“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
~ (R. Buckminster Fuller)
This quote begins the first page of a book I’m reading called “Reinventing Organizations – A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness” by Frederic Laloux (2014). This is a very profound book that begins with the premise that “the way we manage organizations seems increasingly out of date.” Laloux presents the idea that we are on the verge of a new stage of consciousness that will radically change the way we run our businesses, nonprofits, schools, and hospitals. This new stage will be more “soulful” and “purposeful” and “wholesome” for everyone. His book explores this new stage in every facet of organizational life, e.g., human resources, structure, daily life, and processes.
Here are a few sentences and questions that just grabbed me.
- “Our way of conducting business has outgrown our planet.”
- “Could it be that our current worldview limits the way we think about organizations?”
- “Could we invent a more powerful, more soulful, more meaningful way to work together, if only we change our belief system?”
In his research, Laloux found 12 organizations that are currently in this new stage of consciousness. Here are just a few.
- Buurtzorg – Health care in the Netherlands with 7,000 employees.
- FAVI – Metal manufacturing in France with 5,000 employees.
- Morning Star – Food processing in the United States with up to 2,400 employees.
My next several blogs will be impressions and thoughts as I read this book. Why? My years of experience validate what Laloux is saying, that people are searching “for more authentic, more wholesome ways of being.” I’ve witnessed time and again that organizations seem out of date, being hierarchal-driven, layers of decision-making structures, employees and managers not able to make a link between what they do and the organization’s purpose, and resistance in creating a collaborative work culture. All these are examples that Laloux pinpoints are examples of organizations being out of date.
I leave you with this quote from Albert Einstein, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
Our discussion will continue in October…