On January 4 I started this blog. Today I will finish -- at least for now.
Most of what I have shared here was first written five or more years ago. I have revised and updated a bit, but only a bit.
In late 2004 when I wrote the first draft I was at the beginning of a tough time. In the last few months I have (I hope) emerged on the other side of the tough times.
There were several motivations for moving these meditations to a blog. These motivations did not include what has emerged as the principal personal benefit: Revisiting these meditations has helped me make better sense of the last five years.
The great challenge of these years has been finding a way to match my own sense-of-self (tsedeq) with the reality of my relationships (mishpat). I had a vague notion of this tension. Preparing these meditations helped clarify the tension and how it might be resolved.
As the struggle opened, my sense-of-self was suppressed, even oppressed, by a sense of obligation to clients and colleagues who mostly were not interested in the Exodus journey that I felt compelled to undertake. Most of these clients and colleagues were entirely satisfied with what struck me as Egyptian slavery. And the few colleagues who shared my dissatisfaction were inclined to choose a path considerably different than the twisting trek across the Sinai on which I had begun to walk.
While I have not - yet - reached what I envision as a promised land (flowing with milk and honey), I am confident that my current direction is much better suited for my particular tsedeq... and I am in the midst of working with a range of communities in shaping a meaningful mishpat.
There is a third set of meditations, finished nearly four years ago, that focuses on mishpat. But before I bring these to a blog, I want to work through the crafting of mishpat within my new context.
There were at least six individuals who have been regularly looking in on this blog and a few dozen who occasionally checked it out. Thanks for joining the journey. Wherever you are, I hope the path unfolding before you leads to an intersection of tsedeq and mishpat. I am still moving in what I hope is that direction. See you there.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
The Fundamental Link
In reviewing the various components of strategic planning and execution, Peter Drucker comments, “But lacking divine guidance, management must make sure that these difficult responsibilities are not overlooked or neglected but taken care of as well as humanly possible.”
I am arguing that we have the benefit of divine guidance. For non-believers there is, at least, a persuasive pattern of past lessons learned.
In the work of Moses, in the story of the Exodus, and in the history of dozens of successful and failed enterprises we can perceive the fundamental role of balancing righteousness and justice. This is the fundamental link, the core theme, and the ultimate anchor for every effective strategy. This pattern consistently cultivated is the foundation of comparative advantage.
We share many characteristics and needs. We are all creative. We all use frameworks. We all seek to love and be loved. Any strategy or system that tries to deny these common values will fail. The more a strategy amplifies and links these values, the more likely it will succeed in the long-term. Justice is not just a nice goal. The linked activities that advance the goals of justice are fundamental to achieving sustainable comparative advantage.
We are each unique expressions of our shared identity. We will each be creative in different ways. A framework meaningful to one of us is likely to confuse another. We each embody different strengths and weaknesses. Any strategy or system that attempts to ignore or eliminate this differentiation will eventually fail. Righteousness is not just an old-fashioned religious value. The linked activities that encourage individuals to seek and become their true selves are fundamental to achieving long-term and sustainable comparative advantage.
Each enterprise will require strategies that build on the anchor of justice with righteousness. These core themes are the foundation of comparative advantage, not its completion. But any strategy without these at the core will fail.
It is also true that adopting justice and righteousness as the core of your strategic system will not guarantee short-term success. Strategy does not preordain the outcome of every tactical engagement. Tactics still matter. Persistent failure to make good choices and achieve operational effectiveness will undermine the best strategy. It is not possible to separate reality into convenient compartments. The strategist must engage the whole system.
This focus on righteousness and justice does, however, enhance the ability of the enterprise to recover from tactical failures and the short-comings of other strategic decisions.
To ever approach a community of true selves, each individual must accept responsibility for his or her own Exodus story. If each of us is a unique expression of God, finding our true self and learning how to express our true self is an awesome and, probably, life long task. In the journey of self-discovery too many of us give up or become complacent. The struggle is difficult. For most of us behaving in full concert with our true self is a momentary experience. It is exhilarating, but we tend to lose balance quickly.
A thousand years after the death of Moses, a descendent of Jacob – another God wrestler – translated the wisdom of his grandfather and its encouragement to seek out the balance of our true self:
… Do not be ashamed to be yourself.
For there is a shame that leads to sin,
and there is a shame that is glory and favor.
Do not show partiality, to your own harm,
or deference, to your downfall.
Do not refrain from speaking at the proper moment,
and do not hide your wisdom.
For wisdom becomes known through speech,
and education through the words of the tongue.
Never speak against the truth,
but be ashamed of your ignorance.
Do not be ashamed to confess your sins,
and do not try to stop the current of a river.
Do not subject yourself to a fool,
or show partiality to a ruler.
Fight to the death for truth,
and the Lord God will fight for you.
If we align our belief and behavior – and that of our enterprise – with truth, that position gives us a comparative advantage in surviving and thriving. Choosing to side with the ultimate reality of differentiation is key to that alignment. Becoming our true self and respecting the true self of others is the foundation of any meaningful achievement.
In the life and teaching of Moses we can see a demonstration of what Michael Porter and others have outlined as good corporate strategy. For Moses these teachings were designed to provide guidance for all of life.
I am arguing that we have the benefit of divine guidance. For non-believers there is, at least, a persuasive pattern of past lessons learned.
