Is business an art? Perhaps not, but certainly business can learn from the arts. In my estimation, one of the biggest lessons business can take away is the value of collaboration.

You there, With the jaundice coloured leadership grin. As wise souls have said before me, prematurity breeds immaturity. Where art thou braggadocio in your moment of ascension? There it is, Plentiful for all to witness like a storm that blankets Tuktoyaktuk in winter. We have seen it before in this very agora. Cold. Harsh. Unforgiving. Unrelentingly demonstrating who reigns from above, who is the arkhēs. But this pack of snow is neither fluffy nor pretty. It is ice. It is thick (headed). It is infrangible. Callowness reigns abetted by your penchant for nepotism. Don’t fret. The halls, they scream in whispers of discontent and of shuddering disbelief. This misbegotten decision and your reinforcement of hierarchy is the new now. My hope remains because "The future depends on what you do today."   "An Ode to Hierarchy" by Dan Pontefract, June, 2014   Dan's Related Posts:Hierarchy for the Sake of Hierarchy is Simply Being GutlessThe Hierarchy of EducationCredo of the Collaboration CanoeLinkedIn is not Facebook so Please Think Twice About Your UpdatesThat Decision Is Above My Pay-Grade

Harry Nilsson’s Grammy award winning song, "Everybody's Talking at Me," has been stuck in my head all day, specifically the lyric: Everybody’s talking at me, I don’t hear a word they’re saying, only the echoes of my mind.

Well, this has been quite the World Series - a fall classic showdown between Texas and St. Louis that even a die-hard Red Sox fan like me has enjoyed. Around Red Sox nation these days, anything to do with baseball is a sore subject - after the Sox suffered such an epic collapse in September.

Over on the excellent RethinkHr.org blog, Benjamin McCall writes a thoughtful post on meetings (with a bonus dollop of hilarity at the end). 

The fine folks at 33 voices put together an outstanding Slideshare program of thoughts and quotes from me, as it pertains to creating a connected and engaged organization. Big thanks to Moe Abdou and team. I hope you can utilize it in the organization where you currently work. Dan's Related Posts:Flat Army Graphics on SlideshareDownload Chapter 1 for Free - Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged…Flat Army: An Overview of the Bookthe FLAT ARMY cheat sheetThe Fifteen Habits of a Connected Leader

(Editor’s Note: scroll down for graphical versions) In my book, Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization (Wiley) I define collaboration as follows: The unfettered allowance and encouragement of employees to both contribute and consume knowledge, insight or ideas with any direct relationship via professional or personal networks to achieve an outcome. If we were to elaborate on the definition, we might suggest there are ‘The ABC’s of Collaboration’: Accessible - Be approachable & available to your team & those who expect your insight & opinions. Benevolent - To be disposed and to want to do good is a key part of being collaborative with others. Challenge - Groupthink does not equal collaboration. To challenge is to professionally debate by collaborating. Deliver - Be free from restraint while getting things done. Recognize that the team must demonstrate results. Embrace - To accept willingly. To well avail one’s self to an opportunity, to an idea and to those in the network. Fluid - Not being fixed to a given mindset, but to readily change opinion as the situation warrants. Graft - To attach or incorporate new ideas, concepts and thoughts into old and dated problems. Hello - Is there anything more collaborative than saying hello? Try it next time in the elevator. Impart - To be collaborative is to disclose and make known both your knowledge and your perspective. Jest - Having fun, finding humour and generally having a good time can help all to become more collaborative. Kudos - To honour, celebrate & congratulate others for their contributions is as collaborative as it gets. Legitimate - Always be genuine and trustworthy. Legitimacy in character is akin to authenticity. Marinate - To properly collaborate one might marinate in the moment. Pause before acting prematurely. Noegenesis - The production of new knowledge from sensory or intellectual experience will aid others, always. Open - The collaboration gold mine: to be forthright, impartial, exposed & available to people, ideas & the unknown. Prepared - Being ready to contribute. Being willing to compose. Being apt to create. Quietude - To effectively collaborate, one must enter into a state of calmness, serenity & peacefulness. Reflective - It’s incumbent upon you to mirror the collaborative spirit of others & to be thoughtful doing so. Social - From the Latin socialis ‘allied’ & socius ‘friend’, to be social is to build a collaborative network. Technology - The technology train left the station long ago. If you’re not on it, you run the risk of alienating everyone. Urgency - A level of persistence & earnestness will ensure others know you don’t subscribe to "all talk no action". Voice - "If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, & that voice will be silenced." Warn - Cautionary advice & a proactive heads up to those in your collaborative circles is noble, smart & urged. Xenodochial - One must accept that collaboration should happen with strangers too. Collaboration knows no borders. Yearn - One must desire to be collaborative with others. To yearn is to feel collaboration is an absolute necessity. Zeal - Demonstrate vigour & enthusiasm as you collaborate and others will judge you as positive & disarming. There are two infographic versions of "The ABC’s of Collaboration" found below. Feel free to use them. I’m taking a writing break for the summer. See you in September-ish. Thanks for visiting. Dan's Related Posts:the FLAT ARMY cheat sheetKudos Jacques Godin, an Engaged Air Canada EmployeeLearning by OsmosisFuture Of Work: A Flat Army Of Open Leadership via A.G. LafleyAutotelic: The Word of 2013

Collaboration — the concept and the practice — is experiencing a renaissance among business leaders these days. Many of our clients are telling us they need to reinvigorate their organizations' ability to work across all kinds of silos, levels, and boundaries.

