Ability to create

While having a conversation with a friend, Lynn, regarding various stages of tribal development (the book is Tribal Leadership) and how to shift a company to stage 4 behavior, Lynn asked me, "I wonder how not knowing the authentic self effects ones ability to create? What do you think?"

Lynn. Mostly I think it's just another box. Like anyone else I live in my own box, so I don't want to exult my point-of-view as the new better. I actually agree that most people are much more creative than they think of themselves to be, but those ways of thinking and being are pushed into the background by our social conversations, as so devolve to a somehow "untrusted" status.

As a result of my particular experiences, and my education, my habit has simply become one of trusting my instincts, being a divergent thinker, and being more comfortable with ambiguity. But I still see patterns, order, flow and relationships within what may appear to others as a chaotic world, and so it seems less threatening, or scary to me, than maybe it does others.

For a period of time back in my early 50's, that became a being of arrogance for me as an executive and a person, which of course created some unworkability. Thankfully, it was the experience of leading a company into stage 4 that allowed me to shed that behavior. That model didn't exist back then, but it was clearly where we went.In a moment of inspiration I invited my employees into being partners in building that company and sharing in the fruits of it, and I was shortly confronted with their passion and until-then-hidden-creativity.

Actually I can't tell if it was hidden or suppressed. What I can say was when I, as CEO, was no longer the only one expected to have creative ideas about how to build the company, there was, in a relatively short period of time, lot's of ideas from people at all levels in the organization, many of which were way better than my own. And those people went to the same public schools I did, but weren't art majors and didn't get trained to think the way I had been trained.

I was quickly confronted with maybe I wasn't all that big a hot shot and I should listen to what they were offering. That act of surrendering - of me getting out of the way - allowed us to shift into a new stage. I still paid attention to aligning us on what impact we wanted to have out in the world. And I gathered enough courage to trust the flow. I can't tell if surrendering was a creative act or just self preservation. I do know it was humbling. And I found myself being inspired and moved by those people. Many remain close friends today.

So I'm no longer so sure I'm right about anything. Actually I doubt it. I'm more struck by the power of inspiration/passion, alignment/collaboration, risk/invention, and wonder/adventure (a holdover way of speaking about things I learned from Bucky Fuller - a teacher - in college).

Finally I worry about making anything the new rule. Somehow it seems to me, cultures always seem to generate the will to rise to their challenges. It may be time for our culture to shift itself to more right-brain thinking, I don't know. But right-brained thinking will also argue right-brained thinking isn't the "right" way - it's not the new box/identity. It's just a way.