In the work of Moses, in the story of the Exodus, and in the history of dozens of successful and failed enterprises we can perceive the fundamental role of balancing righteousness and justice. This is the fundamental link, the core theme, and the ultimate anchor for every effective strategy. This pattern consistently cultivated is the foundation of comparative advantage.
We share many characteristics and needs. We are all creative. We all use frameworks. We all seek to love and be loved. Any strategy or system that tries to deny these common values will fail. The more a strategy amplifies and links these values, the more likely it will succeed in the long-term. Justice is not just a nice goal. The linked activities that advance the goals of justice are fundamental to achieving sustainable comparative advantage.
We are each unique expressions of our shared identity. We will each be creative in different ways. A framework meaningful to one of us is likely to confuse another. We each embody different strengths and weaknesses. Any strategy or system that attempts to ignore or eliminate this differentiation will eventually fail. Righteousness is not just an old-fashioned religious value. The linked activities that encourage individuals to seek and become their true selves are fundamental to achieving long-term and sustainable comparative advantage.
Each enterprise will require strategies that build on the anchor of justice with righteousness. These core themes are the foundation of comparative advantage, not its completion. But any strategy without these at the core will fail.
It is also true that adopting justice and righteousness as the core of your strategic system will not guarantee short-term success. Strategy does not preordain the outcome of every tactical engagement. Tactics still matter. Persistent failure to make good choices and achieve operational effectiveness will undermine the best strategy. It is not possible to separate reality into convenient compartments. The strategist must engage the whole system.
This focus on righteousness and justice does, however, enhance the ability of the enterprise to recover from tactical failures and the short-comings of other strategic decisions.
To ever approach a community of true selves, each individual must accept responsibility for his or her own Exodus story. If each of us is a unique expression of God, finding our true self and learning how to express our true self is an awesome and, probably, life long task. In the journey of self-discovery too many of us give up or become complacent. The struggle is difficult. For most of us behaving in full concert with our true self is a momentary experience. It is exhilarating, but we tend to lose balance quickly.
A thousand years after the death of Moses, a descendent of Jacob – another God wrestler – translated the wisdom of his grandfather and its encouragement to seek out the balance of our true self:
… Do not be ashamed to be yourself.
For there is a shame that leads to sin,
and there is a shame that is glory and favor.
Do not show partiality, to your own harm,
or deference, to your downfall.
Do not refrain from speaking at the proper moment,
and do not hide your wisdom.
For wisdom becomes known through speech,
and education through the words of the tongue.
Never speak against the truth,
but be ashamed of your ignorance.
Do not be ashamed to confess your sins,
and do not try to stop the current of a river.
Do not subject yourself to a fool,
or show partiality to a ruler.
Fight to the death for truth,
and the Lord God will fight for you.
If we align our belief and behavior – and that of our enterprise – with truth, that position gives us a comparative advantage in surviving and thriving. Choosing to side with the ultimate reality of differentiation is key to that alignment. Becoming our true self and respecting the true self of others is the foundation of any meaningful achievement.
In the life and teaching of Moses we can see a demonstration of what Michael Porter and others have outlined as good corporate strategy. For Moses these teachings were designed to provide guidance for all of life.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Righteousness
Each day you should move closer to becoming your true self. You are unlikely to ever be your true self. But persisting in the struggle to become your true self is fundamental to any success, effectiveness, or hope of happiness.
Whenever you perceive tension between your “personal ethos” and “professional commitment” there is cause to pause. This is the tension at the heart of every Exodus experience. The tension may be caused by either your own selfishness or the community’s expectation that you sacrifice your true self. The tension is a great opportunity.
The search for our true self – tsedeq or righteousness – can too easily become an excuse for self-righteousness. This path leads to rejecting our shared identity with others. Rather than weaving a web of mutually supportive links, the self-righteous cut links and build barriers to linking. Righteousness cannot prevail unless it is tightly linked to justice, and justice is the outcome of differentiation linked together for mutual support.
The claims of community can sometimes be used in an attempt to deny your true self. In searching for justice the community may begin to focus more on the rules and rituals that reinforce what we share, rather than the inspiration that celebrates the rich differentiation that also sustains us. Justice is the outcome of a community of true selves, not the leveling of selves into sameness.
To help in achieving this difficult - even treacherous - balance of righteousness and justice recall what our latter-day Amos, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, has called entropy. Among the principal characteristics of entropy that he lists are, “disorder, confusion, waste of energy, the inability to do work and achieve goals… the dissolution of order into redundant randomness… violence, conflict.” When we perceive in ourselves or in our community – family, place-of-work, hometown, or nation – a tendency for entropy we should be ready for wrestling. These are the symptoms of bad choices, bad leadership, and a bad direction. They must be resisted.
Ideally the forces of entropy can be redirected. In the life of Moses we have seen how to apply principles and techniques for such redirection. But we have also seen in the Exodus story when persistent sources of entropy are cut off and left behind in order to move on toward the Promised Land and the achieving of ultimate purpose.
The most difficult decisions I make relate to terminating colleagues for cause and resigning difficult clients. In both cases I have to make a decision that the other has become a persistent source of disorder, confusion, waste of energy and more that threatens my own true self, the true self of my colleagues, and/or the true self of our enterprise. It is a dangerous judgment, but after wrestling with the tension and finding no other resolution, it can be a necessary choice. I have too often delayed the decision too long.
