The Journal of 2020 Foresight

Reports from the Knowledge Labs about our recent findings, research topics, and interviews with lifestyle leaders who are creating their own futures.

How to stimulate your own powers of foresight. Consider the following thought provokers. Ask yourself, in these categories what are the brand new trends and forces? Which are the ones growing in importance? Which current forces are loosing their steam? Which have peaked or are reversing themselves? Which are the "wildcards" about to disrupt us in the future? POLITICAL AND TECHNICAL thought for food: Electronics, Materials, Energy, Fossil, Nuclear, Alternative, Other, Manufacturing (techniques), Agriculture, Machinery and Equipment, Distribution, Transportation (Urban, Mass, Personal, Surface, Sea, Subsurface, Space), Communication (Printed, Spoken, Interactive, Media), Computers (Information, Knowledge, Storage & Retrieval, Design, Network Resources), Post-Cold War, Third World, Conflict (Local, Regional, Global), Arms Limitation, Undeclared Wars, Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Governments (More/Less Power and Larger or Smaller Scale), Taxes, Isms: Nationalism, Regionalism, Protectionism, Populism, Cartels, Multinational Corporations, Balance of Trade, Third Party Payments, Regulations (OSHA, etc.) Environmental Impact, U.S. Prestige Abroad. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC Food for thought: Labor Movements, Unemployment / Employment Cycles, Recession, Employment Patterns, Work Hours / Schedules, Fringe Benefits, Management Approaches, Accounting Policies, Productivity, Energy Costs, Balance of Payments, Inflation, Taxes, Rates of Real Growth, Distribution of Wealth, Capital Availability and Costs, Reliability of Forecasts, Raw Materials, Availability and Costs, Global versus National Economy, Market versus Planned Economies, Generations: Y, X, Boomers, Elderly, Urban vs. Rural Lifestyles, Affluent vs. Poor, Neighborhoods and Communities, Planned or Organic Growth. Got Knowledge?

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Monday, August 14, 2006

Encountering Support or Resistance to Your 100-Day Initiatives

Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories

By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories

“The Devil put some devil dust in Earth’s bottle of water, just dropped a little in there. The water started glowing, shining, turning red and then it turned silver. The Devil poisoned Earth…. Earth was still watching Sun dance. Shadows were all over the place. It was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen. He walked right up and introduced himself and they left together for Alaska…”

Neil Young & Crazy Horse “Greendale”

DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. As any organization grows through a bell-shaped curve -- from start-up, to growth, to maturity and to re-invention or decline – two “tribes” usually manage the political agenda to the exclusion of others. They are the talent clusters whose members represent the 20% who produce 80% of the results. But, the mix of the two tribes changes at each growth transition.

Journal of 2020 Foresight: Let’s continue our “fun with fit” discussion. You walked us through the sixteen ways to increase your career equity and marketability by finding the sweet spot between doing what you love, where you’d love to live and then targeting one of four standalone organizations – Agents, Athletes, Associates or Academics -- that would bring out the best in you. And, based on the continuously changing conditions of technology, demographics, economics and political climates organizations operate in and we live in today, you eliminated ten of the sixteen sub-clusters, because they held the most potential for becoming the least marketable. But, wait there’s more …?

Explorer: Yes. No one wants to become “Trapped and Permanently Temporary” so my advice is to whittle down your list of positions to six and if you are like me, down to the final four. And that goes for standalone organizations or over the lifespan of an organization.

J2020F: So once you’ve landed a new position or added a new client there are a few more things you should know?

Explorer: Of course. You should know that in any growth period there is a certain amount of resistance to new ways from the status-quo advocates.

J2020F: They’ve held onto the power – maybe controlled the budget or accounted for the lion’s share of the revenue?

Explorer: Right. But to better meet the demands of the marketplace or industry turning points, a new stage is entered into and the internal political dynamics change.

J2020F: Or, the organization may “die prematurely”?

Explorer: Right.

J2020F: So, what does this mean?

Explorer: Well first of all, you can find like-minded talent clusters throughout certain life spans of organizational growth.

J2020F: Which helps when you try to land a position through networking from one introduction to another, right?

Explorer: Each phase will emphasize the contributions of the innovators over the community-focused sustainers or the team-against-all-odds over the analytical specialists, for instance.

J2020F: So, if you know “your type” and you know the stage of the potential organization, you can determine if you’ll find a fit, or not?

Explorer: And in your first 100 days on the job, you’ll be able to identify where you’ll find support or resistance to your success.

J2020F: Let’s take resistance first.

Explorer: In our model the diagonals between the four corners represent the path of highest resistance is along those dimensions – pushing through the center to the opposite quadrant.

J2020F: So, from an Agent’s disruptive innovation passing into a sustaining Associate organization?

Explorer: Or visa versa. And from an Athlete’s path of emerging knowledge into the Academic’s quadrant of embedded knowledge.

J2020F: And, visa versa. Now, what about a path of least resistance?

Got Knowledge?
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