Aaron, the world truly is flat. We met when you spoke in Cayman last year, and (as with many reading and commenting on this article), I nodded as I read your sources and the companies you referenced. Loving what you and the team have and are developing. I believe you are absolutely on the right track !

In addition, this is a fast evolving space and I love that you are choosing to be highly open with your work. We are moving into an era of abundant collaboration and open architecture and away from “command and control” .

I said you are absolutely on the right track, let me explain a little why. For the past several years I have travelled what feels almost non-stop, working with colleagues in Shirlaws and with clients. Over a year ago I started asking business owners and CEOs a “mini-interview” around their strategic planning process. I’d seen patterns that the rate of change in the world and in business was not only faster, but continuing to accelerate, and signs were everywhere to me that the models used to run business were breaking down. My philosophy on this (from experience and now research) is for another day, but the survey boiled down to this question : “how long, hand on heart, from the launch of your strategic plan into your business, before it isn’t worth the paper it is written on.” The mean answer ? Nine months.

Again and again, I watched CEOs and Business Owners answer the question and their heads dropped. The tools and structures they had used their whole careers are no longer giving their people the certainty, structure and stability they need in order to perform. Leading with outdated tools and methods in a VUVA world leaves leaders feeling frustrated and ineffective.

So, you are absolutely on the right lines focussing on Culture. Systemising Culture in a way that is agile, flexible, and, most important, INTEGRATED into every process and strategy in the business… this is what CEOs can now have to bring that sustainable foundation to their business.

In Shirlaws we have been working on this now for several years into what we call a CIS (Culture Integration System), and we’d now love to look at collaborations globally.

I’d have emailed you directly on this, but chose to post a comment, as hey, we too are open to collaboration and bringing this forward into the world more and more !