I have asked so many questions in my dissertation notebook as I head towards my research question.
My topic could be:
– Creativity at work
– Internal change agents.
– Constructing what cannot yet be visualized but I/we can see it.
– Something isn’t working the way it should…we don’t understand…I had an experience…
– Getting creative with transcendent organizational systems – because we construct what cannot yet be visualized.
The problem could be:
– it’s not just that WE don’t know, but corporate leaders don’t know what to do with their unicorns. And do we understand what makes a change agent something more? That unicorn reverse Cassandra organizational evolutionist Edgewalker?
– Unicorns are blessed and cursed with the ability to see. Exhausted leaders are missing what we see. Otto Scharmer noted that the real blind spot is transformational ecosystem learning. What we’re seeing is murmurations (starlings)
– You do the change but you gotta stay with it! Because our leaders are complex systems AND we’re nested in complexity. – The language we use is outdated. For example, the Chief Sustainability officer is a pioneer with a target on their back. They need a whole group. Scharmer uses the term “changemakers”.
– We live in systems, nested, nested, nested.
– A difference in how we SEE. Reverse Cassandras in systems and organizations
– internal change-makers and Edgewalkers, unicorns.
– (From Conner) – many change practitioners are helpful tactical resources for executing incremental change. They tend to have minimal or marginal influence on the leaders they support. BUT. About 10% of change practitioners are invaluable strategic contributors in support of the most difficult change initiatives and enjoy a disproportionate amount of leader influence. The real difference between the two change practitioners is not their methodologies (which are well researched) but in how they “show up”. As Conner (2018) stated, “highly influential change practitioners are not only exceptionally skilled in the use of concepts and tools, they incorporate an authentic expression of their unique character and the presence it generates as part of the value they provide.”
– One’s efficacy is determined by how one’s clients perceive you.
– A healthy organization values its Edgewalking unicorns. To be cutting edge like the scout and shaman who preserve the tribe.
– I can’t drink the Kool Ade because the Kool Ade is kryptonite.
– As a unicorn, they’ll leave you alone as long as you perform well – giving you “idiosyncratic credits” in a bank.
– When playing big we play in big light and big darkness.
The question could be:
– What is the lived experience of internal unicorns? — those non-executive leaders who facilitate quantum leaps to new states
– What makes a Unicorn a Unicorn?
– Are we all the same? How are we the same/different?
– Are unicorns born or made? Can they be made? (Is there a Unicorn Mafia that makes them?)
– What do leaders need to know about their unicorns for best care and feeding?
– Organizational Change versus transformation versus evolution and associated agents
– We live in systems nested, nested, nested. What are we learning from the trees and the moss (interconnections below and within) that allows us to co-create and be aware of the possibilities and our birthright of joy and delight?
– What is it like to be fully human/yourself in a corporate system?
– How do we keep our magic juicy in hostile environments? – – (derived from our presence and unique character – Conner; strong inner life and personal spirituality (including other ways of knowing) – Neal; CREATIVE, NON-LINEAR LOGIC – ‘GRACE, MAGIC, & MIRACLES’ – in addition to rational change management to enable transformation – Lichtenstein; oddballs – Birch & Klegg; tempered radicals – Meyerson; difference makers and pragmatic visionaries – Waddock) – juicy in hostile environments?
– Individually and collectively, how does our organization support us, because normally we’re too edgy?
The purpose could be:
– To dance with and dwell within ambiguity to explore and better understand the lived experience of internal change makers. (Scharmer’s got Change Makers, Neal’s got Edgewalkers, Conner’s got High Performing Change Practitioners – do I handle this on three levels?)
– To learn through the outliers
– To gather the lived experiences of Edgewalkers, Change Makers, and HPCPs
– To help others learn how to recognize and reveal their own internal change agent dynamic without fear.
So what am I really focusing on, here?
– My lived experience and how it compares to others AS AN EDGEWALKING UNICORN.
– – Someone who does not “fit in” with the rest of their organization yet is part of the organization
– – Someone whose different perspective brings tremendous value to the rest of the organization
– – Someone who leaders do not understand so they leave them alone to do their thing
– – Someone who intentionally cultivates and preserves their authentic self in this environment.
