Email, space and time

In my book, The Leader with Seven Faces, I refer to the protection of space and time. Email is a key character in this plot. It is destructive of space and time. One of the measures often used by organizations is to fiddle with ‘the governance’ of things such as email and proclaim a rule with the idea of tackling a problem; in this case the excessiveness of email traffic, a significant percentage of which is useless. Suw Charman’s blog has an entry on ‘Turning off email won't help’ and I have made some comments on it, which I copy below:


Your excellent entry ‘Turning off email wont help’ contains a number of important points, some of them music to my ears. I am an organisational consultant developing and successfully implementing broad behavioural and cultural changes in organizations in an unconventional way. We have been working for a while on VIRAL CHANGE™, which in a nutshell uses the power of a small set of behaviours endorsed and modelled by a small number of people (with high degree of influence and/or connectedness in the organization, mainly hidden networks), spreading through the organization like an infection (or fashion), which will lead to suddenly appearing tipping points of new established routines (= ‘new culture’). This is described in my book of the same title, VIRAL CHANGE. A summary of the theoretical and practical basis can be found in this 8 page article summary. You’ll understand why I was so excited reading your article! There are many points to pick up!

1. Why email is addictive – explanation via behavioural sciences (Mindhacks ) is spot-on - with a minor glitch (spotted by a commentator in the Mindhacks blog): variable interval reinforcement [getting a reward from time to time, apparently random] only works well once the behaviour has been established. Initially, you need to reinforce a new (desired) behaviour every time while it is still ‘new’. But, it doesn’t contaminate the argument, since we are starting from the fact that using email ‘all the time’ is a well-established behaviour in most of us!

2. ‘Programmers are not natural migration pathways for viral behaviours to spread’. I am sympathetic with the spirit of your statement, but you would be surprised how viral change does not distinguish between ‘types of behaviours’. Once started and with enough critical mass of people in ‘social copying mode’, the infection spreads no matter what. So, I don’t mind to have programmers in my client pool! Viral Change works regardless. Almost in any function/corporate tribe ( sales, marketing, IT…) you’ll find similar presumptions: individualistic-social-Darwinian-sales people are not good for collaboration or collaborative tools etc. I am proud to be associated with significant ‘cultural changes’ I am leading, that were written off (impossible, never, not in a million years, long….) at the beginning of the intervention. So, don’t despair.

3. The turning off of emails on Fridays. My experience is that isolated measures such as this one have limited impact if other variables are left untouched. This is by the way a measure that I often find in the context of grandiose ‘work-life’ balance schemes, many of which, in my view, are fundamentally flawed. If the volume of work, distribution of labour and headcount etc. doesn’t change, then banning emails on Fridays or over the week-end is far from ‘helpful’, but rather a new straight jacket. However, if the measure were taken in a broader context of behavioural change, it may just be useful as trigger for other behaviours. I say it 'may' because my background in behavioural sciences tells me that it should theoretically be possible! But I haven’t seen it yet!

4. In behavioural terms, ‘banning’ is far weaker than promoting (reinforcing) an alternative . Here I agree with you that if the measure is taken, for example, in the context of introducing blogs or collaborative tools then the potential value is higher. The real trick is to promote, reinforce, reward, ‘infect’ face-to-face conversations (for example, when possible) or collaborative tools, MORE THAN make something forbidden – like no use of email on Fridays.

5. The email-itis disease has gotten increasingly more widespread since the infection of Blackberries across continents. Now, not only the worker/manager/executive is looking at his/her PC or laptop screen in the office for newly delivered emails but also when he /she is out (field, travelling): they can get anything ‘new’ on their Blackberry. This is the climax of the ‘always-on’ worker who is attached directly to the company server via wireless umbilical cord (I suppose I should trademark ‘umbilicalberry’!). It will take a lot of space to navigate through the serious philosophical implications of the 365/24/7 ‘always-on’ executive and I have referred to it in my book The Leader with Seven Faces. Space and time are assets that have become totally commoditised. We need measures to protect ourselves and others working with us/for us from this terminal commoditising syndrome. I am afraid it is a bit more complex than shutting down Outlook on Fridays. Leandro Herrero http://www.thechalfontproject.com/

