The Starfish and the Spider

The Starfish and the Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom

I wrote a short overview on this book over at Joyful Jubilant Learning last month.  I thought I'd explore a little more today.  What tickles my imagination more than anything else in The Starfish and the Spider is the explanation that there is no hierarchy or structure in a starfish organization.  When taking notes in this book, I can't tell you how many times I wrote Starship instead of Starfish.  In my sub-c they must be one in the same.

Ori and Rod explain that a decentralized organization is built on a foundation of five legs:

• Circles
• The Catalyst
• Ideology
• The Preexisting Network
• The Champion

Circles consist of folks who buy into the organizations ideology.  Norms are a circles backbone.  Whereas rules are someone else's idea of what you should do.  Norms are the ideology that you joined the organization for in the first place.  As the norms of a circle mature, trust develops.

My concept of a circle is that everyone involved knows what they gotta do.  If a person doesn't buy in they are collectively eased out.  This type of environment is wildly liberating. 

The Catalyst is someone who forms a circle then quietly fades into the background.  The lads say the catalyst lets go of the leadership role and transfers leadership to the circle.   Ori and Rod say that a catalyst has the following tools.

• Genuine interest in others
• Loose connections
• Mapping
• Desire to help
• Passion
• Meet people where they are
• Emotional intelligence
• Trust
• Inspiration
• Tolerance for ambiguity
• Hands off approach
• Receding

You'll notice in the comment section of my post at Joyful Jubilant Learning, Rosa Say, the ultimate and consummate manager raises an eyebrow to all this decentralized, non-hierarchy type of talk.   As someone who has logged twenty eight or nine years as a manager, I need to articulate to Rosa and myself why I am enamored with the Starfish gig.

First and foremost we all buy into the same ideology, the same mission.  Perhaps just as important, there is no bureaucracy to weigh you down.  I perfected the craft of protecting my staff from bureaucratic meddlers - my bosses.  I hated doing it and it wore me down.  But I love the concept of channeling strengths and letting folks do what they do best. 

In my vision of a circle within a decentralized organization, there is no dilution.  One part water to a straight up whiskey is dilution.  One part slacker to a circle dilutes the circle.   I do not like dilution.

The Starfish and the Spider is a most excellent book!  It gently guides one to the fringe, to think outside of their norm and this is the environment where great things always happen.

In true Starfish form, Ori and Rod open up information for us in the form of a wiki.