Enterra by way of its focus on building resilience helps initiate mediciexity in its clients with the services of Dr. Barnett ( and of course, Steve himself, probably one of many hats he wears). Critt Jarvis is constructing a bold new entity through a mediciexity enabled by the recent advances in technology – the web, blogs, wikis, mashups. The Institute for Advanced Study was originally created decades ago with this purpose in mind, as were many other public and private think tanks that have emerged since then. It is a highly creative spirit environmentl that our schools and universities should foster but all too often do not.
Is mediciexity a permanent condition ? No. Like the historical Renaissance it is a moment in time that emerges, is enjoyed and then passes, hopefully leaving a legacy in its wake. However, an organization can build a resilient, institutional culture that nurtures and encourages moments of mediciexity and helps them to come to fruition repeatedly. How ? By embracing change; by honest and regular self-reflection; by a steady engagement of horizontal thinking; by welcoming a regular flow of ” new blood” or at least ideas; finally – and this is absolutely critical in my view – by investing in the time and space for ” unproductive” intellectual free play that is to human creativity what air is to the body.
Mediciexity is what we need to aspire for to thrive in the 21st century.
Page 3 of 3 | Previous page
Shawn in Tokyo:
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:59 am
Great post, Mark!
mark:
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Hey Shawn,
Thanks much ! I like doing posts where the ideas are bouncing back and forth :o)
Dan tdaxp:
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Mark,
Excellent post. The benefits of geographical nearness were a major part of UNL’s class in Creativity, Talent, and Expertise. It also will be the focus of the June 12th edition of SummerBlog ’06
Larry Dunbar:
June 4th, 2006 at 1:17 am
I, at first, thought Steve DeAngelis was just another type of super salesman that I am too familiar with. In my earlier days, when I worked for start-up manufacturing firms, it seemed to me at the time that it took a super salesman to really get things going.
But now it seems we are talking about a person, maybe a super salesman, who wants to make corporations more resilient.
It seems to me that corporations are the most resilient objects in the universe already. They have only one implicit rule to follow (maximize profits) and they can die and be born again simply depending on the market. While the same human beings might not be present at the rebirth, I think the moneychangers during Christ’s times and ours would recognize each other at the table explicitly. I would call that resilient.
And who are these guys he is trying to lineup? What we are really talking about are social philosophers. I am not sure but I think philosophers understand the movement of energy, both potential and kinetic, and report on the flow within a society. If a person were able to accurately describe and follow the energy flow within a society, or possibly the world at large, he or she would be able to accurately predict the outcome of that flow. If this flow were predictable, then where the corporation stands at the end of the flow would give it not just a small place in the world. This is a great departure from market forces, which normally predict a corporation’s resiliency. In that sense, Steve wants to revolutionize the corporation; he wants to give it a level of immortality.
And then the big question is would the social philosophers be willing or able to give up this information. Dr. Barnett seems to not have any trouble going after the pieces of silver, but would De Vinci? Leonardo was most willing to support the war effort of his benefactor, but his commitment was with kinetic energy and not with the more powerful potential energy. If Leonardo was able to turn the minds of men, would he, or would he had let market forces prevail? As it were, he seemed to be willing to settle for a liberal education for his services to mankind. I think your post leads to many interesting questions and more, also, not easily to answer. Good job!
mark:
June 4th, 2006 at 2:31 am
Thanks Larry !
My contact with Steve has only been blog post to blog post or through third parties but he seems to be a dynamic personality with tremendous drive to goal. Very smart too.
As resilient a structure as corporations may be, many of the large, established ones seem to be ailing or muddling through. Sort of like the Ottoman Empire after Sulemein. A few, like IBM, snap back others just tread water.
mark:
June 4th, 2006 at 2:33 am
Hey Dan,
That goes to Gardner’s emphasis of outskirts of major centers generating ” Makers” of new domains rather than ” Masters” of old ones.