holonomics - creativity, ego and transformational leadership

1st June 2015

Simon Robinson and Maria Moraes Robinson

- Creativity, Ego and Transformational Leadership

© Holonomics Education 2015holonomics.co.uk

It is no secret that the private sector, for the most part, is failing to tackle today’s evolving social and environmental challenges, caused in large part by the nature of current standard business processes. It is getting more and more overwhelming for people to relate to businesses and their old-school practices. The main reason, some would argue, is that we fail to radically think and step out of the proverbial box we have been taught to exist in for generations. We seem to be collectively lacking either an agreed-upon vision of what to look for outside of that box, or the courage to pursue it, or both. !In a fascinating new book, Holonomics: Business Where People and Planet Matter, authors Simon Robinson and Maria Moraes Robinson reveal what it means to ‘think holonomically’ rather than mechanically. The book aims to not simply present this elegant mode of systems thinking, but also to give examples that make readers aware of a set of ideas not commonly discussed in this particular combination. !Holonomics brings biomimicry, life cycle analysis, systems thinking, spirituality, nature’s interconnectedness, philosophy, literacy, physics, biology and business all together in a way that opens readers’ eyes to uncommon dimensions of thought that could still have very practical applications. The content is arranged in three easy-to-follow parts that build on one another: The Dynamics of Seeing, The Dynamics of Nature, and The Dynamics of Business.

Foreword, Tamay Kiper, Sustainable Brands


In Part One, the authors concentrate on attempting to point out how mechanistic thinking in science can limit the mode of thinking and knowing in all other fields of human endeavour, a limitation rooted in the ‘ways of seeing’ that are currently dominant in most societies. In this context, a mechanistic way of thinking can be described as “thinking the world as functioning like clockwork, engines and computers.” The first challenge to our way of thinking, then, is to change it from mechanistic thinking to systems thinking. However, the authors go on to argue that systems thinking, the latest and best yet model according to many, is still insufficient. Even though systems thinking has given us the blessing of seeing the structures that underlie complex situations, instead of just focusing on individual parts of the problem, the assertion here is that the evolution is complete when we go from mechanistic thinking (objects), to systems thinking (objects + relationships), to holonomic thinking (objects + relationships + meaning).


holo

Holonomics

holonomic

holismHolacracy

holon

hologram

holistic

whole wholeness

the whole holarchy


In Part Two, the authors give a variety of examples from natural systems and emphasise the importance of seeing an organisation as a whole. One of the studies included in this part examines social insects, such as ants and termites, to illustrate a situation in which one can be faced with unexpected paradoxes. Ants and termites have tiny brains and therefore at the individual level their behaviour can be seen as extremely disorganised, or even chaotic; it is hard to describe them as intelligent in any way, based on that. But when they are studied collectively, as a whole, their behaviour is seen in a very different light, to the extent that we are still at a lost to be able to explain their extraordinary achievements. With this example we come to understand the importance of looking at the whole complex system. One has to study the whole, and, in doing so, be prepared to discover surprises as unexpected behaviours emerge. !Holonomic thinking encourages the understanding of relationships in their wholeness. This perception of ‘wholeness’ comes from both scientific and artistic consciousness. When perceiving phenomena, the underlying organising principles appear in the imagination, in a place of authentic ‘belonging together.’ The better we see the ‘belonging together,’ the better our mental models will be — there will be effective feedback loops and we will become more aware of our own thinking, and also aware of mental processes and experiences that are otherwise hidden from us. At the same time, we shouldn’t become so entranced that we confuse any advanced model with the deeper truths of reality, the totality of which cannot be modelled explicitly. Holonomic thinking emphasises the ‘belonging’ and the meaning of the systems and their coexistence. !In thinking about any practical complexity from a holonomic perspective, we come to realize that we can no longer separate ourselves from the environment. The environment and our ecosystems do not behave in predictable and linear manners. This, in turn, suggests that we need to tread carefully and cautiously, because we are not able to predict the outcome of our actions.


An inspiring example of applying holonomic thinking to leadership appears in Part Three and is based on the words of from Sergio Chaia, former president of Nextel Brazil. He argues that the ideal organisation does not exist because everything is being transformed and is always evolving, whether genetically or energetically. Everything pulsates in every moment and turn; and, as everything is changing, so also is the ideal. There is, therefore, no watertight concept of ‘ideal’ that is achieved and comes to a conclusion. Since the ideal has a mutant characteristic, the ideal organisation must also have the feature of constant mutation. !In Simon Robinson’s own words, ultimately the book’s aim is “to help the reader to be able to see both the intrinsic as well as extrinsic dimensions of complex systems, a new understanding of systems which they can then put into practice in their workplaces. Once a person is able to see authentic wholes and the processes, dynamics and meaning of living systems, they reach a deeper understanding of the world, one in which economics is no longer seen as separate from ecology. It is a new world of holonomics — business where people and planet matter.”

