Arguing basic values vs action-oriented labels
I occasionally run across two independently published articles that I draw an unintended connection between. Recently, on Overcoming Bias, the article The cost of talking values discussed how an organization can become paralyzed by arguing over their basic values. That effective organizations execute on a presumed shared value, and focus the discussion on execution instead of the worth of the value in question.
Jeff Vail recently wrote Towards a Scale-Free Energy Policy. I focused my energy in this article on organization style, given that Jeff writes about Rhizomes as a metaphor for non-hierarchical organization. I've talked about this concept briefly in talking about wirearchy, which covers a lot of similar ground.
The connection I found interesting is that scale-free energy policy is a lot more prescriptive of action than "rhizome network" or "wirearchy," both of which are much more suggestive of ways of being. It presumes a shared goal, but doesn't make that goal the focus of the effort--it is more a non-ideological way to frame the discussion, and means that you might personally work on your share of the problem using consensus process, while your broader community integrates that solution as part of the overall community's goal using representative democracy.
Thoughts?
Jeff Vail recently wrote Towards a Scale-Free Energy Policy. I focused my energy in this article on organization style, given that Jeff writes about Rhizomes as a metaphor for non-hierarchical organization. I've talked about this concept briefly in talking about wirearchy, which covers a lot of similar ground.
The connection I found interesting is that scale-free energy policy is a lot more prescriptive of action than "rhizome network" or "wirearchy," both of which are much more suggestive of ways of being. It presumes a shared goal, but doesn't make that goal the focus of the effort--it is more a non-ideological way to frame the discussion, and means that you might personally work on your share of the problem using consensus process, while your broader community integrates that solution as part of the overall community's goal using representative democracy.
Thoughts?