The problem with STAKEHOLDER CAPITALISM remains, in my interpretation, primarily ontological.
What does that mean? It means that when we “see the world” as a fragmented array of constituents who lay normative claims on the economy, or an Organisation, or the State, we quickly forget that such a perspective is necessarily incomplete.

We have looked everywhere — the infamous ‘homo economicus’ has gone missing like Ötzi the Iceman! This abstract model of men who act and decide solely based on rational calculation of benefits and costs, and who are exclusively guided by self-interest, or even greed and guile, exists mostly in the heads of economists (who, by the way, are 80% male!) and corporate finance departments...

Imagine a society where people interact with trust, solidarity and fraternity. Where welfare is not measured in terms of GDP, but lived in terms of public happiness. Where the economy is virtuous and markets aim at shared prosperity through mutual exchange and generous reciprocity. Where organisations are, first and foremost, positive agents of societal change — creating communities, not commodities. And where work is centred on the integral development of each person, not solely on products…

Undoubtedly, Freedom is a precious gift. Yet, at the same time we must not reify freedom. Especially libertarians have a tendency to worship individual freedom above all else.

It seems that many of our current conversations about organizational and individual #transformation and #leadership have started to take undue and dangerous shortcuts to purport simplistic slogans and recipes, rather than promote deeper inquiry...

Why do we have psychological risks in the workplace in the first place? Most of the psychological risk exists simply because organisation are not an interaction between robots, but an encounter between human beings. Risk is there because employees are not just resources to be molded and disciplined, but subjects of action and responsibility. So, why do we need safety? Here things get interesting.

Interview New Work, Agile, Teal – there are many initiatives for a new future of work. Otti Vogt, until recently COO and Chief Transformation Officer C&G at ING, and Prof. Dr. Antoinette Weibel from the University of St. Gallen explain in this interview why these have not yet achieved broad transformational power and how things could be improved.

Since the publication of Frederic Laloux's Reinventing Organizations in 2014, "Teal" has become a hopeful utopia for its passionate followers in the global future-of-work community. Seven years later many find their dreams shattered, as the book’s revolutionary vision rests on patchy premises.

Transcript of my marginally updated presentation on the evolution of Agile learning organisations, with more details on Performance Management and OKRs — supporting a stimulating dialogue and knowledge exchange with the executive Leaders of a world-leading agile engineering and technology company

By Otti Vogt, originally delivered at the first annual Teal Around the World online conference July 2020.
Uniting Leaders to Craft the Organizations of the Future

Antoinette has written a blog on OKRs to show how even modern performance management can lead to dehumanization. In a nutshell: individual level OKRs prevent reflection and incubation plus when pitched overambitious (as suggested) can be linked to gaming and unethical behavior. But even OKRs on the collective level need to be designed carefully as competition between teams can also undermine the contribution to the common good.

In a well-read publication Antoinette together with Bård Kuvaas, Robert Buch, Anders Dysvik and Christina G.L. have shown based on three studies that extrinsic motivation (made salient through incentive pay) is negatively related to work performance and commitment but positively to burnout and work-family conflict.

In a wrap-up of her big (and quite frigthening) research project Antoinette explains the pittfalls of the rising datafication in companies.

Together with her co-authors and project partners Antoinette identifies an important challenge arising from the efficiency-driven logic of algorithm-based HR decision-making, namely that it may shift the delicate balance between employees’ personal integrity and compliance more in the direction of compliance. The authors suggest that critical data literacy, ethical awareness, the use of participatory design methods, and private regulatory regimes within civil society can help overcome these challenges.

Once upon a time, around 1989, the righteous cavaliers of capitalism trounced the evil communist forces and freed the beautiful Princess of Liberty! “Mankind had reached perfection, thanks to the invisible hand and relentless greed”. Henceforth, neocapitalism ruled with precious splendour and all people shall be living (read: consuming) as mini capitalists happily ever after… WRRRRRRRRONG!!

Chances are that someone has gifted you one of those multi-coloured, slogan-rich “airport” management books that often come with “washing lists” of highly critical characteristics, or secret “power traits”, of successful leaders...

I will argue that Leadership is not about the leader, nor his ladder, nor the new direction, nor the mindset, and not even about “bringing your people with you” to embrace the new (your!) course. It’s not even about the narrative itself: it’s about what is invisible in the picture. Good leadership is about transforming an organisational capacity “to become” its own best future.In other words, and to stay with the image, it is mostly about the “pointing of the finger”...

In this ever more uncertain and dangerous world, where traditional values and communities are being eroded, and external change is constant… or so the story went… we can only truly rely upon ourselves. Hence, to master the rugged seas of postmodern anxiety and realise “our best self” we have to embark on a quest for authenticity. Successful living means to connect to our very “essence” and live in accordance with our “soul”. Of course, most of this is fiction…

Have you ever noticed that those few managers and leaders who earnestly seek to develop themselves at some stage get frustrated, give up and leave? In spite of everybody crying out for “agile” and “empowering” and “responsible” leaders? I will suggest the challenge is systemic: the maturity of an organisation can never transcend the maturity of their leaders… and its teams.

“Management is not about managing people, but about helping people become entrepreneurs”. Is that true? And whilst compelling, what exactly does this mean? With all the hype about entrepreneurship it might indeed come as a surprise that the role of “entrepreneurs” has been far from unequivocal during the last two centuries...

My message to anyone who wants to be a CEO or business leader is: there is a difference between change and adaptiveness. And between being adaptive and being good. And you’d better understand that.

The truth is: what we lack is not CEOs — we have plenty. What we lack is true leadership — people who have wisdom, maturity and moral character to enable our organisations to innovate and thrive, on behalf of and embedded in the ecosystem.

By Otti Vogt (Part of a reflection on System Psychodynamics for INSEAD) and originally published on medium.com/@otti.vogt
The Urgent Case for A Global Leadership Iconoclasm

Let me be clear: we are all afraid. Yet, fear shall never come in the way of courageously doing what is right. Let us not speak of darker days: let us speak of sterner days. This is the hour to walk together on a journey from fear and isolation to greater humanity and deeper healing, to make sure we come out of the crisis more resilient and more united, and certainly a bit wiser about what truly matters in life.

A Passionate Plaidoyer For Our “Right to Retire” and Reinvent Ourselves Every 10 years