in a world where technology has become
so pervasive in our lives never before
has transparent and raw humanity become
so vital in business the pressure for
organizations to provide an ever-fixed
mark a beacon if you will for their
people and their stakeholders has become
an essential prerequisite in business
but for leaders of such organizations
how do they have the confidence to know
that their light is guiding their people
away from the rocks
rather than towards them over the past
decade we’ve seen a dramatic shift in
power in organizations leaders are
challenged to provide their people with
more autonomy and interdependence we see
social media shining a spotlight in
hierarchical and top-down command and
control type practices and lack of
transparency in policy and power in
other aspects of organizations we see
people collaborating more and crying out
to have more involvement and
contribution in the design and of
products and services and as a result
we’ve seen co-creation transform the way
organizations provide value and create
value for their stakeholders but one of
the most significant shifts that I want
to talk about is the shift from
traditional campaigns which are very
much
engineered and packaged with a very
clear beginning middle and end point and
the nature of movements which spark and
flourish and have almost a life of their
own being Purpose Driven and having a
clearly articulated purpose in your
business has become such a vital aspect
of how people maintain relevance in
society and we see purpose as providing
a very clear distinction between the
types of products or services businesses
provide and whether or not companies
whether or not people will actually buy
from them without a clear purpose in
your life your work doesn’t have much
meaning and it’s the difference between
well having strategic intent by giving
that practical application and higher
purpose creates alignment between those
the problem is changing organizations
today is it is very top-down in nature
and in essence it is done to people more
than 70% of organizational
transformations fail and in my work I
ask the question why is that so why do
more than 87% of leaders and managers
all around the world say that culture
and engagement is critical or urgent the
reason is a lack of clear purpose change
is done to people the way it is managed
and rolled out creates fear stress and
inertia people are not involved in the
process and it got me thinking about
what does it really take to engage
stakeholders to create value and drive
organizations successfully into the
future I realize that it can’t be
top-down it has to be a full strategy in
my two decades of working at the
forefront of digital innovation in
global advertising agencies I saw the
launch of hundreds of campaigns that
were perfectly crafted perfectly
designed with an end user in mind
perfectly structured in to appeal to a
specific audience yet they lacked vital
human connection and context it got me
thinking about the amount of money that
was invested into into creating these
campaigns the demographic profiling the
channel planning the the research the
technology all of those things that were
launched into lot launch you know we you
know with our with great gusto and the
people controlling those campaigns were
sitting in Mission Control hoping like
crazy that that campaign would reach its
intended target that’s kind of insane
when you think about it because once
that campaign is launched marketers
don’t have a crystal ball to you know
ensure that that that campaign will
reach its its intended target and it got
me thinking about movements and I’ll
tell you why because in parallel to that
content
I was getting invited to provide support
and strategy on a number of professional
and pro bono grassroots engagements like
the Alliance for climate protection Live
Earth and the United Nations World
Malaria envoy and also with the World
Wildlife Fund here in Australia to
create awareness around the Great
Barrier Reef and the mining that was
happening in the reef and I think how do
we move from a traditional campaign
model and leverage the things that cause
a movement to spark and flourish to
transform the culture the impact and the
legacy of an enterprise so I started to
think about movements and unpacked what
was actually happening in a movement so
if we see that a traditional campaign is
like a rocket that is perfectly crafted
launched and you hope that it’s going to
reach the people that you intend it to
it’s a media driven thing the difference
with the movement is its people powered
it is infused with a purpose and what it
actually does is that it’s like rain on
a pond where people connected with that
purpose create ripples so if you imagine
that our one-to-one conversations are
like ripples on a pond the more
conversations the more those ripples
converge like a movement gains power as
it spreads and so I started to think can
that be codified can what’s happening
there be codified well the truth is you
can’t codify a fire movements are filled
with passionate people
but what you can codify is the process
that makes them flourish the important
thing to consider is that people are the
catalyst in a movement it’s not about
channel planning it’s not about
statistical analysis it’s not about
demographic profiling and while all of
those things can help to mobilize a
movement they’re not the essence of a
movement movements give us something to
believe in if we look at the comparison
between campaigns and movements you can
see some very distinct things going on
this slide is from my book emergent and
it looks at the X and y of the velocity
and reach of campaigns and movements and
their sustainability over time as you
can see the pink line is a rocket it’s a
campaign perfectly crafted and launched
when the fuel runs out that is the media
Buy and the resources the rocket comes
down and there’s no awareness the
difference with a movement because it’s
people powered and its essence is
transferred from person to person the
more engagement that you can build and
more connections you can create creates
more ripples and you can see it swelling
over time now the truth is some