This article was first published on www.sustainablebrands.com on September 4th, 2014

http://www.sustainablebrands.com


The Dynamics of Seeing

The Dynamics of Nature

The Dynamics of Business

Human Values

The Holonomics Platform

Human Values !

Peace

Truth

Love

Non-Violence

Right-action


How Can Starlings Teach Leaders To Think In Opposites?


We have been visiting, observing and studying starlings for some years now, being lucky enough to come from a part of Scotland which is home to one of the most important roosting grounds for starlings in Europe.

When teaching MBA students at Sustentare Business School in Joinville, Brazil, we show students videos of the murmuration of starlings. These videos are quite mesmerising, and the question we always ask our students is what words come to mind when they watch them. Here are some typical answers:

Respect Overcoming Synchrony Enjoyment Union Ability Working in teams Force Strategy Liberty Complexity

Diversity Beauty Synergy Engagement Enchantment Focus Perfection Harmony Coordination Transformation Individuality


What is so great about studying starlings with students is that when you analyse these words, you can start to see opposites coming together. Words such as individuality and teamwork. Sometimes when we use words on their own, the deeper intuitive meaning gets lost, and so we need to watch a powerful phenomenon such as starlings to really move us and engage us emotionally with this concept of collective behaviour. !I think the one word which never seems to come up, but which I see in the starlings is a lack of ego. It is for this reason that I coined the term knotworks which I define as "networks with ego". This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks preventing us from realising our dreams of workplaces with the same qualities of starlings. !Beauty in organisations? It can happen, but as leaders we need to take a big dose of humility, drop the ego, and then we will really be able to tap into our collective wisdom, power, energy and dreams to achieve the impossible.


Credit: Damien Newman


It’s not just data, information and knowledge which flows through social networks, but narratives. People motivated by power can therefore control a network through narratives which support their views of reality and sow false stories which they wish to impose on others through command-and-control. This is the shadow side of social networks, which we call knotworks – networks with ego. !Platitudes such as the need to move from competition to collaboration have to be examined closely, and the intention of the speaker detected, not just the words uttered, since those who speak about collaboration may still have a competition mindset, and therefore still be using and abusing narratives in order to exclude others who for some reason they may feel threatened by. !Facebook did not suddenly turn us into yogis, Buddhas, angels and saints. There is a big difference between social networks, communities and cultures. Communities may have the appearance and structure of social networks, but the outcome when they are inauthentic is the continuation of fragmentation in society. !Social networks by themselves do not lead us to wholeness. You need to analyse a human network in terms of its values. It is not just about having shared values, but universal human values: peace, truth, love, right-action and non-violence. When these values are present, and absolutely lived by each and every member, then communities develop culture and you raise culture to its highest potential. The social network becomes psychologically, socially, ecologically and biologically healthy, authentic and self-sustaining.


Knotworks - Networks with Ego


Earth thinking is our every day three dimensional mechanical thinking. There’s nothing wrong with this at all, it helps us navigate our world which we experience as having four dimensions – three directions and time, even though our science tells us that our world is quite the opposite of how we imagine it to be. Earth thinking is one of solidity, solid concepts, it is the world in which we are g rounded, reassu r ing ly fam i l i a r, predictable, controllable and knowable. !Many people are so comfortable in this way of knowing our world, they are so rooted to it that they are unable to engage in any meaningful dialogue, so sure they are of the facts, of reality, that their version of reality is the true one.


When we engage in true dialogue, we move into a more fluid way of thinking. Our concepts become less fixed as we realise that we may have significant things to learn from others, and we are therefore able to adapt our concepts as we take on the alternative perspectives and points of view of others. Conversations can flow when barriers are removed, such as our certainty in our own beliefs, our desire to learn, our abilities to listen without judgement.


Air is much lighter than water, and when we transform our thinking again we are able to achieve ever higher levels of inspiration, sometimes without truly understanding where this inspiration came from. In yoga and other practices there are many breathing exercises which are used to calm the mind and achieve a deeper level of mindfulness. Air thinking is not bounded by limitations or restrictions, our concepts collide and fuse in a heightened level of creativity and insight.


Fire is the element of transformation. Just as we are scarred of fire as it can burn us, we are loathe to enter into fire thinking as it involves the dissolution of ego. We can not transform ourselves with this thinking unless we can leave our prior selves behind, and many people are unable to take this step into the fire. Fire is higher than air, since we no longer separate that which we observe and attempt to comprehend from ourselves. We no longer comprehend and aim to comprehend objects which are separate from we subjects. It is only by entering the fire that there is an alchemical transformation enabling us to reach a depth of profound comprehension which previously eluded us.


When we start on a journey of transformation, a deep learning journey, we often do so within a small field of knowledge. As we develop confidence, and our knowledge and awareness expands, so does the learning journey.


