There’snorecipe.It’smetaphoricalshiftfrommanufacturing
togardening.Inmanufacturingyoucansay,“Here’sthe
recipe,I’mgoingtoapplyitNtimes,andscale.”Cookie-cutter
approachright?Butwhenyou’rea gardeneryouknowthat
therearealltheseotherinputs.Youcan’tcontrolthesun.
Youcan’tcontroltherain.Butyoucancontrolsomanyother
factors. So you are in concert withallofthesefactors.Youarejustsupportingtheemergence.
You cannot look at a sapling andsay,“Ineeda tomatobyTuesday.”That’smanufacturing,
which is predicated on control andknowingtherecipes.Ourbusinessschoolstodayareset
up precisely to create leaders whocantakeovermanufacturingplants.That’sgood,and
certainly has its place in the world.Buteverythingcan’tbemanufacturing.Compassion,
for example, cannot be manufactured.Ithastogrow.Nowtherearepeoplewhotrytoapply
manufacturing mindset to compassiontoo.Scientistsaretryingtobreakcompassiondown
into its component parts, and say,“Hey,Nathaniscompassionatewhenhisbrainreleases
oxytocin and serotonin. So let’sjustgivehima compassionpill.”Andwearenotdoing
ourselves any favours if all we haveisthehammerofmanufacturing.Everythinglookslike
a nail! If we are smarter, we’ll learnhowtocouplemanufacturingwithgardening.Isn’titlovethatgives
ushope?It’s interesting ’cause I’m always thinking about
how to be a better leader. I’m always asking
that question and looking for conferences or
workshops that will address it. But now I’m
thinking maybe that’s not the pursuit.
I was going to ask about hope and are you hopefulforwhatwecancreate
beyond the systems we live in, but I don’t even thinkthat’sthequestioneither.
It’s like, all of this is happening. You’re doing it, you’rea ladder.Andthisalmost
feels inevitable; what good will emerge from newwaysofinteracting.Although
there’s still some fear in me I guess giventheforceswe’reupagainst.We’re all born withninemonthsofan
unconditional giftfromourmothers.We know
generosity. We havereceivedgenerosity in away that we can neverevenpayback.
And if we’re just tuned in, we knowthatallwecandoispayforward.Oncewestarttotap
into that, our biochemistry supportsit,oursocialconnectionssupportit,naturesupports
it—and we’re in greater harmony.Itfeelslighter.Ifyoulookattheotherrouteofcontrol
and of domination, where is thatgettingus?Wehavea shockinglyunequalsociety,we
feel isolated, are disconnected fromeachotherandthesystemsthatwe’reembeddedin.
There are no real solutions for thingslikeinequality.Wearenotabletoaddressclimate
change. We don’t even know howtohavedeeperconversationsaboutartificialintelligence.
With each solution we create, itseemslikewe’recreatingfivenewproblems.I’mnotbeing
fatalistic. There has certainly beenprogressonmanymetrics,butwecandobetter.Wecan
do better if we learn how to garden,ifwecombineLeadership 101 withLaddership101.
Yes, the sensational draws our attention,butifwedeepenourawareness,theordinaryis
every bit extraordinary.77BUILDS LADDERSCONVERSATIONS