Moses transformed his own weakness and the weakness of his community by embracing creativity, empowerment and love. He did not interfere in the free choice of others. Moses offered helpful frameworks for making good choices and he demonstrated the need and opportunity for redemption. These are your wrestling “holds” and “moves.” These are the tools for finding your true self and creating a community of true selves.
Wrestling is a sport that can really only be learned on the mat and by wrestling. In most other sports there are a whole host of helpful modes of practice that can be engaged individually and outside a scrimmage. But wrestling requires wrestling. We learn primarily by engaging in the struggle. We may sometimes practice with friendly challengers – helpful colleagues and appreciative clients – but the only real test, and the only real way to seriously refine your skills, is in struggling with those who seek to defeat you. These moments of true tension are the most meaningful opportunities for applying principles, learning and confirming your commitment.
In wrestling you do not destroy – or purposefully hurt – the other. But you seek to apply your strengths to the weakness of the other, to refine your skills in application, and to sharpen your consciousness of strength and weakness, in both yourself and in others, and thereby to prevail, and then to wrestle again.
A commentator on the Torah once wrote,
We are here to do.
And through doing to learn;
And through learning to know;
And through knowing to experience wonder;
And through wonder to attain wisdom;
And through wisdom to find simplicity;
And through simplicity to give attention;
And through attention to see what needs to be done.
Whenever you perceive tension between your “personal ethos” and “professional commitment” there is cause to pause. This is the tension at the heart of every Exodus experience. The tension may be caused by either your own selfishness or the community’s expectation that you sacrifice your true self. The tension is a great opportunity.
The search for our true self – tsedeq or righteousness – can too easily become an excuse for self-righteousness. This path leads to rejecting our shared identity with others. Rather than weaving a web of mutually supportive links, the self-righteous cut links and build barriers to linking. Righteousness cannot prevail unless it is tightly linked to justice, and justice is the outcome of differentiation linked together for mutual support.
The claims of community can sometimes be used in an attempt to deny your true self. In searching for justice the community may begin to focus more on the rules and rituals that reinforce what we share, rather than the inspiration that celebrates the rich differentiation that also sustains us. Justice is the outcome of a community of true selves, not the leveling of selves into sameness.
To help in achieving this difficult - even treacherous - balance of righteousness and justice recall what our latter-day Amos, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, has called entropy. Among the principal characteristics of entropy that he lists are, “disorder, confusion, waste of energy, the inability to do work and achieve goals… the dissolution of order into redundant randomness… violence, conflict.” When we perceive in ourselves or in our community – family, place-of-work, hometown, or nation – a tendency for entropy we should be ready for wrestling. These are the symptoms of bad choices, bad leadership, and a bad direction. They must be resisted.
Ideally the forces of entropy can be redirected. In the life of Moses we have seen how to apply principles and techniques for such redirection. But we have also seen in the Exodus story when persistent sources of entropy are cut off and left behind in order to move on toward the Promised Land and the achieving of ultimate purpose.
The most difficult decisions I make relate to terminating colleagues for cause and resigning difficult clients. In both cases I have to make a decision that the other has become a persistent source of disorder, confusion, waste of energy and more that threatens my own true self, the true self of my colleagues, and/or the true self of our enterprise. It is a dangerous judgment, but after wrestling with the tension and finding no other resolution, it can be a necessary choice. I have too often delayed the decision too long.
Moses transformed his own weakness and the weakness of his community by embracing creativity, empowerment and love. He did not interfere in the free choice of others. Moses offered helpful frameworks for making good choices and he demonstrated the need and opportunity for redemption. These are your wrestling “holds” and “moves.” These are the tools for finding your true self and creating a community of true selves.
Wrestling is a sport that can really only be learned on the mat and by wrestling. In most other sports there are a whole host of helpful modes of practice that can be engaged individually and outside a scrimmage. But wrestling requires wrestling. We learn primarily by engaging in the struggle. We may sometimes practice with friendly challengers – helpful colleagues and appreciative clients – but the only real test, and the only real way to seriously refine your skills, is in struggling with those who seek to defeat you. These moments of true tension are the most meaningful opportunities for applying principles, learning and confirming your commitment.
In wrestling you do not destroy – or purposefully hurt – the other. But you seek to apply your strengths to the weakness of the other, to refine your skills in application, and to sharpen your consciousness of strength and weakness, in both yourself and in others, and thereby to prevail, and then to wrestle again.
A commentator on the Torah once wrote,
We are here to do.
And through doing to learn;
And through learning to know;
And through knowing to experience wonder;
And through wonder to attain wisdom;
And through wisdom to find simplicity;
And through simplicity to give attention;
And through attention to see what needs to be done.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Execution of Strategy
Strategy is mostly about change and change is hard. Peter Drucker writes, “Management has no choice but to anticipate the future, to attempt to mold it, and to balance short-range and long-range goals. It is not given to mortals to do well any of these things.”
Later Drucker emphasizes that at the strategic level there “is a need for an organ of the enterprise which concerns itself with the gap – always a big one – between what the organization stands for and what it actually does. There is a need for an organ concerned with vision and values in the key areas. Again, this can only be an organ of the enterprise that sees and comprehends the entire business.”
We are mortals and there will always be a gap between what we seek to become and what we are today. But this need not be a proof of complacency or evidence of hypocrisy – if we are committed to a principled engagement with the challenges that face us.
