Why Socializing Organizations Matters to Me

I ran across the following interview of Seth Godin by Loic Lemeur (on Luis Suarez's Blog) - it's about tribes and passions and a great interview (especially if you are wondering why Seth Godin doesn't Twitter):



The message is one that I have been working to internalize and articulate for myself for a while.  What is it that I am so passionate about that I must do? And the answer is wrapped up in social media and social organizations.

Fundamentally I am a problem solver who wants to make the world better for others. Why? Because I love seeing the potential of a person or a product released to bloom - it is exciting and thrilling and rewarding. I think people are so full of potential to do amazing things but so much of that potential is locked by lack of information or lack of access or lack of hope and confidence. I think a lot of that locked up potential is due to the structures of our society - how we organize and run our organizations - from schools, to governments, to businesses.

You may ask why I care - it all sounds a bit Pollyanna, even to me. Fundamentally I care because I was raised to care more about others and the world than myself. It's as simple and as complex as that - my parents were both ministers and their core message was about hope and personal choices between the better angels of our nature and the lesser.

So here is the problem that I see and want to help solve: Big rigid hierarchies do more to lock up people's potential than to unleash it. 

I understand why business scale and efficiency drove the evolution of large corporations (and also created our educational system) and I think that was important but I think the zeitgeist has changed.  Society has moved on and now that we've figured out how to make cheap goods we want more...and we also realize we've lost something intangible by producing and consuming mass market goods. We are looking for meaning.  We are looking for meaning in what we do and we are looking for meaning in what we purchase. And the economic meltdown is just reinforcing that need.

The search for meaning is a high-grade worry as my grandmother liked to say - we, as a society, have the basics covered.  For the most part, we doen't need to worry about food and shelter. But once we look for meaning, we see that the world is not equitable and that we have a lot of excess and that the excess is causing some unintended consequences. So some meaning comes from trying to figure out how to use our excess to solve some of the world's huge problems. Some meaning also comes from more insular goals like creating a more meaningful environment for our families.

Where does social software and social organizations come in? It allows us to express our interests, our skills, our passions and connect to others that are motivated by the same things. That connectedness encourages us to pursue those interests and passions because we have found others who care (even if those who we interact with in person on a daily basis don't). That encouragement and connectedness gives us access to opportunities to *do* something about our passions. And now that we have our 'tribe' and the opportunity to work on things we care about.... our human potential has expanded. And those things that we care deeply about when coupled with the opportunity to do something about it creates a big boost to productivity (which is why executives should be paying close attention).

What are the results I am looking for?

• More people who wake up and are energized about the work they do
• Happier people
• A huge productivity boost in areas that we collectively care about (they likely will not be what I think they should be so if you disagree with what matters to me, that's OK!)
• Companies that start to care more about the social externalities of their business
• Companies that solve both practical needs but also do something that matters to their consumers
• Solutions to the world's unequal distribution of food and information

Is that too grand? I don't know but I see a world of opportunity out there sitting in cubes, watching TV, and doing repetitive tasks. It is alike a pool of inert molicules waiting for a catalyst.  I think the catalyst is social software.

Update: Aaron Strout was kind enough to including me in his #45in45 series...and as a great interviewer, he got me to articulate this things in an even better way here.  But read the rest of the series - it's awesome!

Comments

[Bevin Hernandez]

With exactly this in mind, Penn State Outreach just created our new Intranet, which incorporates a very open, very social structure, because we are positing that those powers of community engagement which are so powerful outside of the workplace, can be equally powerful internal to the workplace.

You can read about our launch here:
http://www.socialcomputingmagazine.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=674

We don't have absolute results yet, but we do have information so far about the things that are happening already as a result of bringing some of that social concept inside.

[Britt Raybould]

What a lovely post. I think the part about a search for meaning is also connected to a desire to actually end up with something that lasts for the long term. We've turned into a disposable society that salivates over the idea of "new" even it isn't markedly better than the old.

I suspect it's why I still hold on to my physical books despite the sexiness of Amazon's Kindle. Yes, the sheer convenience of traveling with multiple books and having almost immediate access to new material is tempting, but it also feels a little temporary, too. So much of our world is dependent on bytes that I think we're hungry for the tangible experiences that can result from our online interactions, whether it's meeting someone in person or exchanging small gifts. The tools (e.g., software, organizations, etc.) that you mention become truly valuable when they encourage and support interaction outside of their designed boundaries.

[Simon Carswell]

I think your motives are admirable. And the increase in interest in, or at least awareness of, social software and how it might apply in the enterprise, over the past couple of years, is encouraging. But I do also think the power structures and politics of large organizations are very deeply rooted. I'm not convinced they can be swept away quickly, if ever. I get the impression that most of the people evangelising about Enterprise 2.0 are, like myself, either self-employed or working for small, niche organizations.

I do want to believe your vision is possible, though!

[Rachel Happe]

Hi Simon -

Thanks for stopping by and adding to the conversation.

I agree - some human nature will never change. Some people like power and will do a lot to get it or keep it.

However, as you have expressed yourself - there are more and more people opting out of working for big organizations because the power balance is so off. Think of all that wasted potential.

I think we can do better. Will it ever be utopia? No - not even with the best people in the world. We all have egos and pride that can make it hard to work together.

Without a vision, we will make less progress toward better organizational environment. I have no better idea than the next person how it will all play out but by putting a hypothesis or a goal out there - we can start down the path and see what challenges come up as we push the boundaries.

I like big hairy audacious goals - its what gets me excited - and what sustains me through the challenges that arise while working toward them.