Leadership development: the 45 degrees feedback system

There are two types of leadership development programmes that worry me: the adjustable and the prescriptive. The adjustable are represented by those that rely fundamentally on the 360 exercise by which the manager or leader asks others for their usually blinded feed back on a series of skills or abilities or behaviours. The feed back is received and all ends up in an exercise of adaptations: communication more please, empowerment more please, vision we are ok thanks, visibility we need more, micromanagement less, trust more etc. It is like refilling the shelves in a supermarket. For each 360 feed back system I know working well I can call 10 that are a box ticking exercise or in the worse of the cases one of a potentially dangerous outcome since it is used as a power exercise; Joe, there are some issues with you. You need a 360.
The other worrying type of leadership development is the prescriptive one. In this type there is an ideal norm of balance described as the five attributes or the six qualities. What is good and desirable has been crafted a priori sometimes almost with a religious flavour. Again, I have seen many box ticking built around this normative ideal.

I believe that we lack a third type that I would call reflective, in which what matters is to find the questions to ask, not the availability of beautiful ready made answers. The model I use which is the one behind my book The Leader with Seven Faces points to seven areas of questions for which we need to find answers: what we say as leaders or questions about language, where we go or questions about the journey as leaders, what we build or questions around what we leave behind, what we care about or questions about the values, how we do it or questions about what drive us, what we are or questions about responsibility and identity and finally what we do or questions about our behaviours. Somebody said that the real journey on personal development, and I would include leadership here, is not a long one to a Far Land for guru inspiration or a long method to achieve an ideal but a short one, a few inches journey down the skull. I respect the 360 degrees methodology but I prefer the 45 degrees which is about the angle required to look yourself in the mirror every day.

The PopTech conference 2007

The PopTech conference on technology and society takes place every year in Camden, Maine, US around the same time. It has always been a real source of inspiration for me. This year I will not be able to attend but they are webcasting the entire thing. Here are the details


