Book review
The Starfish and the Spider: the unstoppable power of leaderless organizations
By Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom
Published by Portfolio (Penguin Group), 2006,
ISBN 1-59184-183-6
Organisational behaviour is an intense interest of mine. So a book like this that talks about how organisations really behave and how we can help them to be more profitable is one on my reading list.
The origin of the intriguing title is that if you cut the head off a spider (a metaphor for a conventional organisation with its CEO), the spider will die, but if you cut an arm off of a starfish (a metaphor for a neural networked organisation) these animals will grow a new arm. As there is no central brain (as we know it), in order to move an arm, the animal has to convince the other arms to move too…
This is a book about decentralised organisations and more particularly about “starfish” organisations – those like neural networks. Brafman and Beckstrom illustrate how it works with stories from many organisations: Alcoholics Anonymous, the abolitionist movement (decentralised organisations have been with us for a long time), Al Qaeda, Amazon, craigslist, eBay, the internet, Intuit, Wikipedia, Jamii Bora Trust and more.
They give us a model that says that a decentralised organisation has 5 ‘legs’.
- Circles that operate independently and autonomously. Once you join, you are an equal with everyone else. Instead of rules, you have norms. Trust grows through people spending time together. Members assume the best of one another and that is usually what they will get.
- Catalyst a person who initiates the circle then fades away, letting go of the leadership role. By doing so the catalyst transfers ownership and responsibility to the circle.
- Ideology the glue that holds the decentralised organisation
together
- Pre-existing Network almost every decentralised organisation
that has become big was launched from an existing platform. For
instance, the Quakers in
- The Champion a person who is relentless in promoting
a new idea. Catalysts are charismatic, but champions take it to
the next level.
There is a chapter on the Catalyst and what he or she needs to have and be. A Catalyst is much better at being an agent of change than at being the guardian of tradition. A Catalyst is genuinely interested in others and wants to help them. To that end, they map connections, spending time thinking about how each person fits into their own network. They lead with emotions; emotional connections come first, after which you can brainstorm and talk strategy. A Catalyst’s main job is to create personal relationships. Of course they are tolerant of ambiguity and - as mentioned before – they let go and let others take on ownership and responsibility.
There is a section on hybrid organisations – eBay is a hybrid. It is a centralised company that decentralises the customer experience.
But what do you do with this that makes sense for an organisation? Especially since a principle of decentralisation is that as industries become decentralised, overall profits decrease…You aim for the ‘sweet spot’ on the continuum between centralised and decentralised. This is the point that yields the best competitive position at any point in time. As it shifts with time, it needs to be checked regularly. The more information oriented an organisation is, the more likely it will be decentralised. The more it has to do with security and accountability (like a bank) the more likely it will be to be centralised.
And how do you decentralise an organisation? One way is to allow the customers a role as eBay does. Another way is to use Appreciative Inquiry because it shares power among the participants who co-create their future, working together as peers.
This is a fascinating, easy-to-read book. The style is pleasant, it gives one plenty to think about. If you are interested in chaos theory and complexity science, this is a must read. In fact, of the books I have read this year, this one is the best and gives me the most to think about. I hope that you will enjoy it too.