The descendents of Jacob are more commonly called Israelites. Midway through his life Jacob assumed a new name. On the edge of disaster – again – he withdrew into the wilderness to struggle with reality. Overnight he wrestled with God. In the morning God gave Jacob a new name, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and prevailed.” (Genesis 32:28) Israel means God wrestler.
The execution of strategy is a never-ending wrestling match. Jacob prevailed by not giving up. Jacob continued to encounter challenge after challenge. But he was committed to the struggle, committed to doing his best to transform his current condition into something closer to the ultimate reality envisioned.
Communicating the vision, forging the links, weaving the web of linkages, creating a culture that integrates belief and behavior, making the tough choices, and recovering from the bad choices – this is a life of challenge that requires a profound commitment.
Donald N. Sull, a Harvard Business School professor, writes, “Successful managers all excel in the making, honoring, and remaking of commitments. Managerial commitments take many forms, from capital investments to hiring decisions to public statements, but each commitment exerts both immediate and enduring influence on the company. Over time and in combination, a leader’s commitments shape a business’s identity, define its strengths, and weaknesses, establish its opportunities and limitations, and set its direction.”
Executing strategy is about transforming the enterprise. Sull argues that transformation is usually the result of three sequential and linked commitments: selecting an anchor, securing the anchor, and aligning the organization around the anchor. For me Sull’s anchor is very similar to Porter’s theme. Ikea’s anchor is the link between affordability and variety. Moses chose the link between righteousness and justice. Sull writes,
To overcome the forces of organizational inertia – not to mention the skepticism that greets any change management effort – managers need to aggressively promote the new anchor and take concrete actions to secure it… When it comes to securing and anchor, not just any action will work. Effective transforming commitments share three characteristics. First, they are clear. Simple and concrete messages can be passed through an organization with minimum distortion, while vague or complex ones end up being distorted beyond recognition. Second they are credible. Employees, customers, investors, and partners must believe that the manager is serious, about her commitments and will stick with them. Otherwise, a new anchor may be viewed as cheap talk that can safely be ignored. Finally, they are courageous. The new anchor and securing actions must make the status quo untenable; they can’t leave room for retreat… Once the anchor is set and secure, all of the organization’s other frames, processes, resources, relationships, and values must be reconfigured to support it… Commitments define individuals just as they do organizations. They enable and constrain. They provide continuity over time. They make us what we are. Understanding the link between personal ethos and professional commitment is, in the end, what allows good managers to become great leaders.
In crafting and executing effective strategy, your personal self and your professional self cannot be separated, much less in conflict, there must be a coherent and complete commitment. Without this level of commitment the strength to persist in the long-term strategic struggle will be impossible.
Later Drucker emphasizes that at the strategic level there “is a need for an organ of the enterprise which concerns itself with the gap – always a big one – between what the organization stands for and what it actually does. There is a need for an organ concerned with vision and values in the key areas. Again, this can only be an organ of the enterprise that sees and comprehends the entire business.”
We are mortals and there will always be a gap between what we seek to become and what we are today. But this need not be a proof of complacency or evidence of hypocrisy – if we are committed to a principled engagement with the challenges that face us.
The descendents of Jacob are more commonly called Israelites. Midway through his life Jacob assumed a new name. On the edge of disaster – again – he withdrew into the wilderness to struggle with reality. Overnight he wrestled with God. In the morning God gave Jacob a new name, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and prevailed.” (Genesis 32:28) Israel means God wrestler.
The execution of strategy is a never-ending wrestling match. Jacob prevailed by not giving up. Jacob continued to encounter challenge after challenge. But he was committed to the struggle, committed to doing his best to transform his current condition into something closer to the ultimate reality envisioned.
Communicating the vision, forging the links, weaving the web of linkages, creating a culture that integrates belief and behavior, making the tough choices, and recovering from the bad choices – this is a life of challenge that requires a profound commitment.
Donald N. Sull, a Harvard Business School professor, writes, “Successful managers all excel in the making, honoring, and remaking of commitments. Managerial commitments take many forms, from capital investments to hiring decisions to public statements, but each commitment exerts both immediate and enduring influence on the company. Over time and in combination, a leader’s commitments shape a business’s identity, define its strengths, and weaknesses, establish its opportunities and limitations, and set its direction.”
Executing strategy is about transforming the enterprise. Sull argues that transformation is usually the result of three sequential and linked commitments: selecting an anchor, securing the anchor, and aligning the organization around the anchor. For me Sull’s anchor is very similar to Porter’s theme. Ikea’s anchor is the link between affordability and variety. Moses chose the link between righteousness and justice. Sull writes,
To overcome the forces of organizational inertia – not to mention the skepticism that greets any change management effort – managers need to aggressively promote the new anchor and take concrete actions to secure it… When it comes to securing and anchor, not just any action will work. Effective transforming commitments share three characteristics. First, they are clear. Simple and concrete messages can be passed through an organization with minimum distortion, while vague or complex ones end up being distorted beyond recognition. Second they are credible. Employees, customers, investors, and partners must believe that the manager is serious, about her commitments and will stick with them. Otherwise, a new anchor may be viewed as cheap talk that can safely be ignored. Finally, they are courageous. The new anchor and securing actions must make the status quo untenable; they can’t leave room for retreat… Once the anchor is set and secure, all of the organization’s other frames, processes, resources, relationships, and values must be reconfigured to support it… Commitments define individuals just as they do organizations. They enable and constrain. They provide continuity over time. They make us what we are. Understanding the link between personal ethos and professional commitment is, in the end, what allows good managers to become great leaders.
