Leadermorphosis

Sam Conniff and Alex Barker's books 'Be More Pirate' and 'How to Be More Pirate' have sparked a movement of people around the world who want to shake things up, to create new business models and systems that are better for people and planet. The tagline on their website says: "Being more pirate is a shift in your mindset; a willingness to think differently, to challenge and be challenged, and to stop asking for permission to do what you know is right." I wanted to talk to Sam and Alex about what we can learn from the golden age of pirates 300 years ago, and to share some examples of organisations that have been inspired to transform. Resources: Be More Pirate website Be More Pirate meetup events (online and in-person) Reinventing Organisations website (about Frederic Laloux's work) How to follow Alex and Sam: Twitter: @AlexandraBarke1 and @SamConniff

Topi Jokinen is one of the founders of a small Finnish company in the construction sector called Vertia. Since 2018, Topi has been leading a transformation in the company based on the idea of self-organising cells to help it grow and develop. He is perhaps the first CEO I have met who has done this level of personal and professional development and he shares with heart and humility what his leadership journey has been. We also talk about Vertia's radical structures and practices, such as a transparent and collaborative salary model, as well as what Topi has learned about stepping back and letting go as a co-founder and CEO. Resources: The Vertia case study produced by Amara Collaboration Vertia's website A page about the Advice Process and collaborative decision making from the Reinventing Organisations wiki How to follow Topi: Twitter: @TopiJokinen

Filmmakers Anna Thomson and David Baksh talk to me about Yoghurt Utopia, their documentary about a yoghurt company whose mission is to provide work and accommodation for people living with mental illness in the Catalonia region in Spain. Having spent several years with some of the workers of La Fageda and its inimitable founder, Cristobal Colon, they share what they have learned about this remarkable workplace and what lessons we can learn in terms of diversity, inclusion, and meaning at work. Resources: Link to watch the Yoghurt Utopia documentary (NB: you need to create a free account with Waterbear to access) The trailer for the Yoghurt Utopia documentary The Yoghurt Utopia Facebook page, where you can follow updates about what film festivals it's featured in, where you can see it etc. Anna Thomson's article for The Huffington Post about the film 'Cultivating a worker's paradise', article in The Guardian The La Fageda website (in Catalan)

Yuji Yamada, expert in organisational transformation explores Japanese vs Western lenses. Topics include teal organisations, Jinen management, East Asian advantages in new ways of working, and cultural paradigms of interconnectedness.

Rich and Nati are the founders of collaboration consultancy The Hum and part of the Enspiral network. Between them, they have a background in activism, engineering, community organising and entrepreneurship and are well-respected thought leaders when it comes to decentralised organisations, self-managing teams and collaborative culture. We talk about personal shifts, 'trojan horse' radical practices, and ideas for moving from a domination society to a partnership society. How to follow Rich and Nati: Twitter: @RichDecibels and @LombardoNati Resources: The Hum's online course (next guided programme starts on the 11th of March 2021) Learn more about Riane Eisler, who Rich mentions at the start The microsolidarity programme Nati mentioned The Enspiral website Loomio's website

Nand Kishore Chaudhary is the remarkable founder of Jaipur Rugs, a company employing 40,000 weavers in 600 villages selling beautiful carpets in 40 countries. The artisans – most of them women in India's "untouchable" class – are the "heroes of the business", and self-managed principles like distributed decision making have long been a hallmark of the company. We talk about how N. K. Chaudhary has created a "business ashram", where people find their clarity of purpose and gain higher consciousness, as well as his thoughts on humble leadership and how Jaipur Rugs will evolve self-management further. Resources: Jaipur Living website and N. K. Chaudhary's website Doug Kirkpatrick's blog, 'Jaipur Rugs: Self-managed art that you can walk on' A Forbes article about the book The Healing Organisation, which features Jaipur Rugs as one of its examples An extract from the book 'The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits' The book 'The Healing Organisation: Awakening the Conscience of Business to Help Save the World' by Raj Sisodia and Michael J. Gelb Related Leadermorphosis episodes: Ep. 14 with Doug Kirkpatrick Ep. 42 with Ved Krishna from Yash Pakka

Anna Elgh is the CEO of Svenska Retursystem, a Swedish circular economy logistics company. We talk about the transformations she has led at the company since joining in 2014, from Lean to nearly three years of moving towards self-managing teams. She shares what she has learned about transforming conflicts, distributed decision making, disbanding the management team, as well as leadership and the power of letting go. Resources: Svenska Retursystem's website The book Lisa has co-authored with Karin Tenelius, Moose Heads on the Table Related Leadermorphosis episodes: Ep. 55 with Frederic Laloux, author of Reinventing Organisations Ep. 37 with Miki Kashtan about the inner shifts that need to happen for self-management to work Ep 45. with Amy Edmondson about psychological safety and climate (vs culture) The Enneagram Institute Tuff Leadership Training

Frederic Laloux is the author of the book 'Reinventing Organisations' and one of the leading figures in the new ways of working movement, coining the term 'teal organisation' which consists of three breakthroughs: self-management, wholeness, and evolutionary purpose. We talk about how we can use juicy questions to explore new frontiers of what's possible in our organisations and lives. Questions like: "Where are you participating in a system where you're actually out of integrity?" Frederic shares examples from conversations he's had with CEOs of big corporations and inspiring stories he's encountered of radical initiatives that have come from all levels of organisations. Resources: Transcript of our conversation here The Reinventing Organisations website Frederic's library of more than 100 'Insights for the Journey' videos Here's the one on 'growth pain' we reference And the one about the leader of the hospital A video about Interface being a circular economy company from Meaning Conference The book Wilful Blindness by Margaret Heffernan

Bill Fischer is a Professor of Innovation Management at IMD and Simone Cicero is the cofounder of Boundaryless and co-creator of the Platform Design Toolkit. We talk about what they have learned from years of studying and collaborating with the Chinese company Haier Group, whose Rendanheyi organisational model has been praised internationally as one of the most revolutionary management ideas of the 21st century. Our conversation explores the extraordinary leadership of CEO Zhang Ruimin, eliminating bureaucracy, designing an organisation to enable thousands of self-managed microenterprises, and what this model means for the future of work. How to follow Bill and Simone: Twitter: @bill_fischer and @meedabyte You can read the transcript version here. Resources: Link to sign up for Bill and Simone's RenDanHeYi masterclass in October (link gives you a 25% discount with the code LEADERMORPHOSIS) The EEEO Toolkit Draft Download webpage (a set of tools to support the creation of an Entrepreneurial Organisation) The Boundaryless Haier webinar YouTube playlist Corporate Rebels' post about Haier Bill's chapter 'Ecosystems as an engine for innovation and learning' in the book 'Ecosystems Inc' Bill's IMD profile where you can find more of his publications Simone's interview with Bill on the Boundaryless podcast Alicia Hennig's paper on Daoism in Management

Jabi Salcedo and Dunia Reverter are coordinators at K2K Emocionando, a Spanish consultancy that has transformed more than 85 organisations from traditional to self-managing over the last two decades. We talk about the radical components of their methodology, such as removing manager roles, balancing salaries, shared decision-making and profit sharing. Jabi and Dunia share what they've learned from the transformations they have been part of, the kinds of shifts they've seen, and what some of the biggest challenges can be. How to follow Dunia: Twitter: @reverter_dunia Resources: My blog about the 10 components for abolishing hierarchy that K2K employs in their transformations The signup page for the NER by K2K Advanced Online Seminar in English, starting on the 23rd of September 2020 Corporate Rebels' blogs about K2K and their pioneering founder, Koldo Saratxaga