Mapping Organizational Ecosystems: Artifacts & Rituals; Tribes & Institutions

This is an excerpt (Part 3) of an essay in progress to describe developing perspectives and practices for mapping organizational ecosystems. I recently facilitated a workshop with Agitare, the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum, and the Federal Innovation Network to explore how we view, create, and use maps of our massive, interconnected community, and how co-created and inter-subjective approaches … Continue reading Mapping Organizational Ecosystems: Artifacts & Rituals; Tribes & Institutions →

Mapping Organizational Ecosystems: Introduction

This is an excerpt (part 1) from an essay I'm working on to describe developing perspectives and practices for mapping organizational ecosystems. I recently facilitated a workshop with Agitare, the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum, and the Federal Innovation Network to explore how we view, create, and use maps of our massive, interconnected community, and how co-created and inter-subjective … Continue reading Mapping Organizational Ecosystems: Introduction →

Mapping Organizational Ecosystems: Predetermined vs Relational Roles

This is an excerpt from an essay I'm working on to describe developing perspectives and practices for mapping an organizational ecosystem. I recently ran a workshop with Agitare, the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum, and the Federal Innovation Network to explore how we view, create, and use maps of our massive, interconnected community, and how co-created and inter-subjective approaches … Continue reading Mapping Organizational Ecosystems: Predetermined vs Relational Roles →

Innovation, Design, and the Adjacent-Possible

This is a simple depiction of this concept called the adjacent-possible. I'm going to use this visualization to describe a few thoughts about innovation strategy and practices that I hope you will find useful. The concept of the adjacent possible originated from Stuart Kauffman, who used it to describe evolutionary potential in biology. For any … Continue reading Innovation, Design, and the Adjacent-Possible →

Please Use More Emojis/Reactions in Digital Spaces

This is your occasional reminder to use more emojis and reactions in your digital spaces. Mash that 'like' button. Give things a thumbs up or a "thinking face" if you're feeling grumpy. Like that tweet, even if you only kinda like it. You might be wondering why you should use emojis and reactions. Here is … Continue reading Please Use More Emojis/Reactions in Digital Spaces →

Expertise as Limiting; Uncertainty as Enabling

There's a common manifestation of "The Expert" in every field--one who has allowed the weight of their accumulated knowledge and experience to drag them down into an unfortunate state of certainty. The Expert has gained so much confidence in their field and craft that they see themselves as qualified, empowered, and even obligated to make … Continue reading Expertise as Limiting; Uncertainty as Enabling →

When people show you who they are… don’t believe them?

People really like to share that quote from Maya Angelou that goes "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time". I am an enormous fan of the poet Maya Angelou, but this quote has always bothered me, mostly because of how incompatible it appears to be with a growth mindset, and … Continue reading When people show you who they are… don’t believe them? →

On Death, Celebration, and Seriousness

The first time I questioned my decision to join the Air Force was in basic training, but it wasn't while being smoked by some screamy, sadistic TI (Training Instructor), who were mostly cartoonish, amusing, and annoying. It was when they sat us down to watch a hype video of bombs being dropped and detonating on … Continue reading On Death, Celebration, and Seriousness →

Why the Old Paradigms Don’t Work & Introduction to Cynefin (Video + Script)

https://youtu.be/ACkoVBnwaaw Script: For the next 20 minutes, I want to introduce you to a little bit of theory, and it might come across as somewhat abstract, maybe extremely abstract, but I have found some of these concepts extremely useful in understanding why the old paradigms and our default problem solving and sense-making methods often don't … Continue reading Why the Old Paradigms Don’t Work & Introduction to Cynefin (Video + Script) →