In crafting and executing effective strategy, your personal self and your professional self cannot be separated, much less in conflict, there must be a coherent and complete commitment. Without this level of commitment the strength to persist in the long-term strategic struggle will be impossible.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Strategic Balance
Righteousness with justice is the fundamental link at the core of the strategic system put in place by Moses. A few centuries later this strategic vision is reasserted by Amos. A bit later, not so far away, it is reclaimed by Jeremiah. When this linkage is in good shape, the rest of system is very resilient. When one or both of these elements are seriously tarnished or become separated, the rest of the links are not strong enough to produce comparative advantage and the community is vulnerable.
Porter would caution us not to view righteousness or justice as core competencies. They are, rather, the thematic outcomes of a whole host of linkages. Ikea’s activities are organized around the linked themes of variety and affordability. Variety is produced by a web of linked activities. The same is the case for the core themes that Moses set in place.
Righteousness – or tsedaq – is the original and true self of each individual. This is the expression of God that each of us can be. Righteousness is the outcome of self-awareness, self-correction, learning, opportunity, courage, and many more linked activities focused on discovering and being your true self.
Justice – or mishpat – is the character of a community where the righteousness of individuals is nourished and our shared identity is celebrated. Justice is the outcome of caring for the oppressed, correcting the selfish, working and learning together, enjoying the creative contributions of one another, and many more linked activities.
When the web of links between righteousness and justice are then also linked there is a knotted chain of great strength. But these words – especially righteousness – have in our day been exiled to mostly religious contexts. Many of us also live in a time and place where the link between religious life and the rest of life is less than tight. The concepts, however, – using other words – persist. Porter’s writings echo similar themes. Peter Drucker does as well. The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi offers the following:
There are two opposite tendencies in evolution: changes that lead toward harmony (i.e., the ability to obtain energy through cooperation, and through the utilization of unused or wasted energy); and those that lead toward entropy (or ways of obtaining energy for one’s purposes through exploiting other organisms, thereby causing conflict and disorder.)…Harmony is usually achieved by evolutionary changes involving an increase in an organism’s complexity, that is, an increase in both differentiation and integration. Differentiation refers to the degree to which a system (i.e., an organ such as the brain, an individual, a family, a corporation, a culture, or humanity as a whole) is composed of parts that differ in structure or function from one another. Integration refers to the extent to which the different parts communicate and enhance one another’s goals.
Replace differentiation with righteousness and integration with justice and you could be reading a highly-educated post-Darwinian Amos. This strategic pairing – righteousness and justice – is a source of comparative advantage that is available to all of us, as individuals, communities, and enterprises. It is the fundamental source of true and sustained comparative advantage.
Unfortunately we too often choose entropy rather than harmony. This can produce measurable short terms gains. But as Csikszentmihalyi joins Moses, Amos, Jeremiah, and others in pointing out, this is the cause of conflict, disorder, and finally death. This is the kind of zero sum competition that Porter warns is the outcome of focusing only on operational effectiveness.
The long-term, sustainable comparative advantage derived from linking all your major activities and your entire value chain to the themes of righteousness and justice is a result of linking your activities to the structure of fundamental reality. To make this point I might choose to quote my favorite quantum physicist, instead I will draw on a 15th Century Spanish rabbi:
Genuine existence engenders the existence of all of creation. The sublime, inner essences secretly constitute a chain linking everything from the highest to the lowest… There is nothing – not even the tiniest thing – that is not fastened to the links of this chain… The entire chain is one. Down to the last link, everything is linked with everything else; so divine essence is below as well as above, in heaven and on earth. There is nothing else.
Porter would caution us not to view righteousness or justice as core competencies. They are, rather, the thematic outcomes of a whole host of linkages. Ikea’s activities are organized around the linked themes of variety and affordability. Variety is produced by a web of linked activities. The same is the case for the core themes that Moses set in place.
Righteousness – or tsedaq – is the original and true self of each individual. This is the expression of God that each of us can be. Righteousness is the outcome of self-awareness, self-correction, learning, opportunity, courage, and many more linked activities focused on discovering and being your true self.
Justice – or mishpat – is the character of a community where the righteousness of individuals is nourished and our shared identity is celebrated. Justice is the outcome of caring for the oppressed, correcting the selfish, working and learning together, enjoying the creative contributions of one another, and many more linked activities.
When the web of links between righteousness and justice are then also linked there is a knotted chain of great strength. But these words – especially righteousness – have in our day been exiled to mostly religious contexts. Many of us also live in a time and place where the link between religious life and the rest of life is less than tight. The concepts, however, – using other words – persist. Porter’s writings echo similar themes. Peter Drucker does as well. The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi offers the following:
There are two opposite tendencies in evolution: changes that lead toward harmony (i.e., the ability to obtain energy through cooperation, and through the utilization of unused or wasted energy); and those that lead toward entropy (or ways of obtaining energy for one’s purposes through exploiting other organisms, thereby causing conflict and disorder.)…Harmony is usually achieved by evolutionary changes involving an increase in an organism’s complexity, that is, an increase in both differentiation and integration. Differentiation refers to the degree to which a system (i.e., an organ such as the brain, an individual, a family, a corporation, a culture, or humanity as a whole) is composed of parts that differ in structure or function from one another. Integration refers to the extent to which the different parts communicate and enhance one another’s goals.
