Episode 8: Leadership in Living Systems
What does it mean to lead within a system, rather than lead with a system? With a tendency for leaders to impose or adopt a system of leadership, it's important to draw the distinctions of what it means to lead as a member of the system that is alive and continually evolving.
Marti & Todd discuss what it means to "design" within the system, the necessity of paying attention to the energy of the system, allowing the system to teach us, and the importance of relaxing into a receptive and aware state.
From the Edge: Emotional Contagion (Todd)
Conscious Rant: Confusing Outcomes & Source (Marti)
Timeline
2:04 Systems for thinking
6:03 Leading from being requires a different lens
8:04 What we mean by “relationship”
10:12 Relationships as flows of energy
12:29 Borrowing, adopting, and imposing systems
15:25 The tension of “design” in living systems
19:04 Biggest Little Farm as film about living systems
22:23 Todd’s gardening experience
26:16 Letting the system teach us
29:56 Being in a relaxed state
32:04 Sketching the energy in the room
33:46 From the Edge: Emotional Contagion (Todd)
37:56 Confusing Outcomes & Source (Marti)
Quotes
“Are you leading with a system or are you leading within the system?” — Marti Spiegelman
“We're so fixated on the solid matter in our world that very few people have an understanding of energy.” — Marti Spiegelman
“We have to be informed by the world around us, not by a system that we impose on ourselves.” — Marti Spiegelman
“Learning about the natural world is one thing. Learning from the natural world—that’s the switch. That’s the profound switch.” — Janine Benyus
“Inside us, in our protoplasm, in our DNA, and at the level of cellular intelligence, we actually do remember the speech of the earth.” — Marti Spiegelman
“I am not just in the garden taking care of the garden. I am shifting with the garden itself. I'm acknowledging I'm a part of the system.” — Todd Hoskins
“The ego has to back off. It's not its job to be directing everything. The ego in the human being is supposed to be just the home — the nice, fuzzy, warm home for our lovely personality so we can be identifiable, dependable, bondable, connectable, lovable.” — Marti Spiegelman
“It's something bigger than human consciousness that envelops us, gives us this membership, and informs us on how things are actually connected and how things actually work.” — Marti Spiegelman
“It’s not all up to me.” — Todd Hoskins
“If I am stepping in to lead a department, I may come with this sense of eagerness, the sense of responsibility, the sense that I need to come up with the right ideas, make the right connections. If we're talking about leading within a system, then I'm becoming more receptive to the system itself — and the flow of consciousness within the system and outside the system because systems are embedded within systems. I can relax. In fact, I have to relax a little bit to be effective. It's essential that I relax.” — Todd Hoskins
“A relaxed state is an open state. It's only when we're open that we can receive information from the world around us.” — Marti Spiegelman
“There is something behind the curtain, but it's not a funny little weird machine. It's the flow of energy information and that's actually the system.” — Marti Spiegelman
“Emotions are contagious.” — Todd Hoskins
“We get accustomed to thinking the strategy is the source of our success. But strategy is an outcome. It's not a source. It is not even a starting point.” — Marti Spiegelman
“Trust is an outcome — it's an outcome of experience. It can't be the starting point. So instead of instructing people to trust, we would do better to learn great ways to engage with other people, to get to know people in their ways of living, to learn ways to craft good, respectful relationships.” — Marti Spiegelman