercely faithful tribe of followers that will spread the word. They exchange and learn together. The forums are an incredible source of information (and all comments are not necessarily positive on the company’s products).

More than that the community site is really a place to speak about woodwork, not just the products of the company! There are fancy projects, great looking results, astonishing builds..

I am not a fanatic of woodworking but now that I have looked at this community site I’m almost ready to start building one of these beautiful pieces of furniture! The power of building a community around one’s product should not be underestimated. This BBC article provides a good background information on what’s happening there and what to be careful about.

It is the power of the Fourth Revolution and it is the future of marketing. So, when do you create the community website of your product or brand?

Thanks to Heinrich Scheffer for the links – following a conversation on LinkedIn on the Fourth Revolution!

Why you can’t achieve your dreams alone, especially if they really matter

I went to a series of entrepreneur workshops and, again, and again, the same recommendation came from of the experienced entrepreneurs: don’t follow your dreams alone, focus on getting a team!

This is the single main distinction between successful endeavors and sad failures: the team, the quality of the team and of the support it offers.

Only with the help of the team can you catch the ball!

It might not need to be a team in your company; it can be a team of advisors, mentors, but it is vital to get a team around you to support, encourage, test new ideas…

It certainly need to include your close family.

Plain summary: it is vital to have a team around you to help you take off and catch the ball that you were looking to catch! Alone you won’t be able to do it, you’ll just be stuck to the ground.

And it is not just the case as an entrepreneur. It is the same when you are just pursuing your passion, your purpose.

The more your purpose really matters, the more your own resistance and the world’s resistance will act to suffocate it before it becomes too big. You need a team to help you in this quest. You won’t fight the world alone.

Pam Slim made the point very well on her blog post, your resistance to ask for help is drowning your dreams! Of course it is just one of the tricks of Resistance to impede us to do the real work.

I love Pam’s conclusion:

“If your dreams have meaning, if they are significant and challenging and worth it, chances are, you can’t accomplish them alone.”

Yep. So where’s your team?

Fourth Revolution in action: online universities are becoming mainstream!

Online universities are becoming recognized and deliver more and more degrees.

We had touched upon this issue in the post “Another Institution under Siege from the Fourth Revolution: Universities – Will they Reinvent themselves in time?” with the example of Udacity, a revolutionary online university.

online university — Online universities are becoming mainstream

Traditional universities are now coming into play. The MIT had its courses available online for a while, but now it is a real rush towards the ever growing market of university degrees online.

Recently, the MIT and Harvard announced the creation of edX, a platform for online studying and learning (visit the edX site here and read the edX press release here). This platform has an exciting ambitious growth plan, offering classes online for free for millions (but probably paying degrees!).

This excellent post by OnlineUniversities.com, “8 nations leading the way in online education” summarizes the situation and what are the most advanced countries in the field of online education: USA, India, China, South Korea, Malaysia, UK, Australia, South Africa. Many of these countries are geographically very large or serve as a hub for a large region, offering education opportunities for many.

Online education cannot probably replace face-to-face education in all disciplines but it can in many scientific ones. It is an incredible occasion for people to grow themselves for free. It is an incredible occasion to grow the knowledge base of humankind into the remotest corners of the planet.

Those countries and those universities that will miss this revolution will trail behind and eventually disappear into oblivion. When online universities will do more than just broadcasting, when they will unleash the power of collaboration, they will dwarf Industrial Age universities. This will happen soon.

When will you start taking the classes you always dreamed of taking online, for free?

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

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 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

VIDEO OF THE QUARTER: Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web

In this stunning video from TED, Kevin Kelly describes the revolution of the last 5,000 days of the Web and what is coming in the next 5,000 days. Knowing that the video was shot in 2007 we can already see some predictions coming true!

Fasten your seat belts, the world is now changing amazingly!

How the web will become a ONE machine and we will all be the ONE. How in 2040, the processing capability of the web will exceed the combined processing power of 6 billion individuals. And more insight about the tremendous changes that are happening in the world!

The KUNG FU MASTER, the second Project Soft Power role

Following the SPIDER role, let’s present the KUNG FU MASTER role.

Breaking Constraints: Kung Fu Master in Action

Like the Kung Fu Master, the successful project leader can practice for hours, days, months and years the disciplines of project leadership. He can focus intensively for hours on a subject, silent and patient, and strike like lightning, suddenly breaking the seemingly unbreakable obstacle with the focused stroke of his bare hands on its rough surface.

Discipline is a key attribute of the successful project leader. It means relentlessly practicing the fundamental disciplines of project management, making sure the underlying processes deliver with the most limited variance possible, week after week, month after month.

Focus is another key tool of the project leader. Success is the result of the project leader focusing intently her attention on the very few important things that drive the project.

