The Starfish and The Spider

I recently read a book titled "The Starfish and The Spider." In this book, the author discusses the way that organizations are set up and why one way works for certain goals and the other way works for other goals. When you look at the level of control that you need in your life or in business, I see that the structure of your organization needs to reflect your need for and lack of need for control.

Think about a starfish. If you were to take a starfish from the ocean and cut off one of its appendages, it would simply grow another one. There is no central nervous system in a starfish. One appendage has no effect on the others. Now think about a spider. If you were to cut off one of its legs, it would impact the spider as a whole and a new leg would not grow in its place.

Organizations are much the same. When you build an organization that has lots of autonomous parts, the organization can grow fast, but you can't control it. When you have stringent control in place for the organization, it often grows slower but in a much more predictable pattern.

Do you remember the movie "The Fight Club?" The terrorist cells that were set up as a result of Tyler Durden's efforts were a representation of the starfish model. You could eliminate one cell and the others would be just fine. There was no snake to cut the head off of. Nobody owned fight club. It just existed.

Look at your organization and identify the ways that it is either like a starfish or a spider. Many times, organizations start with a starfish mentality because it is a lot cheaper and then try to force the spider model. This makes the autonomous members mad and often drives them to pursue other organizations to be a part of. Organizations that start in the spider model, rarely try to switch to the starfish model because they began with control and intend to keep it.

I would encourage you to get the book and read through the examples that the author presents. From the Apache's to Al Queda, to Wikipedia and Ebay, you will see examples of starfish and spider organizations as well as a way to create a blended organization. The book was both engaging and enlightening.

I hope you enjoy!



Jody N Holland
Motivational Speaker and Writer

Let's throw money at the problem!

In practical conversation, we look at the idea of throwing money at a problem and scoff. We know that problems do not fix themselves and that wasting money doesn't make anything better. Yet, how many times have we seen an organization do something like that and have it not work, and then do it again, and have it not work, and then do it yet again? Small and medium sized business decide that their image is why people aren't buying, so they build a big office with all the trimmings so that people will "think" that they are successful and spend money with them. Large companies spend millions on color schemes for their logo, assuming that a $4 million dollar color change to the logo will make everything better. The truth is that you have to spend money on the right things and avoid the bad ones in order to make change.

Most of the time, when you are spend inordinate amounts of money on something, you are buying ego, not results. If you are going to buy marketing, new equipment, or anything else for that matter, make sure you are buying what will help you actually increase your business. Remember, it is your people that make up your company, not your building. If your people are solid and engaged, then others will flock to you.

It is no longer about building a better mousetrap. It is now really about building a better team in order to find success. The IBM ad in the blog today is an example of how dumb it even sounds to throw money at a problem.

Link to YouTube IBM commercial:  http://youtu.be/CZmHDEa0Y20

To Your Success!

Jody Holland

MuRF Systems

www.murfsystems.com

There's No Such Thing As Business Ethics

I first heard the saying, there's no such thing as business ethics when I was 16 years old and working at J.C. Penny & Co. in Abilene, TX. I heard it used to justify the way leaders made decision. I heard it again when I finally watched the Godfather, only in slightly varied form. Place some cotton balls in your cheeks and then say with your chin sticking out... "It's just business!" I have heard politician after politician say it in different forms to justify their illegal, unethical, immoral, or just plain stupid behavior. Richard Nixon announced vehemently, "I Am Not A Crook!"

Our downslide into moral chaos in this country did not start with the Millenial generation. I do believe that this younger generation of workers is often shocked when they are held accountable, but they are following an example that was set for them. Look at the recent ethical debacles. What generation was in charge at Enron, Health South, MCI WorldCom, or a host of others? It was most Baby Boomers, the driven generation. This generation has been significantly more flexible in their ethical interpretations than generations before, or after them.

