SOCIAL MEDIA - MEETINGS - SELF LEADERSHIP

The new framework of business is social media. What this means? It means that organizations benefit enormously if they start to use the logic of social media as modus operandi. This is something which we all must consider very seriously and very personally; we have to clarify to ourselves what is the logic of social media and what it means to me, and also to us as an organization.

Few definitions are in place so that we will start to talk about same issues. Firstly, certainly the logic of social media can mean a lot of different things. Here it means sharing and transparency. It means that we all always think that what is secret, what can be shared with few colleagues, what can be shared in a group and what is open (I deeply thank Esko Kilpi for making this point very succinctly in our Web for Executives program). So for instance, whenever you learn something new (which happens pretty continuously I assume) you always think about sharing. You are not working alone for yourself but you are working and thinking together with others in your organization and in your network.

Secondly I started this blog by talking about organizations but hereafter I will focus on individuals and how we as individuals choose to follow the logic of social media in our daily work in our organizations. Here the way how we choose to act in our meetings is the special topic of this blog.

Thirdly, how the issue of self leadership enters to this picture? Well, it is elementary. How we decide to act in different settings is vastly important and now the logic of social media demands that we really reflect how we play our part in organizational life and in particular in meetings.

Fourthly, I wish to add that now we are talking about meetings which could be 1-2 hour long sessions. So we will focus on those short periods where professionalism should shine (like a sun in Finnish July).

This is the background and now let us proceed to two conclusions:

1) The logic of social media (and the practical tools and gadgets) means that we can communicate all the time. So coming together in the first place is a very special event. Therefore from the perspective of self leadership you may decide to make to yourself clear how very important every meeting is.

2) In the meeting most important thing is to really think together, perhaps solve difficult problems, perhaps plan future actions or do something demanding thinking together. From the viewpoint of self leadership you must be able and willing to think together. You must be able to really share and participate. You must be willing to take risks and propose some ideas which are not ready but which could be developed further together. This kind of open participation can feel very demanding.

Perhaps the topic under discussion can be difficult to you (you may not like the topic, you may not know enough of the topic and you should know, or for some other reason the topic of the meeting may haunt you), some participants of the meeting can be particularly challenging to you for some reason, your genuine interest concerning to success of an organization can be at certain level (and therefore you utmost willingness to give your best even during this short meeting can be question mark).

If any of these elements are present in your thinking you are really facing a self leadership issue here. It is plainly evident at this point that the issue of self leadership is not a fancy theoretical concept but you are truly assessing what is your own capacity to participate and contribute. Certainly this kind of self leadership issues have been always with us but now the logic of social media, the new framework of business raises these issues to new level. They become more and more important and they become more and more transparent, no matter what our personal wishes and hopes might be.

The need for self leadership and genuine professionalism has never been more important than now in this era of  social media.

Knowledge in Business

How Do We Know What We Know

What does the concept "paramount reality of everyday life" mean? Does this concept have anything to do with those matters which we handle in business and other real life organizations? Well, a too short answer would be that it is theoretical concept and we in practice can manage nicely without thinking these kind of issues and realities any further. This stance is certainly possible, but please bear with me for a while. I propose that it could be very valuable for all of us in every organization to pause to reflect and to examine how we know what we know.


The paramount reality of everyday life means that it is typical for us to think that we see and understand how things are. Somehow things are self evident to us.  Certainly, we know that there are a lot of issues which we do not know and we are fully aware that there are all kind of matters which are totally out of our reach, eg. some technological issues and such matters. And yet, at the same time we seem to possess a very peculiar certainty - we know how things are, at least how the most relevant things are.


A way back in history philosopher Rene Descartes unraveled this puzzle mastefully. He pointed out that people always wanted more and more all kinds of things, there was, however, one thing what people tought that they had enough of that. Dare to quess what that was (is)? Yes, it was common sense. People were convinced that this part of life on their behalf was in good order.


Perhaps in that respect very little has changed. Have you, for instance, seen a person to buy a latest tabloid from a supermarket? There is no lack of certainty. He has seen, partly through his earlier readings, what is really happening in this world and what celebrities are doing and all that. He also seems to know without hesitation what kind of issues merit his attention. Yes, this is his free time and time to unwind, I grant that all. And being by myself a person who runs up and down different hills during free time I have very little gravitas to assess anyones's free time activities. Nevertheless, you may admit that we have some point here.


Just a few days ago I had pleasure to say few words to an esteemed eMBA delegation from Iceland. At some point in presentation I showed almost a similar picture as below: the end of the (typical)road. Could we claim that the eMBA studies are the end of a typical everyday attitude where we think without thinking what we think? Could it be that eMBA studies on their part give tools to decide to think what you think?




There are at leat two aspects of our thinking which we could reflect. Firstly, we could analyze how we build our tinking every day by focusing on certain issues and by leaving some other matters in the shadow. We could examine how we do that indivudually and how we construct our thinking in organizations. In very practical terms, what are the issues we talk (and even think) in our meetings? How people learn to know what is important in our organizations? How we, by ourselves,  have learned to think which issues are most important - are those issues still most crucial, do they merit to get our attention?

Secondly, we must value our thinking as most precious resourse. It is a resource which must be used very wisely. Here, David Rock and his fabulous book, Your Brain at Work, tells this message extremely powefully.

In sum, we may become much better in understanding how we know what we know. That understanding can be immensely valuable - also in practice.


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This blog builds on phenomenolocal and ethnometodological thinking and I am most greatful to several authhors and thinkers who have explored the world from this perspective. For further reading please study thinkers like: Alfred Schutz and Harold Garfinkel.