the open organization: igniting passion and performance - book summary
TRANSCRIPT
The Open Organization:Igniting passion and performance
-Book summary
Red Hat• Jim Whitehurst – CEO “Red Hat”
• biggest Open Source software company in the world• 85 offices in 35 countries• +7000 employees• Revenue of over 1 billion dollar
• Jim wrote about the way they work at Red hat and described it as an “open organization”
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Open source software Open organization
• Open source principles • Open exchange• Participation• Rapid prototyping• Meritocracy• Community
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The open source principles• Open exchange
• When everyone has access to all the information, we are able to learn more and create new ideas
• Participation• Free collaboration opens more doors
than working on your own• Rapid prototyping
• Learn by doing• Feel free to experiment
• Meritocracy• The best idea wins, no matter the
hierarchical place/background of the person
• The more respect you win from your peers, the more credit you get to innovate
• Community• Formed around a common purpose • Work towards the same goals
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What is an open organization?• “An organization that engages
participative communities both inside and out”
• Responds to opportunities (and threats) more quickly
• Access to resources and talent outside the organization
• Inspires, motivates, and empowers people at all levels to act with accountability
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Open Organization: Key Characteristics• Release early, release often
• It takes time to decide how something will be released perfectly from the first try
• Often it is better to implement a new idea quickly and use the feedback to improve or abandon that idea
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Open Organization: Key Characteristics• Change management during the
decision process• By truly involving the people
affected by a certain decision in the decision making itself, the change has already been accepted before the execution
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• Dare to fail• Errors should be seen as learning
moments • Be open to feedback you receive
by acknowledging and admitting those mistakes
• Giving room to mistakes gives the freedom to innovate and experiment
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Open Organization: Key Characteristics
• Letting the sparks fly• Discussions are good for the entire
organization • By setting aside your feelings of honor,
and looking objectively to the critical comments your idea receives, you are able to make better decisions that will be followed by your peers
• Sparks Terminally nice• Not discussing bad ideas (because of
the hierarchical place, for example) leads your organization off a cliff
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Open Organization: Key Characteristics
• Front line innovation• The best ideas come from people
on the front line• Bottom-up
• Think of ways to let those ideas be heard
• Leader as catalyst, by selling half-baked ideas and stirring up the debate
“If you really want innovation to happen, you almost have to think about it as an
ecosystem. A lot of companies think that the way to be more innovative is to put a
group of creative people together. But your most creative ideas are going to
come from people on the front lines who see a different way of doing the jobs they do every day. You have to create vehicles
for those ideas to be heard”Jim Whitehurst
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Open Organization: Key Characteristics
“Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate
them, they hire already motivated people and inspire
them”