Project Soft Power: The Kung Fu Master Role

One outstanding issue for the Project Leader is to identify the few constraints that drive the effective delivery of the project, and concentrate on them attention and effort. A project will be driven by a very limited number of constraints, which are often resources or deliverables for critical convergence points. The key role of the successful project leader is to identify them and focus on overcoming them. Only by overcoming the project constraints through relentless focus will the project be delivered successfully

Discipline and focus of the Kung Fu Master are key to outstanding execution. Relentless discipline of running the basic project management processes. Relentless focus of choosing priorities and effectively stick to them.

Are you a Kung Fu Master? How can you improve your discipline and focus?

Coming soon…

Unveiling “Project Soft Power” – how to make Project Leaders reliably successful

My new book, ‘Project Soft Power’, will now be published very soon (the final production process has started). In this blog post as well as in 6 weekly sequels leading to the book’s publication, I will share with you what is Project Soft Power and why it is important to the world of the Fourth Revolution.

In the Collaborative Age, beyond the Fourth Revolution, organizations will be open and fluid. They will be organized around temporary projects. Yet, we don’t have today a consistent framework that allows a reliable project delivery, in particular when it comes to complex projects (those projects that involve many inter-related participants that all have different aims and interests). Although much progress has been done in the past decades to formalize specific tools around project management, the percentage of projects that fail outright or that does not deliver the expected value is staggering (depending on the sources, between 60 to 80% of projects). And research shows that it does not significantly improve through the careful use of processes described in thick manuals, and the increasing number of certified professionals in the use of these processes.

What is then the difference that makes project delivery a more reliable endeavour? I believe it is ‘Project Soft Power’, or the application of personal and inter-personal skills to project management. Project Soft Power is deeply rooted in emotional work, and is closely related to some of the key skills of the Collaborative Age K.E.E.N.

First of all, the “project manager” should not manage; she should lead. An unknown situation cannot be managed; we can only lead through it. Thus we have have decided from now on to use ‘Project Leader’ instead of ‘Project Manager’. In the Collaborative Age, the manager, a concept from the Industrial Age, will be obsolete anyway.

We have identified 5 main Project Soft Power skills that correspond to the following roles:

the SPIDER (weaving its network)
the KUNG FU MASTER (executing through focus and discipline)
the ENTREPRENEUR (able to invest upfront and defer instant gratification to reap later returns)
the TEAM COACH (building an effective team)
the PEOPLE CATALYST (unleashing the talents of the individuals)

In the next weeks I will publish on a weekly basis a description of each of these roles. Get ready for a mind-changing description of success factors in the Collaborative Age!

Coming soon…

Leave alone the academic executive programs. Go and learn real life leadership! It’s cheaper and better!

What is cheaper? What is better? Going through an academic program to learn how to lead a company or just… do it yourself? Turns out, going out in an entrepreneurial project is less expensive and brings higher value!

I just received an advertisement for an exciting program at Tuck executive education center at Darmouth.

Tuck executive education at Darmouth — Tuck college

It is a nice color booklet including a lot of testimonies from high-ranking Vice-Presidents of large companies. The programs also features some well-known speakers.

Price tag for 3-weeks seminar? 33,000 USD including accommodation; include travel and some costs on top and it comes to a nice 36,000USD or so.

Thing is – that’s quite cheap! Want to go for INSEAD executive MBA? That’s even more hefty – quite more than 100,000 USD!

Companies around the world seem to be sponsoring these programs by registering their promising employees – it is also for them a way to retain them, of course. Isn’t it also a way to keep them in the Industrial Age?

Now let’s look at it in another way. Wouldn’t it be better to give these 100,000 USD to the person and tell them that they have 1-2 years to create a startup and learn by themselves, hands-on, what they need to learn about themselves and building a great company?

When I did my financial projections for my start-up service company, I figured out what my financial risk was, compared to staying in my cozy employed status. I am still relatively young, and I believe the entrepreneurial experience can only increase my visibility, my network and my employability; thus I suppose that I can find a job easily if I decide so. This taken into account, I will earn less, at the start, than being employed; and I have had to commit some funds as start-up capital. So I calculated that my exposure over 2 years (the time I give myself to decide whether that will work for me or not) was 50,000 – 100,000 USD, maybe worst case 130,000 USD – in relative terms, compared to a situation where I stayed employed and I save some money.

So, for the same kind of investment – and it is not money out of my pocket, but the possibility that I might get a bit less money than if I stayed in my executive career – I get a fantastic hands-on education. It is also a similar type of time-investment as most executives MBAs are one year full-time or two years part-time.

And there is a bonus too… if my entrepreneurial venture works, the sky is the limit: not only do I get the education and the experience, much more fun on a daily basis, I might also get a positive return in the form of a great value creation for my clients, myself and my company!

So, my conclusion was simple: dump the academic executive education. Go instead in the real world and figure out how to create and run a company from scratch. For the same price you’ll learn more about yourself, about leading, marketing, selling, networking, than in any kind of academic environment. You’ll be more engaged, focused. Just read books by the teachers of these executive programs to complete your education, that’s all!

It won’t cost you more money. It will bring you much more value in all its dimensions. Do it – get the experience in the real world!

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