Twenty-Something Theses of Autonomy
I believe that a radically different organization than what exists in the world today. In order to build the new economy (and thus a new world) our ideas of how an organization works must be challenged (“You can’t make an omelete [sic] without nuking the existing social order“). A keystone of this “new way” is Autonomy. In order to get the best results, Freedom is essential. I have begun the process of capturing my theory in my “Twenty-Something Theses of Autonomy.” This list will evolve as I expand on each of these Theses, however, I want to begin the improvement process now by starting a discussion.
Do you see anything obvious missing? What has your experience taught you? Let’s talk.
Twenty-Something Theses of Autonomy
- Customer Delight Cannot Exceed Worker Delight
- Fully Engaged + Fully Present = Fully Human
- Humans Own Outcomes
- Creativity Seeks Free Spirits
- Nonlinear Innovation Needs Creativity
- Innovation Breeds Failure Breeds Innovation
- Community Improves Results (and Expedites Failure)
- Fear is the Org Killer
- Telling Triples Turnover
- Demanding Delivers Dummies
- Teams Solve Difficult Problems
- Autonomy Trumps Hegemony
- Ivory Towers Are For Wizards (and Look Where That Got Saruman)
- Only Gamblers Pick Winners
- Diversity Wins
- The Best Ideas are at the Market
- Heterogenous Systems Increase Effectiveness (over time)
- Simple is Better
- Maximize Laziness
- Effort is Expensive
- Results > Effort
- Only Results Matter
- Adults Come to Work
- Team = Product
- (Team + Product)^n = Organization
- Leaders Don’t Manage
- Results Cover a Multitude of Sins