THE ORGANIC LIFE OF ORGANIZATIONS--SOME PREDICTIONS AND CHALLENGES

THE ORGANIC LIFE OF ORGANIZATIONS ”SOME PREDICTIONS AND CHALLENGES

The evolution to the strange attractor of leaderless organizations is inevitable. The organic life of organizations does not require outside forces in order to grow and evolve . Organizations have within themselves the ability to grow and adapt to be successful in any environment. They will grow into these possibilities without leaders or outside consultants . One way or another, the limits of hierarchy will be transcended to yield a more exciting and abundant future for everyone.

The walls and boundaries that separate us will crumble as the ever-increasing flow of energy brings with it greater freedom and less structure. This will happen whether through our concerted, intelligent cooperation or against our will, but in accord with nature's continual push for renewal. Today, as the complexity and flow of information in world markets accelerates, we are witnessing the transition from ranking to linking in the network society. This is pulling organizations into another organization attractor and has opened up the need for peerbased organizational management to create the space for both the open and the leaderless organization.

The practice of peer wisdom will create the space for peer-based organizations to emerge without force or coercion. Indeed, this is how all natural life works; not from top-down decision making, but from bottom-up emergence. It's all about creating the right space through peer-based management for the appropriate organizational attractor to emerge.

The Challenge

We all spend the majority of our time in organizations ”whether it is our family, our community, or our workplace ”so it should be joyful . Fear and insecurity inhibit our ability to relinquish supposed control and power and become comfortable just letting go and cooperating. We are insecure because we feel that our survival is threatened by fastpaced change and the unknown. But our survival is not threatened ”we can trust the dynamic that powers every complex system. Einstein asked whether this is a good universe or not ”can the universe be trusted to be beneficial to human life? In a way, how a person answers that question will determine how he or she manages . This book answers that question strongly in the affirmative .

We must acknowledge the occasional brutality of business, but we should remember to celebrate its essential goodness, beauty, and variety. Each of us possesses remarkable talents to contribute toward the success of our organization, and we are naturally motivated to use our talents for something larger than ourselves . Yet, we are pilgrims in an unfinished universe. We are co- creators of our collective future. It should be a future we accomplish, not through coercion and force, but through the subtle influence of persuasion, cooperation, and joy.