Mike Bell's Leadership Wisdom

Getting Unstuck

“We have a tendency to make assumptions about what might happen based on imperfect information and our natural ‘confirmation bias’. That is we look for data that confirms our beliefs, unconsciously dismissing anything that counters them.

We also tend to fall into the ‘narrative fallacy’ trap - building up a model or theory in our minds based on past events (which are static) and applying it ad infinitum to a dynamic process we call life.  We help people access more information through structure, conversation and visualization, providing greater clarity, not only of what the individuals and teams want but also of how they think about what they want. We help them think more clearly and design a better future.” - Group Partners with a nod to Nassim Taleb.

Integrative Thinking

Perhaps science is bringing us some new understanding that can help us find better solutions to the challenges we face .....

"We are addressing the challenges of the 21st Century with education and training in critical thinking based on an inaccurate theory about how brains and minds function. Critical thinking is about breaking everything down into parts. This is inconsistent with the integrative way in which nature, our brains, our bodies and our minds function. Critical thinking is limiting our creativity and performance.Training in Integrative Thinking (IT) overcomes this impediment.

"Integrative Thinking (IT) may be thought of as a successor to lateral thinking and using multiple intelligences but, not surprisingly, is fully integrated, not an add-on extra. It is a
practical application of brain and mind sciences so is a form of technology but it is bottom-up and human-based rather than top-down and machine-based technology. IT starts from the basis that we are NEW- Wonderers, Narrative creators and Experience managers not mere manipulators of symbols as critical thinking implies. Hence, IT has been called the NEW IT Revolution."

8 Principles for Saving the Corporate Soul

In this book, Saving the Corporate Soul, David Batstone identifies eight principles for creating and preserving integrity and profitability without selling out.

The book is clearly written in the aftermath of Enron and gives many useful examples, of his eight principles in action, or not!

In summary, the eight principles are:

Eight Principles for Saving the Corporate Soul

1. The directors and executives of a company will align their personal interests with the fate of stakeholders and in a responsible way to ensure the viability of the enterprise.

2. A company’s business operations will be transparent to shareholders, employees, and the public, and the executives will stand by the integrity of their decisions.

3. A company will think of itself as part of a community as well as a market.

Seven Levels of Organisational Consciousness

This is taken from an excellent book called Liberating the Corporate Soul by Richard Barrett.

Where does your organisation stand? It probably spans two or three levels.

1. Survival Consciousness

· The first need of an organisation is financial survival

· The danger is that by becoming entrenched in SC organisations develop a preoccupation with the bottom line

· This results in excessive control and territorial behaviour

· Takeovers to plunder assets rather than strategic alliance

· People and Earth as resources to be exploited

· Highest levels of fear at SC

The Spirit of Conscious Business

http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/foreword-spirit.cfm

This forward by Ken Wilber to a new book by Fred Kofman presentss a simple and powerful explanation of why spirit and consciousness are important in business.

Wilber says:
" In other words, all of those major theories of business management and leadership—from systems theory to emotional intelligence to corporate-culture management, covering the big Three Landscapes faced by all humans—have an important place in a truly Integral Model of conscious business.

Although this might at first seem too complicated, the now undeniable fact is that any approach less-than-integral is doomed to failure. In today's world, nobody can afford to be less than integral, because the guaranteed costs are otherwise much too high.

Body and mind and spirit—and self and culture and nature—are all there, all exerting an influence, all actively shaping events, and you either consciously take them into account in any human endeavor, or stand back and watch the roadkill."