Today we focus on Pattern #5 from The Way Life Works: Life Organizes with Information. Life has taken 4 billion years to reach its present state of activity. This requires a lot of information. Throughout this entire span, life has relied on one code to organize the information necessary to live, reproduce, and diversify. This basic code is DNA, where life stores it’s information. Based on this startling fact, what implications can we draw on how to best lead …
Today we focus on Pattern #4 from The Way Life Works: Life Uses a Few Themes to Generate Many Variations In all the beauty and vast diversity of life, it is important to remember that all of it, from the smallest living organism to the largest mammals on earth, is based on a few simple themes. Be still for a moment and look around. What do you see? Concentric rings (like in a spider web or a tree trunk), …
Today we focus on Pattern #3 from The Way Life Works: Life Needs an Inside, and an Outside. One of life’s most important organizing principles is the difference between an inside and an outside. For example: Baby’s need of a protective barrier-skin A clam needs its shell The earth needs its atmosphere Trees need their bark At a basic level of life, cells need their membranes. So what does this principle mean for leaders in organizations? People show us only …
Today I continue my exploration of how the life-sciences have discovered patterns that can help us be better leaders.The second pattern is that “Life Assembles Itself in Chains” (from the book The Way Life Works). At the core of the chain is the atom, which is the elemental unit of everything in the universe, both living and nonliving. Second, in the chain we have molecules, which are atoms bonded together. Third in scale are chain molecules, which are very …
Last week I talked to a friend who had an offer to pursue an opportunity which he had always desired. However, at the moment of decision, he found himself hesitating and fearful of making the commitment. Fortunately, before he turned down the option, we had an opportunity to discuss his feelings and decision-making process. Like many opportunities, this one came along at the wrong time. He was already at the limits of his capacity, both physically and mentally. Yet, …
Last week, 75 leaders had the pleasure of hearing Ari Weinzweig, Co-Founder of Zingerman’s, speak about his new book “A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Managing Ourselves” at my Leaders Connect event (Please enjoy the video of his presentation HERE). Ari emphasized the importance of self-awareness as a key to becoming a great leader. He described how over the years, he has developed a keen sense of himself and how he has helped his employees become self-aware, as well. Ari …