Like my first book, Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization, Book Two has taken a decided turn for the better. Originally, Flat Army was written as a fable. The original title was "The Coffee Shop Leader". One day, I may even release the entirety of the book in its original format. But I received timely and magical guidance from a few people, most notably Don Loney, and the rest is history. The same can be said for this next book. I had written 45,000 words and through various pieces of feedback and counsel, the book has morphed. Originally, I had thought of calling it, "It’s Work Not Jail: The Difference Between a Job and a Career with Purpose". The problem rested with its target audience. I was lost between leaders, employees and anyone in between. I was trying to win a Stanley Cup without properly drafting solid players and putting in the foundations for a winning team over time. I was trying, it seems, to buy an instant Stanley Cup winner without focusing on the right audience of players and mechanics to succeed. So, IWNJ has been altered to focus more clearly on the actual target audience that needs assistance. (at least in my opinion) Leaders! The next book is focused on leaders. The title will remain a mystery (the original has been scrapped) but it’s fair to say leaders of any stripe could use a refreshing jolt of reality when it comes to developing the careers of those they serve — the employees of the organization and thus the team(s) they lead. As I’ve personally pivoted during the writing stage of this next book, I’ve found my writing mojo once again. Interestingly, I wasn’t enjoying the writing process up until the past month or so, and I’m a year into it. Three target audiences were causing me strife. I was trying to address too much, and as a result the writing seemed to be less specific than it ought to be. The following paragraphs are from the new Chapter One, to help position what I’m up to: This book is about hope, and it’s written for one reason, and one reason only: to refute career development mediocrity and workplace leadership melancholy. I want to see you break free and realize your responsibility as a leader is to find (and define) purpose in the careers of those you are leading, whether your profession is in finance, travel, entertainment, mining, high-tech and so on. I care that you have the skills to help others define what a career with purpose ought to feel like. You must recognize you have a responsibility in the development of your people and their careers. The dynamic that is at play here is the innate desire of employees to be creative problem solvers and meaningful contributors to the organization against the restraints of their organizational culture and leadership misdirection. It’s time to remove the shackles. It’s time to help foster a purposeful career with the people you are leading. This book aims to not only define the difference between the mindsets of a job, a career and one with a purpose, it showcases the methods to help others build up the skills and muscles to achieve such role-based satisfaction. The quest a leader should be on is to not only help employees build their careers  and achieve purpose in their employment role … it should be to properly redefine the purpose of work itself. This is why I’ve defined the word "work" as follows: "The link between individual remuneration and workplace effort, that creates personal and organizational value through a career full of purpose." I’m excited. (again) The journey continues. (again) More to come. Thanks for reading. Dan's Related Posts:Three Types of Workplace MindsetsWhat Should The Title Of My Next Book Be?Lessons Learned From a First Time AuthorAlarming Trends in CIPD Employee Outlook SurveyCoaching Should Be An Expectation Of All Connected Leaders

