Oxford Leadership Journal

The Oxford Leadership Journal is published four times a year and explores issues related to organizational and societal change from a variety of perspectives.
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OXFORD LEADERSHIP JOURNAL, VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3

JUNE 2010

There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea

When I was a boy at summer camp, we sang a song that seemed to celebrate the prepositional phrase. Its first stanza had only two:
   There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.
   There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.
   There’s a hole, there’s a hole
   There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea.

Each stanza added another, so the one-liner became:
   There’s a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea

Which evolved from stanza to stanza, getting pretty elaborate:
   There’s a fleck on the speck on the tail on the
   frog on the bump on the branch on the
   log in the hole in the bottom of the sea

Pretty elaborate and incredibly prophetic of course because (as I write this) there is a hole in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, and there are flecks and specks and slicks and plumes all over the surrounding ecosystem. I will confess to being fascinated and horrified— as I assume many people are—by how such a small thing, a pipe measured in centimetres, can wreak such havoc over thousands of square kilometres of ocean, thousands of kilometres of shoreline, millions of people, and countless birds, fish and other marine life. It is as if mother earth herself was wounded, and no one can staunch the bleeding.

Also shocking is this disaster’s intransigence, defying humankind’s best ingenuity—ingenuity that claims, for example, to be able to get one seven inch pipe to intersect another seven-inch pipe under a mile of ocean and a mile of rock. It is easy to empathise with Mr. Obama’s impatience when he said, “Just plug the damn thing.”

The third fascination this monster of a disaster presents is its slow and steady unfolding. We can sense that it is only a matter of time before oil that leaves the pipe reaches the surface, before underwater plumes are carried far and wide, and before slicks make landfall in more and more places. Even if someone just plugs the damn thing soon, the aftermath will be with us for quite a while.

So these three disaster complexities—the something- small-affects-something-big dynamic, the relative inability of humans to manage it, and the necessity to see things in a bigger time frame—are going to confront us again and again. They are built into global climate change, into widespread economic inequity, and into the huge cultural schisms of our time.

I think we need to find the acupuncture points—the points of leverage—that will alleviate our biggest challenges, and we will probably need many such points. Some will no doubt happen at the level of behaviour; our everyday actions and decisions, when multiplied by the millions or billions of other people doing the same, can have profound effect. Some acupuncture points will be at the level of our thinking and assumptions—we will conceive of things differently to obtain different results. And some points will be at the deepest level of basic awareness and how we are as human beings. This issue of the Oxford Leadership Journal is all about such acupuncture points.

Given the disaster complexities mentioned above, faith in the existence of acupuncture points is necessary and the search for them, critical. The Journal, one could say, is predicated on that faith and dedicated to that search. Please let us know where your search has taken you, and what you have discovered.

Robert Ziegler, Editor
Read Robert Ziegler's profile.

	Seven Acupuncture Points to Shifting Capitalism — Otto Scharmer What shifts are needed for capitalism to function in a regenerative fashion, accounting for the full ecosystem? A look at the history provides some clues.
	Measuring Real Progress — Ron Colman Why have we been unable to create the kind of society we genuinely want? One reason is that we have all been getting the wrong messages from our current measures of progress.
	The Yin and Yang of Creating — Robert Fritz In some ways, any creation is sequential—first vision, then current reality, then action steps. Other aspects happen simultaneously, one of which is creating’s Yin to its Yang.
	Leadership: What’s love got to do with it? — Tamara J. Woodbury Risky as it is, we must find ways to bring love and well-being back into our organisational cultures if we aspire to move leadership out of the domain of fear.
	Reinventing Management — Julian Birkinshaw The most spectacular failures—from Enron to GM to Lehman Brothers—are due in part to failures of management. There are many management models, and success depends on picking the right one.
	The Power of Brands to Create Better Futures —Santiago Gowland Especially when your products are consumed billions of times a day, you have an opportunity and responsibility to build sustainable values into your brand.
	Theories X and Y, Revisited — Matthew Stewart Fifty years ago, Douglas McGregor clarified some deep assumptions about the nature of human beings in his articulation of Theory X and Theory Y. Now it’s time to examine assumptions about relationships.

You can read Volume 1, Issue 3 as a consolidated PDF here (1.8MB)

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OXFORD LEADERSHIP JOURNAL, VOLUME 1 ISSUE 2

MARCH 2010

Introduction from the Oxford Leadership Journal Editor, Robert Ziegler.

Avatar-not-the-movie

The recent special-effects extravaganza, Avatar, struck more than a few chords with box-office audiences. In case you are one of the few who have not yet ventured to see this 3-D science-fiction marvel, here is a quick plot summary: people from earth are hell-bent on mining a precious mineral, “un-obtainium”, from the planet Pandora, no matter what the cost to the local inhabitants or the planet's ecosystem. One of earth's mercenaries, Jake, manages to infiltrate the local Na'vi tribe, fall in love with the chief's daughter, and then lead the rebellion against his fellow earthlings. Avatar is Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, and The Last Samurai crossed with the best special effects money can buy (and the effects are indeed spectacular).

What I found most interesting, though, was the resonant simpatico this movie established with many of our hopes and fears. The earthlings' military-industrial complex was never more vulgar. The Na'vi's feminine leadership was never more evident and strong. The rift between cultures never more stark. And the connection to nature never more adorned with audiovisuals.

Maybe I take these things too seriously, but my concern with Avatar is its implied theory of change, which boils down to a mass uprising backed up by primitive weaponry and prayer. No criticism intended, but I think our non-Pandora world also has some pretty compelling options to offer, some of which are featured in this issue of the Oxford Leadership Journal.

For example, you don't need to get romantically tribal to discover a myriad of powerful and practical applications of feminine leadership and women as leaders. Four writers — three women and one man — pick up on four distinct threads of the Feminine.