Dear Leandro, I have something very cool to tell you about. As you may know, Pop!Tech, (http://www.poptech.org/) the annual ideas summit, is convening next week in Camden, Maine. Each year, this three-day gathering brings together extraordinary thinkers, leaders and doers to explore the deep forces shaping our collective future, the social impact of new scientific insights and emerging technologies, and the most innovative approaches humanity is taking to address national and global challenges. This year, with the help of Yahoo!, we will be webcasting the entire Pop!Tech 2007 conference - for free - at http://www.poptech.org/live between 9am and 6.30pm EST, October 18-20, 2007. Viewers can even submit questions to our stage live by emailing questions@poptech.org. The 2007 Pop!Tech program is online at http://www.poptech.org/schedule and speakers are at http://www.poptech.org/speakers2007/. Please help us spread the word! Please tell your friends and colleagues about the webcast, and if you have a blog and you felt so moved, we would really appreciate a post. I've attached the speaker list and schedule, and the speakers are also included below. Cheers, Andrew PS. Also check out poptech.org, where we have now posted internationalized editions of our Pop!Casts, freely downloadable videos of the best Pop!Tech presentations from conferences past. Now, a subset of these are available in eight languages -- Chinese, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Farsi and Swahili! ----------------------------------------------- Here are just some of the confirmed 2007 presenters: * Steven Pinker, the preeminent cognitive scientist and New York Times-best-selling author will speak on the nature and essence of human thought. * Victoria Hale, founder of the world's first non-profit drug company, will share her work on fighting malaria and other illnesses. * Nina Jablonski, the renowned anthropologist, will share her work studying the biology and meaning of human skin. * Jessica Jackley Flannery, Internet microfinance pioneer, will discuss the future of 'bottom up' solutions to poverty. * John Legend, the Grammy Award-winning R&B artist, will perform and share his work on global poverty alleviation. * Van Jones, inner-city eco-activist, will speak about his work on a new "green collar" revolution in America's inner cities. * Chris Jordan, the celebrated photographer, will share his breathtaking photographs which document of the human impact. * Sarah Joseph, the founder of Emel magazine, Britain's leading Muslim lifestyle publication, will discuss emerging dialogues within the Islamic community. * Paul Polak, founding father of market-based solutions to poverty and development, will speak about his efforts to built ultra-low-cost products for the bottom of the global pyramid. * Jay Keasling, one of the founding fathers of synthetic biology, will share his path-breaking work on new health and energy technologies. * Jonathan Harris, the mind-blowing interactive design star, will share his breathtaking work. * Ted Ames, the Macarthur-Award-Winning ecologist and Maine lobsterman, will share his work creating sustainable approaches to our management of the oceans. * Tom Barnett, the geopolitical and military strategist and best-selling author, who will explore America's strategic challenges in the next 25 years. * Sam Barondes, the renowned neuropsychiatrist who will discuss the essence of human personality - what it is, where it comes from, and how it makes us who we are. * Robert Boroffice, head of Nigeria's space agency, NASRDA, who will speak about how satellite technology can connect Africa. * Adrian Bowyer, creator of low-cost, open-source fabrication technologies will speak about how this breakthrough technology can be used to empower ordinary citizens around the world. * Louann Brizendine, neuropsychiatrist and expert on gender differences in the brain, will share her provocative work on how men and women truly do think differently. * Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia and leading Islamic thinker, will speak about global peace. * Caleb Chung, legendary toy designer and inventor of the Furby, will share his latest "artificially alive," animatronic creation. * Cary Fowler, the world's seed banker and director of the Global Seed Diversity Trust, will share his efforts to create a "global seed vault" deep in a mountain in Norway. * Vanessa German, the urban slam poet, will inspire us. * Dan Gilbert, the psychologist and best-selling author, will discuss human happiness and why we rarely hold on to it. * Krista Dong, MD, a front-lines AIDS worker in South Africa, will speak about an inspiring new initiative to help HIV+ people in the poorest communities. * Joe McCarthy, global mobility researcher, will share his insights into how mobile devices are empowering people around the world. * Christian Nold, a technology artist, will demonstrate his work on "emotional mapping" technologies that show how people react to places. * Claire Nouvian, the noted deep-sea conservationist, will share some of her breathtaking work which documents the deepest layers of the biosphere. * Alan Dugatkin, an expert in animal behavior will share his insights into the biological underpinnings of human goodness. * Nathan Eagle, the mobility expert from the MIT Media Lab, will share his research on the use of mobiles as a tool for social development. * John Esposito, the preeminent Islamic-studies scholar, will lead a discussion on the history and future of Islam. * Jeff Fisher, the healthcare psychologist, will share his work on a promising new software tool in the fight against HIV. * Jessica Hagy, superbly comic blogger, will share her hilarious illustrations. * Carl Honoré, celebrated journalist and chronicler of the Slow Food movement, will speak about the new dynamics of human culture. * Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International, will share lessons from her efforts helping women in post-conflict regions. * Bill Shannon, the indescribably talented street dancer, will speak and perform. * John Shearer, technology entrepreneur, will share his potentially breakthrough ways of distributing electricity. * Paul Shuper, psychologist and HIV behavioral researcher, will share his work on a promising new software tool in the fight against HIV. * Elizabeth Streb, the award-winning choreographer, will share her visions. * Charles Swift, the Navy lawyer charged with defending terrorists at Guantanamo, will share lessons on balancing human rights with security in the post 9/11 world. * Zinhle Thabethe, the front-line AIDS worker from KwaZulu Natal province, South Africa, will return to Pop!Tech to announce a significant new initiative to fight the epidemic in her home country. * Katrin Verclas, mobile activism researcher, will share her research on the many ways mobiles are being used as a tool for social change. * Zoë Keating, the mesmerizing techno-cellist, will perform for us. * Sheila Kennedy, the architect and product designer, will relate her work on breakthrough new lighting technologies designed for the developing world. * Daoud Kuttab, the pioneering Palestinian journalist and new media expert, will share his thoughts on the impact of new media in the Middle East. * Kelly Joe Phelps, the mesmerizing blues guitarist, will perform. * Dan Pink, the noted journalist will share his thoughts on the rise of the creative economy. * Davy Rothbart, the founder of Found magazine, will share some his hilarious findings. * Enric Sala, the rising star of marine ecology, will share his work documenting the human impact on the oceans. As you can see, it's quite a lineup!

Infectious Leadership

Michael Watkins note entry in Harvard Business online, on Infectious Leadership brings home the idea of top leadership influence. I could’t help replying: “Michael’s infective leaders are music to my ears since I base my consulting practice on creating infections (‘Viral Change™) as opposed to mechano-hydraulic processes of PowerPoint-communications. Interestingly , I could not stop smiling whilst reading Michael’s entry since the prologue of my book Viral Change starts with a true story of a new CEO who made a series of relatively informal comments on the organization, generating de facto cascade changes ultimately translated into true cultural change. When I interviewed him a few months later and congratulated him for what it seemed to me a good ‘change management programme’, he replied ‘what programme?’”