Replace differentiation with righteousness and integration with justice and you could be reading a highly-educated post-Darwinian Amos. This strategic pairing – righteousness and justice – is a source of comparative advantage that is available to all of us, as individuals, communities, and enterprises. It is the fundamental source of true and sustained comparative advantage.
Unfortunately we too often choose entropy rather than harmony. This can produce measurable short terms gains. But as Csikszentmihalyi joins Moses, Amos, Jeremiah, and others in pointing out, this is the cause of conflict, disorder, and finally death. This is the kind of zero sum competition that Porter warns is the outcome of focusing only on operational effectiveness.
The long-term, sustainable comparative advantage derived from linking all your major activities and your entire value chain to the themes of righteousness and justice is a result of linking your activities to the structure of fundamental reality. To make this point I might choose to quote my favorite quantum physicist, instead I will draw on a 15th Century Spanish rabbi:
Genuine existence engenders the existence of all of creation. The sublime, inner essences secretly constitute a chain linking everything from the highest to the lowest… There is nothing – not even the tiniest thing – that is not fastened to the links of this chain… The entire chain is one. Down to the last link, everything is linked with everything else; so divine essence is below as well as above, in heaven and on earth. There is nothing else.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Inspiration
Don’t add to it or take from it, Moses insists. The strategy is self-sustaining if you will believe and behave consistently with the system. The systems approach to strategy that Moses chose – creating a chain of linked activities – is resilient and largely self-healing. It is a web of links. Imagine a chain that has become knotted and tangled. It is usually possible to cut off several individual links, but the strength of the tangled chain is not weakened.
This kind of strength is possible when a strategy goes beyond operational efficiency and specific core competencies. Rather than engage the market with a few comparative strengths, the enterprise self-consciously links its various activities into a consistent culture of belief and behavior.
As consumers we experience the power of such a culture when we encounter extraordinary service that seems to anticipate our needs and exceed our expectations. To untangle the culture and identify a few key components that differentiate the culture is usually impossible. The power is in how the whole range of activities reinforces one another.
A great restaurant is not just about great food; it is about setting, presentation, personal service, the wine, the temperature, how reservations are handled, how the bill is paid and much more. How each and every one of these activities is linked creates a particular kind of experience. When the linkage is consistent the restaurant achieves its own persona. Billy at the bar, Julie in the kitchen, Andre at the front desk become individual expressions of a shared identity that transcends each of them.
This is a common aspect of those few great restaurants that survive for a generation or more. This persona – consistently and tightly linked activities – attracts appreciation and loyalty in a way no single strength can. Many great chefs have failed because, while fantastic in the kitchen, they were unable to create the right atmosphere in the dining room.
Crafting these linkages and ensuring their consistency is not easy in a family or a small restaurant and is profoundly difficult in larger enterprises. Two approaches to crafting consistency are common: one focuses on regulating individual behavior, the other focuses on inspiring shared belief. Even in the smallest enterprise both are usually present. As the enterprise expands there is a general tendency to emphasize regulation rather than inspiration. But without inspiration, regulations are as likely to spawn inconsistency as consistency.
The linked chain forged in the wilderness survived many disasters. But it was nearly destroyed by a failure of inspiration. Five centuries after the death of Moses many links in the chain had been cut off; whole lengths of the chain that had differentiated the chosen people had been lost. But the differentiation persisted and the community survived – barely.
A long list of leaders over more than 200 years failed to reinforce the linkages. Some of the leaders were, in fact, the principal cause for many of the links being cut. Again and again the leaders found it in their near-term personal interest to focus on specific strengths rather than the strategic system. They tended to emphasize parts rather than the whole. In some cases they attempted to actively divide the community to more easily use the parts for their own purposes.
From time to time there would be revivals. Good leaders would attempt to restore linkages. The rituals and festivals would be renewed. At one point a lost book of Moses (probably Deuteronomy) was found and motivated the restoration of many of the regulations that had been lost. But while the rules and rituals could be reclaimed fairly quickly, the underlying inspiration, including an understanding of the purpose for the rules and regulations, was much more difficult to preserve without consistent reinforcement.
Moses had implemented a strategic system that expected non-compliance. By building into the system the likelihood of failure, the chance for system recovery was enhanced. One of several self-correcting mechanisms was the role of prophecy.
Moses had explained the inspiration behind the rules as “You must not distort justice… Righteousness only righteousness you shall pursue.” Five centuries after the death of Moses a cattle breeder from outside Jerusalem was inspired by these words. Where Moses had linked activities to specifically differentiate his community Amos perceived the linkages were broken or at least very loose.
People were still going to temple, still offering prayers, and were outwardly devout. But outside the temple their behavior seemed to be unconnected with what they said and did inside the temple.
Speaking as a prophet, assuming the identity of God, Amos proclaimed:
I hate, I despise your festivals,
And I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5: 21-24)
It was all signaling and no substance. It was like a restaurant where the room looks wonderful, the food smells wonderful, and a harp is playing soothing music, but you feel as if you are being preyed upon by a condescending staff. The difference between the great restaurants that survive and pretentious restaurants that fail is often very subtle. It is often a matter of inspiration.