Corporations are generally not known for their sense of social responsibility, as Avatar is quick to point out. Two case studies in this issue illustrate the responsible potential of corporations — from a multinational giant to a small Canadian biotech company.

The Avatar leadership is bold, compassionate, fierce and very sexy. Maybe, like me, you will also find the kinds of leaders and leadership development described in these articles — the down-to-earth, collaborative, unsexy, real kind — to be even sexier.

Robert Ziegler, Editor

	Developing Leaders? Developing Countries? - Henry Mintzberg Maybe the notions of development — for countries, for leaders and for the leaders of countries — need to be re-examined.
	Feminine Principle and Theory U - Arawana Hayashi Because feminine principle (not the domain of one gender) invites us to take a bigger view, it is needed in all phases of any change process, as Otto Scharmer's Theory U describes.
	Conversational Leadership - Juanita Brown and Thomas J. Hurley Organizations and communities are webs of conversation, and no leader can afford to neglect the architecture needed to foster good conversations.
	Corporation as CEO - Judy Johnson and Ella McQuinn Usually we develop people to get work done. Precision Biologic CEO Michael Scott turned this around — what if we use work to develop people?
	The Girl Effect - Tamara J. Woodbury Investing in girls — whether in the developing or developed worlds — has some incredible multiplier effects but nevertheless is rarely done.
	How Women Mean Business - Avivah Wittenberg-Cox There is no glass ceiling. The proportion of women to men drops at every level of the hierarchy, in all countries, in all sectors. Here are the steps organizations can take to achieve gender equity.
	Women and Negotiation - Andrew Cohn Women get less in negotiation in part because they ask for less. What is a man's role when faced with this kind of inequity?
	Business as Change Agent - Frank Dixon Wal-Mart is a giant corporation many people love to hate … but wait, the retail giant is pursuing ambitious and far-reaching sustainability goals. And when a giant moves …

You can read Volume 1, Issue 2 as a consolidated PDF here (1.6MB)

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OXFORD LEADERSHIP JOURNAL, VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1

DECEMBER 2009

Shifting Trajectories

By way of introduction, here is a history of apocalyptic thinking: for the two million years leading up to the 1950s, the only ones who were concerned about the end of the world were either fervently religious or insane. By the 1950s, however, the power to destroy ourselves became apparent thanks to the threat of thermonuclear war. At the same time, some people began to notice how we were numerous and ingenious enough to poison ourselves over a somewhat longer period. Now it seems that those nuclear and ecological concerns have been nearly eclipsed by the inconvenient truth of the 21st century. In a few short years, global climate change has moved from possible to probable, from probable to irrefutable, from irrefutable to it-keeps-moving-faster-than-we-thought.

Our vision of the future has changed irrevocably - there is no choice but to shift the trajectory of civilisation. And who is bold enough and smart enough and caring enough to make that shift happen?

It may as well be us.

To help us in the task at hand, this premier issue of the Oxford Leadership Journal is brimming with trajectory-shifting smarts.

Adam Kahane has shared the Introduction to his edgily titled new book, Power and Love. As a facilitator myself, I am in awe of the personal honesty and persistence Adam brings to his facilitation work - disasters, triumphs and everything in between. Meg Wheatley and Debbie Frieze outline their strategy and experience in scaling up social innovation, connecting the most promising initiatives wherever they are found, and eliciting something greater than the sum of the parts. Julio Olalla probes deeply into the assumptions of the western mind and begins to point to some hopeful alternatives. In fact, all the contributors have some unique and eminently useful handle on shifting trajectories. I expect you will agree.

So let's work on this together, okay? Share your wisdom and experience in shifting trajectories through the Facebook or Twitter links provided or by contacting us directly. And please take a few minutes to forward this free journal to friends, clients and colleagues. To be honest, we could use a few more hands.

With gratitude,

Robert Ziegler, Editor

	Power and Love - Adam Kahane In his book by the same title, Adam Kahane argues that we will not address our tough societal challenges through powerful purposefulness alone or through loving inclusiveness alone. We need both, and not only that, we need the best of both: power that is not reckless and abusive, and love that is not sentimental.
	Taking Social Innovation To Scale - Margaret Wheatley & Deborah Frieze Emergence - the way natural systems develop new behaviours - provides a model for supporting and magnifying the small-scale economic, environmental and social innovations we desperately need on a global scale.
	The Crisis of the Western Mind - Julio Olalla To change the direction society is headed, we must understand it deeply. Julio Olalla explores the roots of Western ways of knowing and notes the promising signs of movement beyond our self-destructive path.
	Managing With the Brain in Mind - David Rock Research shows that the brain is a social organ, and managers are well-advised to take into account the social needs of employees if they want optimum performance.
	Out-of-classroom Experiences - Mark Jenner Complement classroom-based leadership development with structured and intentional experiences outside the classroom. It's harder than attending a programme, but worth it.
	Five Ways to Misinterpret 'The Art of War' - Robert Ziegler 'The Art of War', the 2500-year-old manual on strategy, has a lot to say about leadership, character, chaos, conflict and transformative change. That said, the text can also be devilishly difficult to understand.
	The Five-Minute OLJ Survey Each issue, we ask you to share your thoughts on a few key questions, and we promise not to take more than five minutes of your time. This month we ask what do you read about leadership - books, journals, websites - and who has been most helpful and inspiring? Next issue, you get to see what readers have said.

You can read Volume 1, Issue 1 as a consolidated PDF here (1.6MB)

The Oxford Leadership Journal is published four times a year and explores issues related to organizational and societal change from a variety of perspectives.
Articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or editor.
Editorial issues: editor@oxfordleadership.com
Subscription issues: journal@oxfordleadership.com