The Living Organization & The Physics of Business - A Personal Perspective
Posted on January 5, 2009
Filed Under Gregg Gallagher, Innovation, Leadership, Management, Marketing, Organization & Culture |
In his recent post, Norman described The Living Organization model as the conceptual framework for understanding the physics of energy flows within organizations and between organizations and their environments. This model - which is in a state of ongoing evolution - is the result of years of Norman’s own experience as a business leader.
My own journey along this path somewhat parallels Norman’s, driven initially by an ongoing interest and readings in the scientific fields of complex systems & chaos theory, quantum physics, null-space energy, the theory of a holographic universe.
In my business career, I participated in both high-energy, highly-effective environments (largely driven by soulful purpose, although I didn’t fully understand it back then) and lower energy/performance environments that, at the very least, provided learnings as to how NOT to lead & run organizations.
These experiences have given me a deep appreciation for the role that properly designed and managed processes can play in directing/ and focusing the energy of an organization at both the activity and relationship levels (as described in The Living Organization model)
Two years ago I left my position as COO of Citizen Systems America and formed an individual consultancy - Quantum Shift Group (QSG) - founded on the basis of my initial understanding of importance and impact of shifting the energy state of an organization, improving it’s overall execution capabilities.
Shortly after founding QSG, I first met Norman at an Orange County business networking event sometime in the Winter 2006. At that first encounter, we compared notes as to how our separate consultancies (Quantum Leaders v. Quantum Shift Group) were based on the “Quantum” metaphor - and we also were attracted by our common origins in the streets of Brooklyn, New York. Norman’s view of the organizational model was that of a complex, adaptive system that needed to be understood in a more holistic manner than previous management theory provided for. My own perspective was centered around achieving shifts in the energy states of the organization, allowing for higher performance.
For a number of months, Norm was a friend & personal coach during my vocational and marital transition period, encouraging me to consider becoming a partner in Quantum Leaders if I should decide to pursue consultancy as a full-time career path (as compared to an interim period before moving back into a corporate executive role.)
Eventually, I came to realize that I was highly driven to be a full-time consultant, and decided to join Norm as we had come to a realization that our views re a new organizational model were highly in alignment, albeit still in need of further refinement and extension. Norm’s recent posting elaborates on our current view of the model, and my personal area of focus will be on the Demand aspects of the model, which include the Marketing, Sales, Product Management and Innovation activities within an organization.
To The Future!
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“At that first encounter, we compared notes as to how our separate consultancies (Quantum Leaders v. Quantum Shift Group) were based on the “Quantum” metaphor…”
In the early 80’s, I was creative director for a marketing consultancy in Newport Beach called Quantum Communications. We worked very hard to take our clients from a point of stasis or status quo to a fully energized conversation with customers throughout the marketing process.
The “quantum leap” metaphor was energizing for us, too.