I first heard of Tom Barnett in October at PopTech. You can listen to that 30 minute version of his brief, and/or get the full 3 hour video (as I did) here. He's a fascinating thinker. Here's why.
Barnett's work specifically focuses on global systems strategy, as detailed in his (as yet uncompleted by me) book, The Pentagon's New Map. He posits several key theses that I won't describe here. Suffice it to say that his thinking centers on connectivity as the seminal determiner of a culture's integration into the community of nations, it's security, it's economic dynamism, and the degree to which it will serve as a breeding ground for terrorism. The more connnectivity (and, therefore, the more permeability to the content delivered by connectivity), the more integration, security, economic growth and resistance to terrorism.
Yesterday, he posted a previously unpublished segment of the book on his excellent blog. That post contained the slide shown above, which immediately caught my eye.
Look at the juxtapositions between the two types of systems. I was immediately struck by their implications for creativity and business results. In each pairing, first the characteristics of Horizontal Systems, then those of Vertical Systems:
- Replete With Elites/Singular Elite - Organizations that are "replete with elites" celebrate centers of competence rather than creating a singular system (usually politically-based) for determining status. Creative cultures thrive on diversity and therefore encourage "many paths to the Buddha."
- Rotated Leadership/Permanent Leadership - Distributed leadership flows from the multi-track nature of creative organizations. "Leadership" becomes a set of practices, not simply a positional "right." The "project model" that characterizes so many creative cultures implicitly acknowledges this principle.
- Market-Dominated Economy/State Dominated Economy - Creative cultures are economies of ideas. In the most successful examples, ideas rise or fall based on their intrinsic value (as determined by the vetting process established by the organization's own "idea market"), not on their source (as is the case with "state dominated economies").
- Universally Networked/Drill-Down Networks - Creative cultures are characterized by their connectivity; people connect with one another based on need not on position. Drill-down networks (silos) manage relationships and information flow centrally as means of controlling the performance of the system, the antithesis of the requirements of creative cultures.
- Downstream Behavioral Control/Upstream Content Control - Contrary to popular distortions, creative cultures do not abrogate responsibililty for managerial control. In the best examples, individuals are given a wide range of responsiblity within the parameters of a clearly understood mission. But, managers consistently provide what Barnett crisply calls "downstream behavioral control" when those individuals miss the mark. Contrast that with the upstream information hoarding that is the norm within vertical cultures.
- Question-Based Dialogue/Taboo-Limited Dialogue - Being a principal in a company called TrueTalk, it's no surprise that this point is my favorite. Creative cultures encourage dialogue based upon questions that arise from the nature of the work at hand. Taboos are minimized (are they ever completely eliminated in any human endeavor?) Vertical systems are full of the taboos that naturally emerge from the characteristics listed above. Broaching any taboo threatens the stability of the system, which is typically safeguarded at all costs.
Barnett's given us another way to look at the micro-macro properties of systems that encourage or inhibit creativity. And, a lot more.
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