I would argue that if you don't have ethics, nothing else matters! You will eventually get caught. You will eventually forget what your set of lies were. You will eventually be taught that cheating people does not make life better, not even for you. But I also do know this about human behavior. Those who do not have a good moral compass will continue pretending and will justify in their own mind that they deserve the good they believe they are getting from cheating people. They will justify and rationalize that they really are good people. They will cheat on billings. They will lie to people to try to control what they want them to know. They are crooks. They just have not been caught yet. Or, at least they have not been caught yet this time.

Everyone will eventually answer for who they are. So, I would agree that there is no such thing as business ethics. There is only "ethics!" It does not matter where you are. Your ethical stance is WHO you are.

To Your Success!


Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com
www.Facebook.com/murfsystems
www.youtube.com/jojodogfish

Merely a flesh wound...

I just watched a clip (see bottom of post) from Monty Python and the Search For The Holy Grail. It is the one where the Black Knight is protecting the passage over a bridge that Arthur needs to cross. They eventually battle and Arthur cuts off his arms and his legs. The Black Knight never slows down and just keeps pushing for a fight. It is a really fun clip, but also can have a lessons in it.

When we have set goals for ourself, do we fight like the Knight or do we run at the first sign of trouble? In know as well as anyone that things will not always go our way. I am sure deep down, the Black Knight was thinking, "Well, that was not at all what I had planned for my day." But bad stuff does happen. Things get off course. People get mad at each other. Businesses even at times fall apart.

The thing to keep in mind is that it really is merely a "flesh wound." The business, the goal, the plan, none of those things are who a person is. Those are simply objectives or roles that we play. The bigger picture is that we can wake up each morning and define who we are and what we have to offer. We define our own meaning. The Black Knight absolutely defined himself in this clip as invincible. To him, that obviously meant never quitting, regardless of any circumstance.

I hope you enjoy the clip as much as I did!

Link to the clip: http://youtu.be/zKhEw7nD9C4

Ceasar was right!

"As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can." --Julius Ceasar

I have had lots of problems in my life, most of which never actually happened. I don't know about you, but I spend an inordinate amount of time worried about things, or more accurately, potential things. I worry about that difficult conversation with a family member. I worry about what a client is going to think if I need to shift a schedule. I worry about having that counseling session with an employee or coworker. I worry about all of these things, that honestly, tend to work out alright.

Why is it that we fear what people might think or say? Why is it that we waste our time, energy, and emotions on things that probably won't be that bad. Why is it that we worry about what people think, when we don't like them anyway, when we don't know them, when we might not ever even see them again? These are questions that I am not sure I have the right answer to.

What I do know is that I always feel better once I face my fears and take control of the situation. In leadership, as in life, we are continuously in need of self-confidence (not arrogance), a solid direction, a plan, and a purpose. We tend to feel truly out of control when we give those things up to another person.

My challenge to you today is to take control of your emotions, your thought, and your life. Make a plan that takes you toward YOUR goals. Stop allowing other people control of your thought and your emotions. If you will do that, you will find it much easier to stop worrying about what you cannnot see and stop focusing on your vision of success that is right in front of you.

To Your Success!

Jody Holland
MuRF Systems
www.murfsystems.com

Independent Thought

Another great video from Michael Wesch...  I think that traditional education presents some major challenges in that it does not promote thought, but primarily the submission to what is said to be right.  We need more independent thought and less simple acceptance of standardization.  Today's education was designed during the industrial revolution.  It was put out there to teach uniformity and conformity.  If we want our world to change, we must think, not submit.

But this idea has always been dangerous to those who need others to need them.  You see the control types continuously in business and even more so in government.  They espouse that they want to help those who need help.  They create programs that put people in a position to be "taken care of" but in such a way that they cannot seem to get out of the cycle.  In business, they hoard information and prevent others from having what they truly need in order to succeed.  They tell others what to do and think that is leadership.  They try to force their will and throw tantrums when they don't get their way.  They call it defending themselves, but it isn't really that.  Having people around you who can, will, and do think is not always easy.

Having creative thought around you though, is the only way to truly innovate.  If you are afraid of people being smarter than you, having more information than you, or not fitting into your mold, then this video will probably annoy you.  Take a look and let me know your comments.