I’m doing an interview with Ori Brafman tomorrow from the book Starfish and The Spider. Only thing is it’s been about a year since I’ve read it and I don’t have a copy of the book since I got it from the library. Anybody care to throw me a bone by way of some questions you might have in the comments. I’m thinking specifically about leadership structures with ecclesial and non-profit orders. Fire away in the comments.
When despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be ... I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. - Wendell Berry
James Kingsley
Tuesday, 20. May 2008 um 9:03 pm Uhr
nice score dude. i’d be interested in hearing whether he’s seen the ideas behind the book stretch into how business, nfp’s etc are constructing their budgets/fundraising…
joshua case
Wednesday, 21. May 2008 um 2:24 am Uhr
here are a few that came to my mind:
can you over-decentralize structures? Or can you try to start with a model that is too broad?
if one has tried to go the route of “leaderless organization” and failed, could that be because the illusion of not having a leader is actually worse than having a leader?
how important do you think it is for the military forces in the world to get their heads around the notions you discussed in the book when it comes to their strategy for combating global terrorism. Without speaking negatively about any one group, I guess the question would be: can you fight extreme-ism really when their entire system is about as decentralized as they come and starfished? And what do we do when these principles are used for bad and not for good? As one who gets the way they work, how do we kill the starfish? Hope for drought?
if you have a large organization that is looking to make the transition from a deeply hierarchical leadership to a more decentralized structure, what would you recommend as the top three to five first steps?
hope these help;)
jc