As well as there being a dynamic journey of outward transformation, there is also an inward path of grounding, where we take the insights gained from an expanded level of consciousness and awareness, we being to craft these insights into inspirational ideas, we then prototype these ideas, and then implement them back in our familiar sensory world in which we live.


This transformation journey is one of creative insight, and will be familiar to many designers and other creative people, including leaders. However, there are certain traps, and this is something not often talked about, but we do need to address these factors, as this journey is not such a simple one. It is in fact a hero’s journey.


The first trap is to read books about changes or levels of consciousness and to confuse academic or intellectual comprehension with intuitive insight. There is a world of difference between those people who talk the talk, and those who walk the walk. An authentic leader has walked the walk through this journey, and there is no escaping from this. You can’t study your way through this journey, it is experiential.


The second trap is one of being caught up in our egos. This journey is one from ego-centric consciousness to eco-centric consciousness, but something extremely deep and difficult to put into worlds happens in the fire stage. Many leaders, especially in the West, have become leaders through ego-centric consciousness not just of themselves, but of a society which rewards ego-centric behaviour. In our new reality which is emerging and being co-created, this is no longer working, but there are still people who are not actually aware that they are acting from a place of ego. !The danger here is that we may believe that we have reached the fire stage when we have not. We may still be threatened by others (ego), as opposed to recognising who they really are and seeing how they can contribute, co-create and belong to an authentic whole (eco). This is a very tough lesson for those already in leadership positions, probably one of the hardest lessons of all I would suggest.


The third trap is on reaching the level of transformation, the fire, you are so affected by the transformation that you do not know what to do with the insights. Fire burns, and so people on this journey need to be prepared for it. It also very much shows us why we need mentors, guides and authentic facilitators to hold the space for us and to be with us on the journey.


The fourth trap is one where you reach the stage of fire, of transformation, but you get so blown away by the depth of insight, you then attempt to articulate yourself from here. This is a huge lesson for leaders, since in order to inspire, you have to be able to address people at the level of their conscious awareness, and not your own. The solution to this trap is to realise that the journey is not one-way, you have to buy yourself a return ticket when you set out, and you return through the very stages you came through on your way.


The Holonomic Operating System

© Simon Robinson and Maria Moraes Robinson (2014) Holonomics: Business Where People and Planet Matter

So how do we develop the new generation of leaders who will be inspirational in the transformation of society, the ones who will be fully participating in conscious innovation and conscious capitalism? The answer is that new leaders will need to be able to find a balance in the four ways of knowing – fully utilising all of their faculties of knowing – thinking, feeling, sensing and intuition. !We call these four ways of knowing the Holonomic Operating System. In November we will be running a workshop Holonomic Thinking: Upgrading Our Leadership Skills and Systems Thinking for the New Economy, and in this workshop we will be exploring this mental operating system in depth, in order to really understand what this means both for our own ways of understanding the world, and also in terms of the implications for the design, implementation and communication of truly sustainable brands. !These are very exciting times, and if we can find this level of authenticity inside ourselves, we will be able to make a huge impact in both our companies, organisations and brands, and our communities in which we live and work.


Ego-nomic Holonomic

Simon Robinson !

Simon Robinson is the founder of Holonomics Education, a consultancy which helps organisations to think and innovate differently, allowing the development of high value customer experiences, the development of powerful and effective strategies, and of meaningful and sustainable brands. !Simon is an international keynote speaker at innumerable conferences including Sustainable Brands, London and San Diego and TEDx Florianópolis. He was one of the co-founders of the world’s first mobile internet portal, Genie Internet, which received many media awards for innovation, and has been a developer of cutting-edge innovations in technology and new media at BT, O2 and Digital Bridges. He is the editor of the blog www.transitionconsciousness.org and is a Harvard Business Review Brasil author. !!

Maria Moraes Robinson !Maria Moraes Robinson is an internationally recognised expert and keynote speaker in strategy, change management, sustainability, human values and the Balanced Scorecard methodology. Recent conferences she has presented and run workshops at include Sustainable Brands, San Diego and London, and Harvard Business Review Brasil summits on both Corporate Education and Leadership, and she is a published author in Harvard Business Review Brasil. !As a business consultant Maria has helped to introduce Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard methodology into Brazil across many sectors including telecoms, technology, petrochemicals, steel, energy, transportation and education. Her current work is focused on developing innovative new business courses which integrate insights from the Indian programme Human Values in Education and complexity science, with business strategy, change management, sustainability and organisational redesign.

Contact Information!!

www.holonomics.co.uk (English) www.holonomics.com.br (Portuguese)

www.holonomics.org (book) www.transitionconsiousness.org (blog)

@srerobinson (Twitter) @DoraMoraesR (Twitter)

holonomics - creativity, ego and transformational leadership

Leadership & Management