Week 37 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Dale Torry is our guest writer today.
Week 37: Application of Peter Drucker's Methodology of Social Ecology
THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: “Social Ecology” seeks to identify the significant game changers in our society, organize the information into understandable formats and then disseminate this information into the world to multiply the change and impact. Those who identify the game changers or the proverbial “bend in road” are rare, but extremely vital to society in fostering positive change. Look around today and identify those who are impacting our culture, societies and business for the positive.
DALE TORRY'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 37, pages 294-303:
• Joseph Maciariello writes, “I once asked Drucker how he identified this emerging trend. His answer revealed his methodology: ‘Because the knowledge society is creating a new and different constituency… all I had to do was to take a look.’”
• In a world of news bites we often don’t stop to take a look. Drucker’s simple approach is profound and accurate—all we have to do today is stop and take a look around us.
• “The starting point has to be what customers consider valuable.”
• Placing importance on disseminating the knowledge gained through innovation will often attract innovators to you and increase the impact and speed of innovation.
DALE TORRY'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Up to this point I have managed to not use the words “Willow Creek Association” (mentioned frequently in Week 37), but not because I don’t appreciate WCA. In fact, I love WCA and I have benefitted greatly from the Global Leadership Summit and have seen many other developing leaders walk away changed as leaders by the Summit.
I have avoided mentioning WCA because the core of Drucker’s message on Social Ecology is that the world needs game changers who can identify the needed change and deliver it to the masses in a consumable way. WCA, specifically Bill Hybels, is a model example of a Social Ecologist.
The great question for the next decade is how fast will these movements occur as technology changes the speed in which the innovation can be diffused? To elaborate, our knowledge as a world is increasing exponentially each day. This is made possible by the use of technology and the ease in which we as a world can transmit and share information. I believe the next generation of Social Ecologists will see connection between micro trends and movements which link up to larger macro movements. The Ecologists will harness proven and emerging technology to disseminate the information.
I’d like to share a story of a Social Ecologist I know. Arthur Karuletwa survived the horrific Rwandan genocide and vowed to play a part in the fragile country’s recovery. His work in traceability, which is the ability to trace the coffee bean from the farmer and his coffee bush to the roaster and eventually a cup of coffee, has transformed lives in Rwanda.
Drinking coffee with Arthur at a Seattle Starbucks in the summer of 2014, I was moved by what I heard. Arthur had come to realize that by placing a face on the raw coffee bean, farmers were no longer marginalized, they were now producers in a global economy. Arthur realized many farmers didn’t have modern conveniences of the Western world, but many had smart phones and Arthur has harnessed technology to trace this global commodity back to individuals. Starbucks saw the potential and empowered Arthur to complete this project.
Arthur is an innovator who is piloting a proven social/technological innovation which has the ability to impact far more than coffee growers. The equation might be expressed like this “micro trend of smaller coffee farmers + macro trend of coffee consumption + proven technology = Social Ecologist changing a country.”
Can this be translated into the recovery of Syria, Libya, and those who are impacted by the atrocities of ISIS? For a quick snippet on Arthur Karuletwa, click on this link for a more in-depth look at his work, or Google his name for other insightful articles on Arthur’s early work.
THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DALE TORRY:
Dale Torry, Organizational Growth and Leadership Consultant, notes: “My life mission is to empower leaders and organizations to realize their full potential and maximize their impact in the world.” Do you have a life mission statement? If not, start working on it today… life will be a lot clearer. Contact Dale at [email protected]
TO-DO TODAY:
1) What is impacting me today in my work and world which is different than five years ago?
2) Has that which is impacting me been organized? If so, is it effective? If not, can I organize it?
NEXT MONDAY:
On Sept. 21, 2015, watch for the color commentary on Week 38’s topic, “Pursuing Significance After Success,” the first of six weeks on “Developing Oneself from Success to Significance.”
Starbucks mug photo credit: Ti Santi / Shutterstock.com
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