The Geo-innovator’s Manifesto
Unofficial version (living document)
In 2018, I had the privilege of being the first Canadian to speak at the GIS Managers’ Summit (GISMOS) — Esri User Conference in San Diego. I poured my heart and years of angst into the presentation. Based on the feedback, the hard work paid off. I nailed 106 slides in 52 minutes — a personal record.
Woven throughout my talk were 25 axioms. I tried to wrap these into a nice Manifesto bow starting August 26th, 2018. I wrote a short paragraph explaining Axiom 1 and that’s as far as I got. I waited for the perfect time to detail the remaining 24. Today, almost two years later, I realized this may never come. There’s always something else that needs to get done, with Slimgim, Mass Maturity, at home or from the comfort of my couch with a pizza box on my lap.
So instead of waiting for another two years, I’m just dumping the Axioms from the presentation onto this medium. This might make it easier to get them all written out. Slowly. Eventually. Maybe?
Anyhow, here’s the 25 Axioms of the 2018 Geo-innovator’s Manifesto. No adjustments to reflect the current state.
25 Axioms
#1 Just because we get it doesn’t mean they are ready to.
#2 Going digital doesn’t mean you’re improving.
#3 The easy road is the wrong road (so take the hard one).
#4 Adversity is your fuel. Use it + knowledge for the hard road.
#5 Split your personal brand from your work. Feed & nurture it.
#6 Go out then in! (Use external successes to drive expertise back in till they ‘get it’)
#7 People suck* ! (*except when they don’t).
#8 We must orchestrate the glue (psst because we know spatial, it gives us edge).
#9 GIS is cheese. Bring them cheese. Show them how. Feed them quality ingredients. Let them make their own.
#10 Experiment, learn, do, show … grow!
#11 GIS as we know it is dead. Get it? Adapt or move on!
#12 Culture is a b!tch to change. A b!tch. Really.
#13 Enterprise means doing something “Significant” aka Deep AND broad AND ahead of the curve.
#14 Enterprise is supported by healthy culture, one of getting-it-ness, one of doing.
#15 Simply treat Enterprise as a target that you’ll continually strive for !
#16 Measure. Be quick. Be practical.
#17 Without the flip your Enterprise is toast.
#18 Use the power of “AND”. Choose quick wins AND align to foundational maturity efforts. (otherwise, it’s lipstick on a pig)
#19 Use 3 E’s on quick wins. Empathy. Experiments. Evidence. (From Moves the Needle)
#20 Use measures as your armor & your weapon (and to put you at ease).
#21 Kill GIS in your minds.
#22 Kill command & control.
#23 It’s all about relationships. Keep your network warm!
#24 Help each other DO something SIGNIFICANT!
#25 Looks matter! Get creative or hire a graphic designer.
Axiom 1
Just because we get it doesn’t mean they are ready to.
Heed this warning. Even though you’ve met your professional obligation by continually learning to maintain a current and practiced level of expertise, don’t expect those above you or those you serve understand what the new ways of spatial intelligence & Enterprise are.
In change adverse environments you can expect varying degrees of resistance to change, the most sinister of which is an outdated understanding or digital illiteracy masked by the HIPPO or Glitterati who confidently yet clue-lessly speaking of our industry. This manifests itself in many ways but with the same result; your job is to lead change but the organizations you work for just flat out don’t get it, put on the facade that they do or worse, have false prophets distracting and derailing your transformation effort.
You get it but they aren’t ready to so clobber them with awareness. Measure maturity then try to get them to look at the report card. Shake things up but be prepared, it only takes 1 or 2 to derail your Enterprise.
Axiom 2
Going digital doesn’t mean you’re improving.
You’re dropping digital into the mix. Working hard to implement solutions that eliminate pain points and solve problems.
Or not. Maybe you’re just buying into the next shiny technology but failing to build the core capabilities required to support it. Maybe your digital effort puts a new coat of pain on a crap process or with the expectation that those involved in the implementation have the digital and data literacy required to take full advantage of the technology to help drive a true business transformation. You’re assumptions are: Leadership will champion; Staff will subscribe to the new way; Data will be maintained; Everyone will get it and love it.
Problem? Check your assumptions at the door. Often times, going digital is nothing more than lipstick on a pig.
Axiom 3
The easy road is the wrong road (so take the hard one).
Finding the easiest path will make you think you’re getting things done but only for the short-term and often at the cost of a deeper broader and more important change.
To transform your organization with location data, take the hard road. Bring to light the deep seeded problems, those people in the way, fixed mindsets, the technical debt, the legacy and the baggage.
The job is to get around the problems. At the end of the hard road is success, proper data management practices, a changed mindset and a better aligned organization and stronger enterprise.
An example of the easy road is the natural tendency to try to win people over. Tolerant cooperation is easy. Facing realities and then taking the long hard road around organizational roadblocks is often the only way to push a change along. Um, what? Isn’t this contrary to popular opinion? Not really. Watch this video from John Kotter on resistance to change.
Axiom 4
Adversity is your fuel. Use it + knowledge for the hard road.
Now, let’s face it. Some douchebag is going to get in your way. I know you know what I’m talking about (you just watched Kotter’s video above). You’ve already been there (twice this week already).
Maybe it’s a small crew or a large gaggle of them who will leap well out of their lane (or cart path) to obstruct the thing you are doing. Worse, it may be top leaders flip flopping like invasive species of fish out of water, supporting your efforts with cycles of start — stop — oh, I get it — so exciting — um, hold on now — it’s not perfect yet — why are we doing this again?
Delay, deflect, defer, dilute, destroy. Flip flop flap. Watch out, it’s a change management trap.
As a Geospatial leader and innovator, your job is not really about the geo and more about driving change. The job is tough and you’ll burn out if you aren’t careful. Fact: Most change agents don’t survive their own change.
There’s a whack of adversity in what we do. The transformation is slow and painful while the organization thinks it’s easy and ships with a manual. What we do is disruptive. It causes friction. That’s the job. Recognize that you’re creating creative tension and use it as a super power. Show target state and be open about how sh!t things currently are (diplomatically of course). Things will heat up and then you’ll likely hit the wall and come crashing down.
What do I think you should do with this adversity?
Chew it for awhile. Really taste it. Stew on it. Get angry AF. Lose your sh!t. Tap your wisdom. Scheme like a MF. Plot revenge, maybe a better way to leverage creative tension, and then wait for it….
insights.
Here is what I tell my teens when they’ve been kicked in the face when trying to do the right thing. They’re scared and confused — they shout “ffs, why don’t they get it Dad?!” My response? Eat the adversity, digest it and never ever blow it off or supress it. There’s magic that comes from processing it and turning it around in their minds for awhile (but not obsessively forever)— the insights will power creative ways to overcome the challenge (or to just cope with it).
This adversity will fuel a deeper understanding of what the deep seeded problems are (often mindset and culture) when you’re willing to let it steep for awhile like a strong tea. It takes time. During that time, give yourself credit. You got really close to making a significant change.
So Axiom 4 is — take your frustration, use it as energy and fuel so you can get up, brush yourself off and then work that better way to move forward again, over or around the obstacle. The rejection, flop, betrayal, stall, the friction are signs you’re on the right road, the hard road. You can use adversity and the new insights that came from it to get up and punch today in the face … hard.
Axiom 5
Split your personal brand from your work. Feed & nurture it.
coming soon
