A Planetary Perspective
In my work on Quiet Leadership i explore the notion of the Organisation as Ecosystem: my focus in this has been to consider ideas of interconnection and interdependence. The work is explicit in it’s focus on the ‘self’ within the system, to look, if you like, at the very smallest scale. Indeed, in the introduction to the Quiet Leadership book i talk about it being ‘the first three steps’, and ‘leadership in the smallest of actions’.
But the language of Quiet Leadership does not preclude a broader focus, and that’s the idea that i wanted to explore a little further today.
The Planetary: when Organisations talk about the planet, about sustainability and responsibility, i find myself often ill at ease. I recognise that for some it is a sincere gesture, but it often feels like an aftermarket bolt on.
At the structural level, our Organisations are entities of productivity and effect. With their roots in industrialisation, they excel at creating the conditions for consistency, to drive conformity, and to achieve effect at scale. But they represent only half a loop.
I am curious as to whether i can meaningfully locate the Planetary within the leadership social structure: to use it as a reflective surface in that perspective of Organisation as Ecosystem.
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This is a very fragile – possibly naive or foolish – idea. But perhaps to consider if there is a circularity here.
One reason for my reticence is that many of our conversations about ‘Planet’ are ones of exploitation and rebalance. Not synthesis and reconceptualisation. So we offset our footprints, or ‘reduce’, ‘reuse’ and ‘recycle’. We address our impact at the point of consumption and – quite correctly – in the material domain.
An this is well understood: i have nothing of use to add here.
But perhaps the other half of the circle is the philosophical connection: a reconciliation of self and holistic system. A leadership perspective that is both Social and Planetary. This would consider the Organisation as a more organic element of the ecosystem (not simply physically location, but as part of a sense of ‘place’).
I may play with this idea further as i evolve some of the Quiet Leadership work.
CEO - Director - Agent for beneficial and holistic change in the world. Working at the intersection of education, wellbeing, health, business, living systems understanding and place-based systems change.
4 个月Julian Stodd The planetary perspective is an awesome direction to explore. We use Quiet Leadership to guide a transformational and regenerative, living systems perspective, the potential of place (place, ecosystem and organisation). We frame our work to advance the Wellbeing and Health Alignment Model. We embellished Quiet Leadership's phrase, leading with humility, fairness, kindness and grace, starting with the smallest of daily things: our word, our thoughts (mindset), our actions about and for wellbeing and health of "me and we", place and planet. We are using Quiet Leadership as a part of the gamification of this model for place-based systems change. Happy Days! ?????
Chief People Officer London || Non Executive Director || Trustee || Business and ESG Transformation || Qualified Executive Coach and Mentor || Board People Committee Chair || Charity Ambassador || Chartered FCIPD
4 个月Really glad you’re exploring this Julian - I am too ??