[Music]
we were standing in the shadows outside
the entrance to a long dark twisting
tunnel often the day in the Lithuanian
capital of Vilnius off in the distance I
could see the Parliament Buildings but
in front of us were a group of guards
they were wearing or they were with the
Lithuanian national defense volunteer
forces they were wearing uniforms that
looked like something that we would buy
in a costume shop but their faces had a
sense of commitment on them that had
been years in the making and was not
fleeting I realized that the tunnel that
we were in front was being used to wispy
‘pl safely underneath the barricades in
and out of the Parliament Buildings and
we were about to enter this was July of
1991 I was 18 years old the Lithuanian
people had declared to the Soviets that
they wanted independence
this declaration struck at the
foundation of the principles of the
Soviet Union and was part of the forces
that propelled this country the region
and the whole world into a time of
revolutionary change I was there with a
group of Canadian leaders asking the
question of how higher education could
be rethought after the collapse of the
social and political fabrics of Soviet
society being in this emerging
revolutionary time sparked a question
and me one that I want to ask you here
today it’s a question of how we conduct
ourselves in moments of revolution it’s
a question about people and purpose
whether we recognize it or not I think
we we are all in a time of revolutionary
change right now this revolutionary
change has been years in the making and
impacts us all and some have labelled it
the fourth Industrial Revolution a time
when the physical biological and digital
are blurring as I entered that tunnel
and a time of uncertainty in the past we
all are enter entering our own tunnel
now we stand in the shadows outside we
duck as we enter we wonder where it will
take us we wonder what role will
play as we navigate its twists and turns
but we know that the choices that we’re
going to make now will impact our future
if you’re like me your relationships
your work your organizations are being
reimagined under the weight of the
revolutionary technological and
communication change the way that we
work and engage now would be
unrecognizable to our grant
great-grandparents as we look down the
road and this quite slight twists and
turns of this time I’m convinced that
this is our revolution and lift the way
any other revolution was obvious the
signs were everywhere the sides were
clear the Soviets had their tanks and
their guns the citizens had their
flowers and their songs which side of
the revolution are we on to answer that
question we can ask a question what are
people for it’s an unusual question we
don’t ask it often maybe try it at a
family gathering or a team meeting you
might get silence you might get a whole
range of different answers but the
reason why I think we find it’s
intriguing is that it’s both a difficult
question to answer but it also makes it
forces us to think about what it means
seven months prior to that
July day the streets around the Capitol
looked very different the the boiling
the the concern for independence had
come to a boil the Soviets were losing
patience with their wayward Republic and
they were starting to think maybe they
had let things get too far so in January
of that year over three days the Soviet
troops decided to stand the tide tanks
rolled into the city but the people
didn’t leave and as a result 14 people
were killed and seven hundred and two
were injured so I recall talking to
people at the time about their
experience in that confrontation with
Soviet troops and they talked about
their sort of cobbled together time how
they how they kept a persistent vigil of
people outside of the parliament
buildings busing them from every town
and village
because they wanted to make sure that
the Soviets recognized that every lift
waiting was willing to stand in front of
the tanks and the guns what caused the
Athenians to be motivated to take such
action what grand purpose was behind
their thinking something tells me it
wasn’t something that came out of a
start with why workshop led by a
management consultant I’m embarrassed to
say that that might be what I would
suggest start with why was pioneered by
simon Sinek and is a powerful tool for
helping organizations and teams reach
their goals when I first came across it
I was amazed at the way you could take
all of those activities around a deep
purpose to get results but in the 1990s
the the Lithuanian the Lutheran people
didn’t simply discover their purpose it
had been swirling under the surface of
their society for decades they didn’t
have workshops or breakout sessions so
what was behind that motivation that
that they experienced and as an 18 year
old has struck me that they were
motivated out of a care for one another
if you would have asked them what people
were for they probably all would have
had different answers but they probably
all would have said not for this life of
oppression not for feeling suspicious of
all of our neighbors not for being in
fear for our family or concern for the
consequences of an unorthodox idea they
were motivated out of a care for one
another in our fourth Industrial
Revolution we don’t have tanks and guns
but we have a similar sense of unease
I’m not the eighteen-year-old kid
anymore but the echoes of that listening
experience experience and the tensions
are still with me I have the opportunity
with my company domain 7 to work on
organizational transformation but there
are times with it where I just have this
sense of unease in my stomach about this
path that we’re all on in this
revolution so what is the source of that
I think it’s that I see as business
leaders were too quick to treat the
people and relationships that we have is
dispensable we see people as a pathway
years ago I was working with a colleague
on a two-day facilitation purpose
facilitation we are trying to help an
organization connect the activities that
they had to their core purpose we are
finishing our second hard-fought day of
outcomes and the the the meeting took a
turn for the worst frankly the team
leader decided to announce to the room
that this that the organization is was
in a way worse state than everyone
thought he essentially said if this
purpose workshop doesn’t pay off we’re
all out of a job the air was sucked out
of the room everyone in that room
instantly rethought of those last two
days and and looked at it in a new light
what they have thought as an opportunity
to explore purpose and outcome now
looked like a quick fix so in that
moment I read I saw desperation turn
into threats rather than togetherness I
thought I saw a purpose used as a
vehicle for payoff at the expense of
others and it made me wonder are there
times when we’re using purpose
facilitation merely as a means of
empire-building
what sides am i behind the tanks of
today or the flowers of today I thought
I was creating a bright future but maybe
it’s a dim one I thought I was using my
purpose facilitation for good don’t get
me wrong start with why is a powerful
tool in this revolution many
organizations would be much worth worse
off with it than they are today but if
we treat people if we’re not treating people
