Episode 7: Organizational Vitality
What makes an organization vital, alive? This is the first in a series of episodes about living systems. Marti and Todd talk about evolving a vision, taking an experimental approach, the necessity of growing and adjusting, and why worker disengagement is so high.
We learn about zooming in and zooming out, and why acknowledging the value and contributions of others is so essential.
From the Edge - Pulses in the Field (Marti)
Conscious Rant - Stop Blaming the System! (Todd)
Timeline
1:35 A living systems perspective
4:30 Unintended consequences
6:35 Rules & rigidity
9:50 Leader as isolated guide
10:52 Intersubjectivity
11:57 Focusing on energy vs. matter
14:01 Zooming in and zooming out
15:08 Dynamics between the links
16:19 The energy of a seed
20:21 Blaming and burdening leaders
22:35 Consciousness creating wellbeing
23:47 Small actions and experimentation
26:23 Moving into the unknown
27:32 Moving with vision and possibilities
31:21 Exploring worker disengagement
36:49 Every person is valuable
42:23 Marti & Todd’s new segments
42:47 From the Edge - Pulses in the Field (Marti)
47:07 Conscious Rant - Stop Blaming the System! (Todd)
Quotes
“We have decades of evidence that across scientific disciplines and fields of understanding, the world can be best understood as sets of relationships, patterns, and contexts that are interconnected and interrelated.” — Todd Hoskins
“Systems science teaches us that living systems continually regenerate themselves by transforming or replacing their components. They undergo continual structural changes while preserving their web-like patterns of organization. Understanding life means understanding its inherent change processes.” — Fritjof Capra
“We used to think that the brain was the ‘intelligent control center’ of the body. Now we understand, though still not fully, how tissues, systems, and cells all have their own intelligence. There is no control center! The body is a set of relationships working together that is self-regulating, complex, and continually learning – these are key aspects of living systems.” — Todd Hoskins
“Nothing exists outside of a system.” — Janine Benyus
“The goal before us is to understand complexity. To achieve that, we must move beyond structure and topology and start focusing on the dynamics that take place along the links.” — Albert-László Barabási
“The only place that anything is occurring anyway is right here and now. And the more we can keep our awareness right here now involved in what is actually occurring, the more creative we are, the more profitable we are, the better our relationships.” — Marti Spiegelman
“In a living system, value is determined by function, not by position — by function and gift. Everybody is equally valued. And so the fear of controlling is it's gone because the system needs every single part. It would be like your liver deciding that the kidneys weren't valuable enough and found a way to shut them down. Your whole body needs every single part.” — Marti Spiegelman
“I hear, on a regular basis, cries of ‘It’s the system! The system is broken.’ Yes, this is true. And I fear these statements detach us from our freedom, our possibility, and our responsibility. Stop blaming the system. You are the system.” — Todd Hoskins
“We are all connected. The system is us. There is a not a ‘them’ that is separate.” — Todd Hoskins
Links
Einstein vs. quantum mechanics
Gratitude
Thanks to Jamais Cascio for providing the voice overs for the segment intros, and to Pia Kealey for providing the episode intros.