Great enterprises are communities where each individual is inspired to contribute to achieving the fundamental mission. The rules, the processes, the procedures, and our other rituals exist – and can be overturned – in order to link all of our activities into a coherent, consistent, and authentic wholeness of belief and behavior. Great enterprises do not pretend. They seek, and become, their true selves.
This kind of strength is possible when a strategy goes beyond operational efficiency and specific core competencies. Rather than engage the market with a few comparative strengths, the enterprise self-consciously links its various activities into a consistent culture of belief and behavior.
As consumers we experience the power of such a culture when we encounter extraordinary service that seems to anticipate our needs and exceed our expectations. To untangle the culture and identify a few key components that differentiate the culture is usually impossible. The power is in how the whole range of activities reinforces one another.
A great restaurant is not just about great food; it is about setting, presentation, personal service, the wine, the temperature, how reservations are handled, how the bill is paid and much more. How each and every one of these activities is linked creates a particular kind of experience. When the linkage is consistent the restaurant achieves its own persona. Billy at the bar, Julie in the kitchen, Andre at the front desk become individual expressions of a shared identity that transcends each of them.
This is a common aspect of those few great restaurants that survive for a generation or more. This persona – consistently and tightly linked activities – attracts appreciation and loyalty in a way no single strength can. Many great chefs have failed because, while fantastic in the kitchen, they were unable to create the right atmosphere in the dining room.
Crafting these linkages and ensuring their consistency is not easy in a family or a small restaurant and is profoundly difficult in larger enterprises. Two approaches to crafting consistency are common: one focuses on regulating individual behavior, the other focuses on inspiring shared belief. Even in the smallest enterprise both are usually present. As the enterprise expands there is a general tendency to emphasize regulation rather than inspiration. But without inspiration, regulations are as likely to spawn inconsistency as consistency.
The linked chain forged in the wilderness survived many disasters. But it was nearly destroyed by a failure of inspiration. Five centuries after the death of Moses many links in the chain had been cut off; whole lengths of the chain that had differentiated the chosen people had been lost. But the differentiation persisted and the community survived – barely.
A long list of leaders over more than 200 years failed to reinforce the linkages. Some of the leaders were, in fact, the principal cause for many of the links being cut. Again and again the leaders found it in their near-term personal interest to focus on specific strengths rather than the strategic system. They tended to emphasize parts rather than the whole. In some cases they attempted to actively divide the community to more easily use the parts for their own purposes.
From time to time there would be revivals. Good leaders would attempt to restore linkages. The rituals and festivals would be renewed. At one point a lost book of Moses (probably Deuteronomy) was found and motivated the restoration of many of the regulations that had been lost. But while the rules and rituals could be reclaimed fairly quickly, the underlying inspiration, including an understanding of the purpose for the rules and regulations, was much more difficult to preserve without consistent reinforcement.
Moses had implemented a strategic system that expected non-compliance. By building into the system the likelihood of failure, the chance for system recovery was enhanced. One of several self-correcting mechanisms was the role of prophecy.
Moses had explained the inspiration behind the rules as “You must not distort justice… Righteousness only righteousness you shall pursue.” Five centuries after the death of Moses a cattle breeder from outside Jerusalem was inspired by these words. Where Moses had linked activities to specifically differentiate his community Amos perceived the linkages were broken or at least very loose.
People were still going to temple, still offering prayers, and were outwardly devout. But outside the temple their behavior seemed to be unconnected with what they said and did inside the temple.
Speaking as a prophet, assuming the identity of God, Amos proclaimed:
I hate, I despise your festivals,
And I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5: 21-24)
It was all signaling and no substance. It was like a restaurant where the room looks wonderful, the food smells wonderful, and a harp is playing soothing music, but you feel as if you are being preyed upon by a condescending staff. The difference between the great restaurants that survive and pretentious restaurants that fail is often very subtle. It is often a matter of inspiration.
Great enterprises are communities where each individual is inspired to contribute to achieving the fundamental mission. The rules, the processes, the procedures, and our other rituals exist – and can be overturned – in order to link all of our activities into a coherent, consistent, and authentic wholeness of belief and behavior. Great enterprises do not pretend. They seek, and become, their true selves.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Strategic Integration
We are what we do. Even the smallest enterprise – such as a family – engages in many activities. Each member of the family plays a different role and brings to the activities different strengths and weaknesses. How these roles and activities are fit together, and how this fit amplifies individual strengths and compensates for individual weaknesses, largely determines the effectiveness of the enterprise. By combining activities in a mutually supportive system the family develops a character and outcome much different than four or five people merely sharing the same house.
Porter writes, “Fit locks out imitators by creating a chain that is as strong as its strongest link… One activity’s cost, for example, is lowered because of the way other activities are performed. Similarly, one activity’s value to customers can be enhanced by a company’s other activities. That is the way strategic fit creates comparative advantage and superior profitability.”
Porter uses Ikea, one of my favorite retail organizations, to exemplify the self-conscious cultivation of strategic fit. Ikea has made a choice to define itself as providing a wide variety of home products at affordable prices. While the inventory of each store is both broad and deep, the style is consistently modern, and – well – Swedish. While Ikea has opened stores in many cultures across the globe, it remains true to its origins. It celebrates its outsider status by using obscure Swedish product names (e.g. Enklav and Orgel) and featuring Swedish cuisine in its in-store restaurants. Ikea is very effective in signaling differentiation.