we were standing in the shadows outside
the entrance to a long dark twisting
tunnel often the day in the Lithuanian
capital of Vilnius off in the distance I
could see the Parliament Buildings but
in front of us were a group of guards
they were wearing or they were with the
Lithuanian national defense volunteer
forces they were wearing uniforms that
looked like something that we would buy
in a costume shop but their faces had a
sense of commitment on them that had
been years in the making and was not
fleeting I realized that the tunnel that
we were in front was being used to wispy
‘pl safely underneath the barricades in
and out of the Parliament Buildings and
we were about to enter this was July of
1991 I was 18 years old the Lithuanian
people had declared to the Soviets that
they wanted independence
this declaration struck at the
foundation of the principles of the
Soviet Union and was part of the forces
that propelled this country the region
and the whole world into a time of
revolutionary change I was there with a
group of Canadian leaders asking the
question of how higher education could
be rethought after the collapse of the
social and political fabrics of Soviet
society being in this emerging
revolutionary time sparked a question
and me one that I want to ask you here
today it’s a question of how we conduct
ourselves in moments of revolution it’s
a question about people and purpose
whether we recognize it or not I think
we we are all in a time of revolutionary
change right now this revolutionary
change has been years in the making and
impacts us all and some have labelled it
the fourth Industrial Revolution a time
when the physical biological and digital
are blurring as I entered that tunnel
and a time of uncertainty in the past we
all are enter entering our own tunnel
now we stand in the shadows outside we
duck as we enter we wonder where it will
take us we wonder what role will
play as we navigate its twists and turns
but we know that the choices that we’re
going to make now will impact our future
if you’re like me your relationships
your work your organizations are being
reimagined under the weight of the
revolutionary technological and
communication change the way that we
work and engage now would be
unrecognizable to our grant
great-grandparents as we look down the
road and this quite slight twists and
turns of this time I’m convinced that
this is our revolution and lift the way
any other revolution was obvious the
signs were everywhere the sides were
clear the Soviets had their tanks and
their guns the citizens had their
flowers and their songs which side of
the revolution are we on to answer that
question we can ask a question what are
people for it’s an unusual question we
don’t ask it often maybe try it at a
family gathering or a team meeting you
might get silence you might get a whole
range of different answers but the
reason why I think we find it’s
intriguing is that it’s both a difficult
question to answer but it also makes it
forces us to think about what it means
seven months prior to that
July day the streets around the Capitol
looked very different the the boiling
the the concern for independence had
come to a boil the Soviets were losing
patience with their wayward Republic and
they were starting to think maybe they
had let things get too far so in January
of that year over three days the Soviet
troops decided to stand the tide tanks
rolled into the city but the people
didn’t leave and as a result 14 people
were killed and seven hundred and two
were injured so I recall talking to
people at the time about their
experience in that confrontation with
Soviet troops and they talked about
their sort of cobbled together time how
they how they kept a persistent vigil of
people outside of the parliament
buildings busing them from every town
and village
because they wanted to make sure that
the Soviets recognized that every lift
waiting was willing to stand in front of
the tanks and the guns what caused the
Athenians to be motivated to take such
action what grand purpose was behind
their thinking something tells me it
wasn’t something that came out of a
start with why workshop led by a
management consultant I’m embarrassed to
say that that might be what I would
suggest start with why was pioneered by
simon Sinek and is a powerful tool for
helping organizations and teams reach
their goals when I first came across it
I was amazed at the way you could take
all of those activities around a deep
purpose to get results but in the 1990s
the the Lithuanian the Lutheran people
didn’t simply discover their purpose it
had been swirling under the surface of
their society for decades they didn’t
have workshops or breakout sessions so
what was behind that motivation that
that they experienced and as an 18 year
old has struck me that they were
motivated out of a care for one another
if you would have asked them what people
were for they probably all would have
had different answers but they probably
all would have said not for this life of
oppression not for feeling suspicious of
all of our neighbors not for being in
fear for our family or concern for the
consequences of an unorthodox idea they
were motivated out of a care for one
another in our fourth Industrial
Revolution we don’t have tanks and guns
but we have a similar sense of unease
I’m not the eighteen-year-old kid
anymore but the echoes of that listening
experience experience and the tensions
are still with me I have the opportunity
with my company domain 7 to work on
organizational transformation but there
are times with it where I just have this
sense of unease in my stomach about this
path that we’re all on in this
revolution so what is the source of that
I think it’s that I see as business
leaders were too quick to treat the
people and relationships that we have is
dispensable we see people as a pathway
years ago I was working with a colleague
on a two-day facilitation purpose
facilitation we are trying to help an
organization connect the activities that
they had to their core purpose we are
finishing our second hard-fought day of
outcomes and the the the meeting took a
turn for the worst frankly the team
leader decided to announce to the room
that this that the organization is was
in a way worse state than everyone
thought he essentially said if this
purpose workshop doesn’t pay off we’re
all out of a job the air was sucked out
of the room everyone in that room
instantly rethought of those last two
days and and looked at it in a new light
what they have thought as an opportunity
to explore purpose and outcome now
looked like a quick fix so in that
moment I read I saw desperation turn
into threats rather than togetherness I
thought I saw a purpose used as a
vehicle for payoff at the expense of
others and it made me wonder are there
times when we’re using purpose
facilitation merely as a means of
empire-building
what sides am i behind the tanks of
today or the flowers of today I thought
I was creating a bright future but maybe
it’s a dim one I thought I was using my
purpose facilitation for good don’t get
me wrong start with why is a powerful
tool in this revolution many
organizations would be much worth worse
off with it than they are today but if
we treat people if we’re not treating people
Please follow and like us: