Curious about / experienced in organization design, strategic framing, content curation, independent research, social media writing, open source publishing
Nov 8, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Seems like a fortuitous time to reflect on this #BahaiPrayer by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá:
“O Thou kind Lord! This gathering is turning to Thee. These hearts are radiant with Thy love. These minds and spirits are exhilarated by the message of Thy glad-tidings.
O God! Let this American democracy become glorious in spiritual degrees even as it has aspired to material degrees, and render this just government victorious.
Oct 30, 2020 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
The prevailing social system assigns individual responsibility to each member to engage in paid or unpaid work for as much time as necessary to acquire basic needs—at a minimum.
Should one not be able to do that due to physical and / or mental limitations, then society provides a safety net that makes up the difference—to some degree.
Oct 15, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Oftentimes, private exchanges among those who truly care about one another offer excellent examples of how to recount personal experiences, apply an evaluative framework to them, and convert the insights gained into learning and subsequent change in behavior.
Imagine if these exchanges could feed into a broader #KnowledgeCommons where they can be accessed by others and thereby expedite collective learning / change based on the initial individual learnings / changes?
Oct 8, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Platforms are standalone, organizational units, but users experience them as integrated services. The more seamless the shifts between platform services the more they attract and hold user attention. How to improve integration drives changes in control and ownership of platforms.
Platforms interconnect people within social systems. Once accessed, platforms encourage participants to consume their time interacting among themselves on the platforms in exchange for something deemed acceptable in value derived from the experiences and documented transactions.
Oct 6, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Platform: dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/eng…
-opportunity to make your ideas or beliefs known publicly
-all the things that a political party promises to do if they are elected
-set of actions or ideas that forms the basis for future development
1/2
-method of communication or entertainment, for example television, radio or the internet
-particular technology that is used for broadcasting television or radio programs
-particular computer technology that can be used with some types of software programs but not with others
2/2
Oct 1, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
The ideal social system incentivizes #participation by everyone on vast global #platforms where they exchange their time and its inherent value to generate sufficient #profit that, when shared, meets their basic needs and creates opportunities for their reasonable quality of life
In “Social Action,” a compilation prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, the following selection (no. 119) bahai.org/library/author… emphasizes the significance of participation, platforms, and profiting:
Sep 29, 2020 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
House Committee on Energy and Commerce: Testimony of Tim Kendall energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrat…
“My path in technology started at Facebook where I was the first Director of Monetization.” 1/4 #viability#revenue
“I thought my job was to figure out the business model for the company, and presumably one that sought to balance the needs of its stakeholders—its users, its advertisers, and its employees.” 2/4 #exchange#platforms
Sep 21, 2020 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Social media platforms apply sophisticated algorithms to capture / hold user attention with targeted content paid for by platform customers. For this platform owners accrue wealth, customers increase the odds of success, and users risk going down a rabbit hole of media addiction.
Genetic algorithms based on game theory principles increase the time users focus attention on social media platform content and anticipate their behavior. What incentives could algorithms employ that would prompt users to successfully address wicked problems in their communities?
Sep 12, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
“Education is of three kinds: material, human, and spiritual.
Material education aims at the growth and development of the body. Human education…consists in civilization and progress. [Spiritual] education…in acquiring divine perfections. This is...true education.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá
One can apply the #Maslow#HierarchyofNeeds to three kinds of education: #material education—concerns basic (physiological and safety) needs; #human education—relates to social and esteem needs; and #divine education—refers to self-realization and transition to a #spiritual life.
Sep 2, 2020 • 10 tweets • 9 min read
To make fundamental changes in the behavior of a #SocialSystem requires its #agents adopt an alternative #purpose and #OrganizingPrinciples to those currently in place. If successful, this shift will create a new social system with significantly different #rules and #boundaries.
Any social system change process begins with a set of conversations among agents in the system about how to better apply its purpose and organizing principles. This leads to experimentation with alternatives, then modification of the rules and boundaries to adopt those that work.
Aug 19, 2020 • 6 tweets • 6 min read
Like all complex organisms, a #LargeSystem must stay focused on its #purpose, honor its #OrganizingPrinciples, and question and modify its #rules and #boundaries if it is to successfully #adapt to perturbations in its internal / external #environment or risk losing its #identity.
If a #LargeSystem fails to #adapt, more #agents in the system experience unmet needs / wants. Eventually, affected agents will challenge those with rule and boundary setting authority to align the system to its purpose and principles and modify the system’s rules and boundaries.
Intentional #LargeSystemChange begins with #Conversations That Matter (CTM) among all #agents in the system. Then they experiment with Ways That Work (WTW) and apply what they learn to make Changes That Sustain (CTS) ongoing #adaptation of the overall large system change process.
To improve the performance of a large system, honor its purpose and organizing principles then modify its rules and boundaries. To form an entirely different system, establish a new purpose and organizing principles then write the rules and set the boundaries to align with them.
Aug 6, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
To improve the performance of an organization:
- Assure that those affiliated with the organization pursue its truth
A large system is a complex organism with numerous participants (actors or agents) that carry out multiple, interrelated functions necessary for the organism to adapt to changes in its environment and persist over time.
#LargeSystems
Human organizations are complex adaptive systems en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_a… that form to pursue a particular purpose and function according to self-designated organizing principles for their participants to uphold.
During my career I developed several large system change strategies that clients successfully implemented in their organizations.
#ChangeStrategies#LargeSystems
While I have written previously about some of these strategies, I have more to say concerning organization design that may be useful to readers who are addressing their own large system change challenges.