movements fizzle out but popular
movements that we see like me – marriage
equality and the never again gun reform
movement they are right up there and I’m
gonna unpack those today and give you an
idea as what’s driving those movements
and making them sustainable so what are
aligned with a higher purpose now I want
you to remember an irrefutable truth is
a universal value that is impossible to
disagree with and when I talked earlier
about campaigns lacking context what I
meant is that that they actually lack
the vital human story or essence they
can be there’s this static there are
moment in time they have no soul whereas
a movement enables people to identify
that higher purpose and own that truth
and then self self actualize that truth
as an extension of their own values the
earth eatable truth of the marriage
equality movement is love is love
no one can disagree with that the me to
movement the irrefutable truth now look
you know that’s morphed into many
different types of activities and and
but at the heart of that it’s saying
that sexual violence against women is
not okay and they never again movement
that’s absolutely tipping the scales on
gun reform in the United States is that
children shouldn’t lose their lives at
school these are these are truths that
are powerful and impossible to disagree
with so when you think about today’s
organizations and we see a lot of
different tensions created around their
what they stand for what we know is that
purpose driven companies attract and
retain the
talent the customers will buy from a
company where there’s a very clear
line-of-sight to human well-being and
what we’re seeing is that there’s an
even greater demand on organizations to
be absolutely transparent around what
they stand for the problem is many
leaders in these organizations don’t
have the confidence or the capability to
realize their Purpose Driven aspirations
they really don’t know where to start
and that is because the skills that
they’ve learned along the way haven’t
caught up with the world we live in and
the way people engage and the way people
want to create and the way people want
to partner with organizations they’re so
stuck in their their boxes and they
the thing about movements that is very
powerful and how I’ve helped many
clients over the years creates stronger
and more authentic engagement and
alignment with their with their
customers and their stakeholders is to
reframe context the thing about a
campaign is there’s a bit of a kind of a
care factor thing when you see an
advertising piece of advertising appear
on your desktop or on your television
and you think that’s got nothing to do
with me and immediately you can just
switch it off choose not to listen to it
watch it take it on board but the
powerful thing about an irrefutable
truth is it busts a hole through that
wall and it helps people to identify
themselves in context with that movement
so how do you think millions of people
from diverse cultures passions and
commitments can all engage around a
movement and support it it’s because of
this one thing it’s because movements
reframe context the higher purpose the
irrefutable truth enables us to see
ourselves and to surrender ourselves to
something greater than ourselves over
time I talked about the deepening of
involvement in a movement and what’s
actually going on is you’re taking
people from a one-time set of actions to
a way of living and working and being
and that’s it and that is framed around
the high purpose those actions are very
clearly yeah you know in the ice bucket
challenge let’s look about that a very
simple example of tipping bucket of ice
over your head nominate someone else to
do the next scene you’re creating the
ripple that way very very basic but very
powerful
what happened through that but beyond
that action where do you go from there
so to help a movement sustain you really
need to help people express the higher
purpose of that movement as an extension
movements utilize people as media to
ignite purpose and the science behind
what’s going on there is what I call
ripple science so while we can’t codify
the fire we can codify the process of
connection initiation and transference
that causes that ripple to expand and
what I’m talking about is one person
talking to another person saying this is
what we’re doing this is what we need to
achieve this is the purpose these are
the actions now go do it and then that
person becomes a champion for that
movement
and then they do the same thing and the
ripples start to happen connection
initiation and transference of an
irrefutable truth what this enables us
to do is create context and move from a
place of resistance and inertia where
people go ah that doesn’t really relate
to me to one of purpose driven flow
where everyone is engaged around a
common goal or goals the question we
need to ask is is there a complex social
issue or problem that intersects with
our business and for the leaders I work
with that’s the first place we start
that might be homelessness domestic
violence could be any number of things
what is that complex social issue and
how can we solve that problem through
magic for that you need to remember is
that a movement must have clear
incentives and objectives it has to have
progressive inspiration so it’s a
celebration of the nice heroic efforts
of the everyday and to know that my
small actions are contributing to
something bigger you can see the micro
of what you’re doing and the collective
impact of that macro level and most
importantly an awareness to influence
yeah
and a feeling of ownership and a sense
of of
contribution to that outcome the
question I would ask you is how do you
test fail learn and adapt on the fly how
do you learn to go from fixed outcomes
to embracing uncertainty complexity and
variation in your work to building in
feedback loops that help you help you
address these challenges as a collective
movements feel different to campaigns
and for leaders in organizations to
embrace the attributes that fuel a
movement they need to learn to manage
the tension between what is known and
and finally I want to ask what business are you really in
