This is #1 of a series of posts in which I will share excerpts of my book in progress, Organizing for Impact, partly as a sneak peek, partly as an invitation for feedback, and partly as self-motivation to get it to the finish line.

The world is full of books on leadership, management, and organization, so why should I create yet another? That’s a fair question, I say to myself as I wrestle with making such a bold commitment, and a short answer is that this book is an expression of what I have come to embrace as a core life purpose to bring more humanity into the workplace. It is a reflection on my 30-plus year journey from contributor to manager to executive, and the various experiences that have informed and shaped my perspectives through participation in many structures along the way.

Where I am at as I write this is that I’m tired of joining companies unwilling to let go of unhealthy, antiquated ways of being. Hierarchical command-and-control structures, micromanagement, silos, unproductive meetings and inequitable incentives are just a few examples. In this day and age, more than a century after some of these practices were put in place to manage workers on factory lines, in the middle of the Age of Connection, it is simply not necessary to work this way, if it ever was. There’s plenty of research available that focuses on how the ways of the modern workplace can be oppressive and demotivating, where profit is the primary purpose, and the worker is a cog in the machine. That is not my focus in Organizing for Impact (OFI). I’ll be instead emphasizing possibility. You will be encouraged to forget change management and learn to continuously adapt from within. I’ve designed this book to be a guide for you to lay the foundations of a new, self-managed organization and start operating in a new paradigm.

Another answer to that question as to why I should bring this book to fruition is that I have read and researched organizational structures and workplace dynamics for many years, and simply put, there are gaps that I wanted to explore more deeply. There are a lot of really excellent contributors to, and fellow explorers in, this space–and you will meet many of those folks in the chapters that follow–but the territory still has a lot of ground to explore, and I want to do my part by sharing what I’ve learned.

The long answer, however, is the full contents of the book ahead of you, the outcome of my efforts to examine the concept of organizational impact through a lens that includes the growth and accomplishments of the individuals that make up the organization who often, in legacy organizations, take a back seat to the goals of the organization itself. In my opinion, this kind of impact organization can only be built around principles and implementations of self-management.

The fact is, when someone becomes aware of something that can enrich life just by making different choices, but chooses instead to remain in old patterns, it is usually out of fear of the unknown, or fear of change, or maybe it’s sometimes just laziness. This is how I feel knowing that there are different, more humane ways to work but consistently becoming stuck in organizations that resist that kind of change, out of a fear of losing control. 

But control is a construct, and a manifestation of fear in itself. When an organization is driven by a need to control, it will often lean on command-and-control leadership, sometimes in the guise of democratic practices, but ultimately consolidating power in the hands of a small group of executives that feel compelled to protect that control. It’s not control, however, that fosters what truly makes an organization impactful. I posit in the following pages that it is through transformative leadership practices that organizations can achieve real and deep impact. This type of leadership seeks to foster happiness, respect, trust, vulnerability, and authenticity as core values that lead to growth, engagement, innovation, and results that outperform competitors while developing more purposeful leaders. 

Being a valued part of a shared sense of purpose should be a given, but what often falls by the wayside is the fact that individuals who make up an organization are also entitled to a sense of purpose for themselves that encourages them to achieve personal impact, through development and growth and being part of something bigger than themselves. Impact takes on a deeper meaning when it accounts for all the growth and potential of everyone involved, versus only the profit and product potential being pursued. In an impact organization, everyone is a leader because everyone is empowered to pursue their purpose.

It is by valuing leadership as a core competency that I am certain we can shift from a world in which 20 percent of people are engaged in their work¹ to one in which everyone feels balanced and fulfilled on their life paths, which happen to include work. This book is an invitation to lead differently, and make leadership a part of everyone’s purpose. This is a path to sharing power by all, versus wielding power by an anointed few. The lack of power and autonomy is what fuels disengagement from work, and that manifests in retention issues like the despairing Great Resignation moments that drive people to leave their jobs without really having a destination that promises a more fulfilling work existence.

The truth is, mostly unintentionally, we treat our organizations like prisoners of a select few people, with purpose under house arrest, occasionally but rarely glimpsed by the staff, who themselves are garbed in professional masks and hiding their whole selves from others. These humans become “resources” to hold captive and control, replaceable parts in an ever-churning machine, and yet another manifestation of fear.

“What replaces fear?” asks Frederic Laloux in his book Reinventing Organizations. His answer is, “A capacity to trust the abundance of life.” Not something you typically see in a job description, is it? But sadly, fear is a central organizing principle in organizations today. For instance, why do organizations make three-year plans? Or even three-month plans? Because if they don’t, they fear squandering time and resources. Why do we estimate how long things will take? So that deadlines can be imposed that drive people, in fear of not making the deadline, to take shortcuts and work overtime. Why do managers exist? Because if they didn’t, nobody would know what to do!

These are all examples of fear-driven practices, and they have been woven into the fabric of organizational structure for decades. And this is also the problem. Workplaces and work itself has changed dramatically over the last 30 years, as technology advancement and the Internet have created a whole new digital economy and culture. A new way of working is trying to emerge, with organizations experimenting with remote and distributed teams, flattening hierarchies and getting rid of layers of management, and bringing in a higher level of support for staff wellness. These are the bare minimum because they are the easiest to embrace, but how do organizations implement power sharing? How do they measure impact so inclusively as to account for individuals’ impact through personal growth? How do we incorporate purpose more holistically and provide guiding principles that help to fulfill that purpose?

On top of all of this is the fact that an organization has its own needs, its own agenda, and its own purpose. It also has its own culture that is reflected in the group and interpersonal dynamics of its contributors, and in the processes utilized for delivering value. Organizations maintain relationships through their brands, with partners, customers, and its own staff. It is important to recognize the bigger picture, this awareness that there are internal, external, individual, and collective factors that work in concert. But change one note, and the whole tune changes.

So, while I have many reasons for writing this book for myself, I also hope that it resonates with others who want to bring their best and most authentic selves to purpose-driven work, and with leaders who want to streamline their organizations toward high impact outcomes by sharing power and creating more leaders. It’s for anyone who desires an evolutionary leap in the way work and collaboration are done. It’s for anyone who wants to make a difference. To continue reading hopefully means you are willing to learn, experiment, and possibly completely re-organize the way you think and/or the way your organization is structured. It’s an opportunity, and I invite you to explore it fully, with me, so we can help build the future of work together.

1. Harter, Jim. “U.S Employee Engagement Data Hold Steady in First Half of 2021.” Gallup, Gallup, Inc., 29 July 2021, https://www.gallup.com/workplace/352949/employee-engagement-holds-steady-first-half-2021.aspx.