Of Oceans and Jungles - A Story of Two Worlds

“If you want people to build a boat, make them long for the sea. Don’t talk to them about tools, budgets, or plans. But rather, make them feel your passion for the sea” Antoine de St-Exupéry

Roadsteads
Do you see the gigantic ships anchored on Hudson River, at the Hampton Roads, in the ports of Hamburg, Rotterdam, Vancouver, and Nagasaki? Do you see the enormous bulk container-ships, the double-hull supertankers, the luxurious cruise ships and the nuclear aircraft carriers? Do you see their steel bodies glimmering in the sun? Standing next to them we are dwarfed and mesmerized by their sheer size. These vessels are the multi-national corporations that can be found on the 500-Fortune list. Their CEOs are the captains of the corporate world. Their great economic power leads inevitably to political influence.

Efficiency and control button management
On board of these vessels the CEOs roam the oceans. It is fascinating to see what mankind has done to perfect these ships. They grew extraordinarily in size. They sail much faster with less people. Productivity and efficiency have increased dramatically. Technological progress seems to be without limits. Automation has streamlined many processes. The companies generate now more profits with less people. Accordingly the command bridge has changed fundamentally. It is full of control buttons, the handbooks have multiplied exponentially in consequence. As you may see by now this control button management style is free of any emotions. Only profit counts, the shorter the better.

In which world are we operating?
The hiccup here is that our way of thinking has not adapted to the fundamentally changed environment. Whilst the ocean was the right field to operate for companies in the times of the Ford T Model or the VW Beetle, this is no longer true nowadays. The beginning of the twentieth century was the times of certainty and of mass production. During that period a plan or product was acceptable for years or even decennials. Back then the industrial infrastructure was built and it was quite natural for companies to look for economies of scale. Does still hold today? What happens to a complex and living organism, such as a company, when you unquestionably and obstinately apply the concept of economies of scale? What happens to a company if it grows continuously? The diseconomies of bureaucracies start eating up all previous benefits. Far too often these diseconomies are not found in the companies' cost balance. They are laid down to society and appear under the form of burn out, mobbing, stress, depressions or simply disengagement.

Nowadays we are ever more confronted with the burning question. Is the ocean still the operating ground for companies in the 21st century? Are the markets really as uniform and as flat as the budget and planning department want us to make believe? In our complex, modern and digital society the 6-billion and more customers want to be treated as individuals. Rigid plans and fixed budgets are tools from the past. In such an environment the corporate landscape is very much more similar to a jungle.

Jungle and complexity
In the jungle, the picture changes dramatically. The captain, who in an aircraft carrier is the unrivaled Commander-in-Chief of the vessel, is in the jungle the least informed person. He sits too far away from the real success factors; the people in contact with the customers. The control mechanisms which did a great job while on a large vessel are in the jungle a huge constraint and burden for the long term survival of the company. Previously, when in trouble, the captain used to order an increase of power and the vessel sailed out of danger. What happens if you apply the same tactics in the jungle? First of all, you are too big in such an environment. You destroy pristine countryside by bulldozing everything down. You are blind for the natural beauties. And what is even more dramatic for all of us, you are blind for any collateral damage. Furthermore you are too slow. In the jungle the man on the forefront does not know which surprise waits behind the next tree. Will it be a rare and beautiful orchid, a valuable medicinal plant, a jaguar or a venomous spider? He simply does not know. How should the captain? All planning, forecasting or budgeting can not help him. More than once it worsens the situation, as it kills too often the hard-rock "soft-factors" such as trust, intrinsic motivation, creativity, innovation, transparency and cooperation, the real success factors for 21st century companies.

Looking beyond and save our souls
Oh captain, my captain in the jungle, get rid of your dreams about heroic stories of commander-in-chiefs. Acquaint yourself about your new and much more important role as gardener, inspirator, inspirer, visionary, evocator, Sinnkoppler and story-teller.