COLLABORATION CREATES EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS
It occurred to me through the publication of Politics with Principle and by working on the Character Building Project (CBP), I am now approaching the ten thousand hour threshold of hours of practice Malcolm Gladwell proposed in his best selling book Outliers: The Story of Success. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858880,00.html
Such preparation and commitment makes the difference between simply being good at something and becoming extraordinary at it. My commitment of dedicating thousands of hours on character and virtue is significant, at least to me. More importantly, others in the character community have committed a lifetime of work in this field.
One of those doing on lifetime of work is Paul Stoltz, the father of the “Adversity Quotient.” http://www.peaklearning.com/ Notwithstanding his demanding practice Paul has found time to mentor me. Paul recently counseled me to “lobby for good character.” Paul’s guidance caused me to think of skills I have developed during my 33 years of advocacy. One such skill is collaboration.
Jane McGonigal in her fascinating book Reality is Broken http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/06/entertainment/la-ca-jane-mcgonigal-20110206 defines collaboration as a special way of working together. Jane explains collaboration requires three distinct kinds of concerted effort: acting purposefully toward a common goal (cooperation); synchronizing efforts and sharing resources (coordinating); and producing a novel outcome together (co-creation.) A goal of the CBP is to mobilize communities of interest http://www.characters-with-character.com/mission-statement/ such as the character community.
By profiling the experiences of members of the character community, I am trying to foster mutual regard and establish common ground for working together. In a few words: I am trying to foster collaboration. All who have been profiled have been working successfully in the fields of “trust,” “adversity,” “families” “virtue” and “faith” to cite just a few. All care about outcomes and are striving toward the same goal. I believe all, although learned in their field, are also willing to seek best practices and push each other to do better.
If we are to achieve extraordinary results, such as improving character in America, we must participate in groups that encourage and value cooperation; we must immerse ourselves in highly collaborative environments. The Character Building Project aims to offer a foundational platform in building a collaborative culture. In the past few months, I have been scanning individuals and their work on my “collaborative radar.” Over my years in advocacy I have developed a strong social network. Perhaps some of those in my network will further support a real working collaboration? Recently, my focus is gaining awareness of those working on character and virtue. In the weeks ahead, as more profiles are completed I will zoom out to draw a much bigger picture defining ways to extend the collaboration of the diverse actors in the character community toward the epic goal of improving character in America.
Michael: Right ON! Collaboration is at the core of the challenge at this cross-roads of human destiny. At the risk of going too high and too far in this discourse, let me share an insight that Paul Lawrence and I have had from writing Trusted to Lead:The Meta-InsightInsightful Questioning is the “Lead Intellectual (strategic) Arrow” and Trust is the “Lead Cultural Arrow (in a quiver of multiple, interactive causative processes) of human evolution that together Direct the Course of History, the Fate of Nations, and the Destinies of People. Trust is the Key Determinative Factor enabling the Creation of Synergy in human social systems.Synergy is the Deepest Yearning of the Human Soul — our Highest Quest, the true Holy Grail.Trust has played a massive role in the evolution of society as a whole. When communities trust, people flourish, as exemplified by the Greeks and their Golden Age of Innovation. Character is the classical foundation of trust. Those who rise through Adversity on the Wings of Character are provided with the key to the Gates of Synergy.And when trust is replaced with actions marked by high levels of aggression, betrayal, and manipulation, societies rapidly decline, as evidenced by the Dark Ages, World Wars, and many African and Middle Eastern nations today. Trust takes Fear out of the Social Equation, interceding to prevent wars and destructive conflict. Trust impacts the Economic Equation by limiting the destructive force of fear — and its associated behaviors, such as excessive protection, legal costs, and transaction costs — from sucking away the real creative force of the human spirit and its derivative innovations, which is the principle source of economic wealth generation. Thus trust enables the Economics of Expandables to flourish and Synergy to manifest itself as proliferation of Economic Wealth.For centuries, sociologists have thrashed the dilemma of why societies don’t evolve on an ever-upward path, especially given the seemingly limitless learning capacity of humans. Trust is the determinative factor in directing the ascendance, descendance, or stagnation of any social group, whether it be a family, a business, a community, or a nation. One’s ability to trust prudently may be the most important social skill in humankind’s repertoire. Synergy is not just the perchance outcome of highly beneficial combinations of differing elements, its a causative forcedriving the evolution of complex human and organizational systems. “Cooperation to Create More” is a basic genetic aspiration of higher order living organisms, just as reproduction is in lower order biological organisms. The game of human evolution is not “survival of the fittest,” but “thrival by collaborative innovation.” As we learn from team sports, the winner of the competitive battle is the most collaborative.And in many circumstances synergy is self-regenerative in that synergistic systems create their own energy to drive the next stage of evolution. Socio-biologic synergy is does not wind down (as in Newtons Laws of Entropy), but becomes self-sustaining, and self-regenerating so long as psychic energy is not threatened by fear and the potential of destruction. While Distrust causes Entropy in organizational systems, Trust facilitates Synergy (but does not cause it). All complex systems either rise to synergy or devolve due to conflict, entanglement, or dysfunction. Humans are uniquely capable not only of creating synergy, but can create a Symphony of Synergies, which can be done by design once we have cracked the trust code.[1]Taken together, Trust is the enabler and energizer of Collaboration, and Insightful Questioning the enabler and energizer of Innovation, hence the foundation of Collaborative Innovation.[2] There are 4 synergies: Synergy with God, Synergy with others, Synergy with Nature, and the hardest of all: Synergy with Self.[3] To Test the Truth of this statement, ask the thought question about what was missing in the interaction between Athenians and Socrates that caused him to be condemned by his fellow citizens. Socrates’ incessant and insensitive barrage of insightful questions was received as an assault on the egos of others, so much so as Socrates was considered not a “sage” but a “threat” – they distrusted him. Had Socrates put “trust” into the equation, and the result would have been holistic enlightenment. Plato appears to have learned this lesson[4] Complex Systems will either evolve based on the benefit/payoff derived from functional interdependencies or devolve because of of dysfunctionalities, conflicts, or entanglements. [see Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, Ch 2: The Expansion of Life] Synergy in the human socio-biologic world creates a force-field of energy. While Synergy may not be a “Driving Force” at in the General World of Bio-Evolution, in the Special World of Human Systems — Bio-Evolution — the conscious need to “align” our inner drives [drives to Acquire, Bond, Create, Defend]. While for some people achieving harmonious balance will suffice, for others, the yearning for synergy will still remain in the soul, and there will be need to interweave personal harmony with others until attaining a “symphony of interwoven synergies.” [5] Collaborative Innovation can be rephrased as Love and Creation. This is the Essence of God (God is Love Creation). This was also the essence of Darwin’s argument concluded from his book: The Descent of Man (1871). [Note: Both Religion and Darwin come to the same conclusion from different directions.]Your feedback,thoughts, and diff-agreements (differing views without an adversarial spirit) are always welcome.Robert Porter Lynch