so pervasive in our lives never before
has transparent and raw humanity become
so vital in business the pressure for
organizations to provide an ever-fixed
mark a beacon if you will for their
people and their stakeholders has become
an essential prerequisite in business
but for leaders of such organizations
how do they have the confidence to know
that their light is guiding their people
away from the rocks
rather than towards them over the past
decade we’ve seen a dramatic shift in
power in organizations leaders are
challenged to provide their people with
more autonomy and interdependence we see
social media shining a spotlight in
hierarchical and top-down command and
control type practices and lack of
transparency in policy and power in
other aspects of organizations we see
people collaborating more and crying out
to have more involvement and
contribution in the design and of
products and services and as a result
we’ve seen co-creation transform the way
organizations provide value and create
value for their stakeholders but one of
the most significant shifts that I want
to talk about is the shift from
traditional campaigns which are very
much
engineered and packaged with a very
clear beginning middle and end point and
the nature of movements which spark and
flourish and have almost a life of their
own being Purpose Driven and having a
clearly articulated purpose in your
business has become such a vital aspect
of how people maintain relevance in
society and we see purpose as providing
a very clear distinction between the
types of products or services businesses
provide and whether or not companies
whether or not people will actually buy
from them without a clear purpose in
your life your work doesn’t have much
meaning and it’s the difference between
well having strategic intent by giving
that practical application and higher
purpose creates alignment between those
the problem is changing organizations
today is it is very top-down in nature
and in essence it is done to people more
than 70% of organizational
transformations fail and in my work I
ask the question why is that so why do
more than 87% of leaders and managers
all around the world say that culture
and engagement is critical or urgent the
reason is a lack of clear purpose change
is done to people the way it is managed
and rolled out creates fear stress and
inertia people are not involved in the
process and it got me thinking about
what does it really take to engage
stakeholders to create value and drive
organizations successfully into the
future I realize that it can’t be
top-down it has to be a full strategy in
my two decades of working at the
forefront of digital innovation in
global advertising agencies I saw the
launch of hundreds of campaigns that
were perfectly crafted perfectly
designed with an end user in mind
perfectly structured in to appeal to a
specific audience yet they lacked vital
human connection and context it got me
thinking about the amount of money that
was invested into into creating these
campaigns the demographic profiling the
channel planning the the research the
technology all of those things that were
launched into lot launch you know we you
know with our with great gusto and the
people controlling those campaigns were
sitting in Mission Control hoping like
crazy that that campaign would reach its
intended target that’s kind of insane
when you think about it because once
that campaign is launched marketers
don’t have a crystal ball to you know
ensure that that that campaign will
reach its its intended target and it got
me thinking about movements and I’ll
tell you why because in parallel to that
content
I was getting invited to provide support
and strategy on a number of professional
and pro bono grassroots engagements like
the Alliance for climate protection Live
Earth and the United Nations World
Malaria envoy and also with the World
Wildlife Fund here in Australia to
create awareness around the Great
Barrier Reef and the mining that was
happening in the reef and I think how do
we move from a traditional campaign
model and leverage the things that cause
a movement to spark and flourish to
transform the culture the impact and the
legacy of an enterprise so I started to
think about movements and unpacked what
was actually happening in a movement so
if we see that a traditional campaign is
like a rocket that is perfectly crafted
launched and you hope that it’s going to
reach the people that you intend it to
it’s a media driven thing the difference
with the movement is its people powered
it is infused with a purpose and what it
actually does is that it’s like rain on
a pond where people connected with that
purpose create ripples so if you imagine
that our one-to-one conversations are
like ripples on a pond the more
conversations the more those ripples
converge like a movement gains power as
it spreads and so I started to think can
that be codified can what’s happening
there be codified well the truth is you
can’t codify a fire movements are filled
with passionate people
but what you can codify is the process
that makes them flourish the important
thing to consider is that people are the
catalyst in a movement it’s not about
channel planning it’s not about
statistical analysis it’s not about
demographic profiling and while all of
those things can help to mobilize a
movement they’re not the essence of a
movement movements give us something to
believe in if we look at the comparison
between campaigns and movements you can
see some very distinct things going on
this slide is from my book emergent and
it looks at the X and y of the velocity
and reach of campaigns and movements and
their sustainability over time as you
can see the pink line is a rocket it’s a
campaign perfectly crafted and launched
when the fuel runs out that is the media
Buy and the resources the rocket comes
down and there’s no awareness the
difference with a movement because it’s
people powered and its essence is
transferred from person to person the
more engagement that you can build and
more connections you can create creates
more ripples and you can see it swelling
over time now the truth is some
movements fizzle out but popular
