Heroes

I've been marathoning through "Heroes" - the TV series - you can stream it on Netflix. Really cool. It's the way to go - watching a series without commercials and back-to-back. Saves time, great stories.

Anyway, this series is about people who are genetically different... I mean, we're all genetically different, but the idea is that mutations are occurring and while most mutations are harmful to the human species, some (a rare few) are positive mutations. In the series, the characters struggle to accept who they are while pulling together to save the world. Pretty cool.

Bringing this back to organizational theory, the evolution school of thought would posit that people should be free to use their talents, and that, using the metaphor of organizations as organisms, or meta-organisms, as leaders we should provide experiences for people to display their talents. In practice, this means sending people to conferences, apprenticeships, allowing people to try out new ideas in new situations.

Think of business like a petri dish. Drop one chemical in one solution, nothing happens. Drop it in another, it springs to life. The people who work for you may not even know what they are capable of becoming. As a leader, help them to find their way.