Meg Wheatley introduced me to "strange attractors" last year when I read her book, Leadership and the New Sciences: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World. No, we're not referring to the infamous "do be do" lyrics of Frank Sinatra. Rather, we're talking about a special force that emerges when a system undergoes transformation. Here's the skinny.
- Order exists in every system, even when the system is in absolute disorder and undergoing transformation.
- You want "quantum" leaders on your team who can find the order within the disorder. These are the leaders who can see the often invisible shapes, patterns and boundaries -- also known as "strange attractors" -- that will give meaning and hold the system together during these unstable and often turbulent times.
- These "quantum" leaders usually have a well-trained "eagle eye" that can see far and wide. They are also wise enough to know that absolute disorder is necessary, from time to time, in order to create anything new or better.
Give Wheatley's book a read. I read it in a single day, while sitting in two different airports, and I was a different person when I reached my destination.
In his book, The Ten Faces of Innovation, Tom Kelley identifies the ten roles or "personas" that make up today's new generation of innovators (or what I call "action figures) who need to be at your table.
The first three personas -- the Anthropologist, the Experimenter and the Cross-Pollinator -- are all about learning and bringing new insights, ideas and concepts to the table.
The next three -- the Hurdler, the Collaborator and the Director -- are organizers who know how to manage obstacles, silos and red tape.
The four remaining personas -- the Experience Architect, the Set Designer, the Caregiver and the Storyteller -- are the builders who make innovation happen.
According to Kelley, every table will have its "devil advocate ... but on a good day, the ten personas can keep him in his place, or tell him to go to hell."
Look around your table. Examine the make up of your teams, work groups and even your committees. In addition to the ever-present devil's advocate, are the other ten faces of innovation well represented? If not, check out Kelley's book or even the website for his consulting firm, IDEO, which is all about "... helping organizations, grow, innovate, build businesses and and develop capabilities."
Here's looking at you and your new, breakthrough partnership, product or service someday, very soon!