movements that we see like me – marriage
equality and the never again gun reform
movement they are right up there and I’m
gonna unpack those today and give you an
idea as what’s driving those movements
and making them sustainable so what are
aligned with a higher purpose now I want
you to remember an irrefutable truth is
a universal value that is impossible to
disagree with and when I talked earlier
about campaigns lacking context what I
meant is that that they actually lack
the vital human story or essence they
can be there’s this static there are
moment in time they have no soul whereas
a movement enables people to identify
that higher purpose and own that truth
and then self self actualize that truth
as an extension of their own values the
earth eatable truth of the marriage
equality movement is love is love
no one can disagree with that the me to
movement the irrefutable truth now look
you know that’s morphed into many
different types of activities and and
but at the heart of that it’s saying
that sexual violence against women is
not okay and they never again movement
that’s absolutely tipping the scales on
gun reform in the United States is that
children shouldn’t lose their lives at
school these are these are truths that
are powerful and impossible to disagree
with so when you think about today’s
organizations and we see a lot of
different tensions created around their
what they stand for what we know is that
purpose driven companies attract and
retain the
talent the customers will buy from a
company where there’s a very clear
line-of-sight to human well-being and
what we’re seeing is that there’s an
even greater demand on organizations to
be absolutely transparent around what
they stand for the problem is many
leaders in these organizations don’t
have the confidence or the capability to
realize their Purpose Driven aspirations
they really don’t know where to start
and that is because the skills that
they’ve learned along the way haven’t
caught up with the world we live in and
the way people engage and the way people
want to create and the way people want
to partner with organizations they’re so
stuck in their their boxes and they
the thing about movements that is very
powerful and how I’ve helped many
clients over the years creates stronger
and more authentic engagement and
alignment with their with their
customers and their stakeholders is to
reframe context the thing about a
campaign is there’s a bit of a kind of a
care factor thing when you see an
advertising piece of advertising appear
on your desktop or on your television
and you think that’s got nothing to do
with me and immediately you can just
switch it off choose not to listen to it
watch it take it on board but the
powerful thing about an irrefutable
truth is it busts a hole through that
wall and it helps people to identify
themselves in context with that movement
so how do you think millions of people
from diverse cultures passions and
commitments can all engage around a
movement and support it it’s because of
this one thing it’s because movements
reframe context the higher purpose the
irrefutable truth enables us to see
ourselves and to surrender ourselves to
something greater than ourselves over
time I talked about the deepening of
involvement in a movement and what’s
actually going on is you’re taking
people from a one-time set of actions to
a way of living and working and being
and that’s it and that is framed around
the high purpose those actions are very
clearly yeah you know in the ice bucket
challenge let’s look about that a very
simple example of tipping bucket of ice
over your head nominate someone else to
do the next scene you’re creating the
ripple that way very very basic but very
powerful
what happened through that but beyond
that action where do you go from there
so to help a movement sustain you really
need to help people express the higher
purpose of that movement as an extension
movements utilize people as media to
ignite purpose and the science behind
what’s going on there is what I call
ripple science so while we can’t codify
the fire we can codify the process of
connection initiation and transference
that causes that ripple to expand and
what I’m talking about is one person
talking to another person saying this is
what we’re doing this is what we need to
achieve this is the purpose these are
the actions now go do it and then that
person becomes a champion for that
movement
and then they do the same thing and the
ripples start to happen connection
initiation and transference of an
irrefutable truth what this enables us
to do is create context and move from a
place of resistance and inertia where
people go ah that doesn’t really relate
to me to one of purpose driven flow
where everyone is engaged around a
common goal or goals the question we
need to ask is is there a complex social
issue or problem that intersects with
our business and for the leaders I work
with that’s the first place we start
that might be homelessness domestic
violence could be any number of things
what is that complex social issue and
how can we solve that problem through
magic for that you need to remember is
that a movement must have clear
incentives and objectives it has to have
progressive inspiration so it’s a
celebration of the nice heroic efforts
of the everyday and to know that my
small actions are contributing to
something bigger you can see the micro
of what you’re doing and the collective
impact of that macro level and most
importantly an awareness to influence
yeah
and a feeling of ownership and a sense
of of
contribution to that outcome the
question I would ask you is how do you
test fail learn and adapt on the fly how
do you learn to go from fixed outcomes
to embracing uncertainty complexity and
variation in your work to building in
feedback loops that help you help you
address these challenges as a collective
movements feel different to campaigns
and for leaders in organizations to
embrace the attributes that fuel a
movement they need to learn to manage
the tension between what is known and
and finally I want to ask what business are you really in
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