I wouldn’t call the two incredible and courageous women in this story ‘good friends’ with me nor are we ‘best friends’, but we’re certainly not ‘bad friends’ or ‘former friends’, so let’s just go with the fact we’re ‘connections’ and leave it at that. The purpose of this story is to share, to enlighten and to articulate incredible courage … as best I can. My two connections are — to say the least — going through a form of hell on wheels with their health. In one corner, we have E.T. (the extra terrestrial) literally fighting for a new heart, eager to return home one day and resume a relatively normal, life of botany. (Heck, throw in pounds of overindulging in Reese’s Pieces too) In the other corner, imagine we have Rocky Balboa - but with cancer. Not the Rocky from movies number two through thirteen, but the original Rocky - the ultimate definition of resilience, perseverance and courage. "Adrian!!" (You know you want to yell that line very loudly right now) Now it may seem weird to bring up E.T. and Rocky as metaphors, when (as far as I can tell) both of these characters are males and I’m about to discuss "Two Very Incredible & Courageous Women", but they were the first movie-related ‘actors’ that came into my mind. You can ‘flame me’ in the comments section below. Story #1. E.T. During the summer of 2011, an academic friend of mine was teeming with excitement. Her friend (Jillianne) was rooting down in Victoria, British Columbia having accepted an offer as a Faculty member at the University of Victoria. My friend was eager for her to move from Boston (where she was completing a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University) to Victoria. Jillianne was going to become co-Director of the TIE Lab (where my friend was already a Director) and the concept itself was something I was personally and professionally enamored with. The purpose of the TIE Lab is to "strengthen research excellence regarding the appropriate use of networked and computer‐mediated technologies for enhanced communication, learning, and motivation across educational, professional, and health sectors." Now you know why I love it. When I met Jillianne for the first time in 2011, face-to-face over a make-shift fire where actual marshmallows were roasted, it was evident to me her passions and purpose were tailor-made for the TIE Lab. We delved effortlessly into various forms of collaborative and social technologies, educational theories, and music! "Yes," I said to myself. Jillianne is the full package. Little did I know, however, that Jillianne moved to Victoria with a back-story unlike many others. Back in the Summer of 2005, Jillianne was diagnosed with "congestive heart failure" and her family was told to "prepare for the worst." Imagine the burden you would face in your life, when for more than half a decade you were told things didn’t look so hot for your (to be blunt) life. Talk about being dropped off on the planet, and your home ship leaving you to figure things out for yourself - like E.T. had to. #not #awesome #sauce But Jillianne is an out-of-this-world human being. She is literally pushing herself out of a premature body bag (like E.T., with her heart glowing like the aurora borealis) and in parallel, she is sharing her story, teaching others what it’s like to live a life of congestive heart failure. How? Given her background, are you surprised to learn she is openly blogging at a site she calls, "Heart Failure to Harvard?" Our time together, face-to-face, has been brief, but her courage and incredible resiliency — not to mention her decision to continue teaching from a hospital bed, by way of her blog — is nothing short of magisterial. She is brilliant, humbling … and I am in awe of her hearty ‘joie de vivre’. E.T. phone home, please. Story #2. Rocky Many, many moons ago, a chap by the name of Pete used to work with me at Business Objects. He was a media developer. He was really good too. More importantly, he was whipped. When I write, ‘whipped’, I truly mean it … and not in a Russell Crowe/Gladiator sense. The love of his life, Carissa, sat in photo form on his desk, radiantly beaming back with the kind of eyes people fishing on eHarmony and Match.com openly yearn for. Needless to say, their two girls are ridiculously photogenic and gorgeous as well. One day in 2006, Pete said he was moving to Victoria - a 120 kilometer journey from Vancouver but separated by the Georgia Strait. (it’s a big body of water, and only drunk people kayak or canoe back and forth) We had no "work from home" policy, program or compassion at the time, but even though Pete asked if he could "work from home", we (the ‘company’) had to say our good-byes. "Poor Pete - he has to live in Victoria now," I muttered to myself (now ironically) on his last day. Fast-forward to 2009 and wouldn’t you know it, I’m in a meeting with those radiantly beaming eyes. Ya see, Carissa works for TELUS (I think since forever) and when I joined up the fluffy bunny telecommunications company myself, we would occasionally be in the same meetings. If she were from Boston (she’s not) you might say she is "wicked smart", but I digress. In a nutshell, she is the quintessential TELUS team member. (and wicked smart) I vicariously watched her develop cancer, beat the shit out of it, and continue to be "wicked smart". Awe inspiring doesn’t begin to describe Carissa. She is incredible and courageous. Earlier this year, death decided to knock on the door again for Carissa, Pete and the girls. The antagonist known as cancer returned, and not in a funny, Griswold family vacation way. But, despite the cancer being metastatic, Carissa is continuing her "wicked smart" ways, demonstrating it by openly blogging (I prefer to call it screenwriting) how incredible and courageous she really is. Her writing is exquisite. Spielberg or Stallone can only wish they wrote this well. But it’s not the fact she is funny, honest, bad-ass (her words) or descriptive … it’s that she’s openly writing in the first place. Like Jillianne, Carissa is teaching. She’s teaching anyone - young girls, young boys, old girls, old boys - that life isn’t about letting go, it’s simply about defining the word ‘go’. She could have cowered. She could have curled up into the fetal position and given up. She could have chosen to be a Brian Wilson or Howard Hughes recluse, but no. She didn’t. She’s bad-ass. She’s a teacher and a communicator. You want real irony? I now live in Victoria (where Pete wasn’t allowed to work from, back in 2006) and I still haven’t seen Carissa in the three years I’ve lived in Victoria. Ok, I spend a lot of time in cities other than Victoria — and have seen Carissa in Vancouver — but c’mon, like with Jillianne, what kind of ‘connection’ am I really? In Summary Albert Einstein once said: There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Jillianne and Carissa, you both are Victoria miracles. I wish you could meet one another. Everything you do is miraculous. I’m so proud to know you — even as a connection — and am deeply moved by how incredible and courageous you are treating your respective situations. My goats will know your story, rest assured. For you, the reader, please consider visiting and reading their blogs (Jillianne and Carissa) from the very first entries, and drown yourself in their incredible, courageous teachings. You won’t regret it. Clearly, they don’t mind teaching. You shouldn’t mind learning. Dan's Related Posts:It’s About Leadership: Ryder Hesjedal & the Giro d’Italia WinIn Honour of Ada LovelaceIs Facebook a Narcissistic Walled Garden?When Life Flashes Before Your EyesOur Three Young Children Blog … Here’s Why