To offer a wide variety Ikea maintains long-term relationships with carefully selected suppliers, invests in huge suburban stores, and ensures that most items are available to take home immediately. To reduce costs Ikea minimizes sales staff, does not provide delivery, and prominently features modular, self-assembled furniture. Ikea is inclined to say yes to most opportunities to increase variety. Ikea is inclined to say no to most opportunities that would increase costs. But even in leading with variety, Ikea is ready to say no to products that are not consistent with its personality – with the true self that gives Ikea such a differentiated position in the home products market. Ikea consciously limits itself to its true self.
Because Ikea consistently focuses on affordability, it has embraced self-assembled furniture. Self-assembled furniture supports further cost containment by eliminating the need for store delivery. Because of the modular nature of self-assembled furniture, greater variety can be inexpensively manufactured and made available. Because there is a greater variety available customers are more confident they will find what they want at Ikea. As a result, customers arrive at Ikea not just looking, but predisposed to buy. When they arrive childcare and the in-house restaurant remove potential distractions to making a purchase decision. The inter-relationships between the activities go on and on. Ikea is consistent, its activities are reinforcing, and this results in an optimized effort across the entire chain of activities.
Each choice and each activity is amplified across the linkages. Instead of a set of separate functions, the enterprise can behave as a strategic system.
Moses offers a framework for living that integrates belief and behavior. The framework focuses on the fundamentals of human life: eating, relationships, and work. Each behavior is linked to the belief that our core identity is found in a relationship with God. The linked behaviors are designed to reinforce the discovery – and recovery – of this identity. Moses assumes that if the linkages are broken or made more complicated the whole community will suffer.
Moses warns, “Everything that I command you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to it or take from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32) “You must not distort justice… Righteousness only righteousness you shall pursue.” (Deuteronomy 16: 18-20)
The framework has served its purpose for over 3000 years. As Moses anticipated, the linkages were sometimes lost, but in time reclaimed. The framework has provided a sustained strategic advantage. Most of those in competition with the descendents of Jacob have disappeared. The community formed in the Exodus persists. Certainly it has struggled, often it has suffered greatly, but the community has also survived and thrived.
Porter writes, “Fit locks out imitators by creating a chain that is as strong as its strongest link… One activity’s cost, for example, is lowered because of the way other activities are performed. Similarly, one activity’s value to customers can be enhanced by a company’s other activities. That is the way strategic fit creates comparative advantage and superior profitability.”
Porter uses Ikea, one of my favorite retail organizations, to exemplify the self-conscious cultivation of strategic fit. Ikea has made a choice to define itself as providing a wide variety of home products at affordable prices. While the inventory of each store is both broad and deep, the style is consistently modern, and – well – Swedish. While Ikea has opened stores in many cultures across the globe, it remains true to its origins. It celebrates its outsider status by using obscure Swedish product names (e.g. Enklav and Orgel) and featuring Swedish cuisine in its in-store restaurants. Ikea is very effective in signaling differentiation.
To offer a wide variety Ikea maintains long-term relationships with carefully selected suppliers, invests in huge suburban stores, and ensures that most items are available to take home immediately. To reduce costs Ikea minimizes sales staff, does not provide delivery, and prominently features modular, self-assembled furniture. Ikea is inclined to say yes to most opportunities to increase variety. Ikea is inclined to say no to most opportunities that would increase costs. But even in leading with variety, Ikea is ready to say no to products that are not consistent with its personality – with the true self that gives Ikea such a differentiated position in the home products market. Ikea consciously limits itself to its true self.
Because Ikea consistently focuses on affordability, it has embraced self-assembled furniture. Self-assembled furniture supports further cost containment by eliminating the need for store delivery. Because of the modular nature of self-assembled furniture, greater variety can be inexpensively manufactured and made available. Because there is a greater variety available customers are more confident they will find what they want at Ikea. As a result, customers arrive at Ikea not just looking, but predisposed to buy. When they arrive childcare and the in-house restaurant remove potential distractions to making a purchase decision. The inter-relationships between the activities go on and on. Ikea is consistent, its activities are reinforcing, and this results in an optimized effort across the entire chain of activities.
Each choice and each activity is amplified across the linkages. Instead of a set of separate functions, the enterprise can behave as a strategic system.
Moses offers a framework for living that integrates belief and behavior. The framework focuses on the fundamentals of human life: eating, relationships, and work. Each behavior is linked to the belief that our core identity is found in a relationship with God. The linked behaviors are designed to reinforce the discovery – and recovery – of this identity. Moses assumes that if the linkages are broken or made more complicated the whole community will suffer.
Moses warns, “Everything that I command you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to it or take from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:32) “You must not distort justice… Righteousness only righteousness you shall pursue.” (Deuteronomy 16: 18-20)
The framework has served its purpose for over 3000 years. As Moses anticipated, the linkages were sometimes lost, but in time reclaimed. The framework has provided a sustained strategic advantage. Most of those in competition with the descendents of Jacob have disappeared. The community formed in the Exodus persists. Certainly it has struggled, often it has suffered greatly, but the community has also survived and thrived.
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