Learn about the vital role of holding a purposeful vision. Hosted by Work with Source author Tom Nixon, and co-hosted by a collection of thoughtful friends.
“Brilliantly readable and very timely. The guide you need to build a purposeful business or social movement, see it grow, and keep the creative spark alive.”
- Caroline Lucas MP
My book Work with Source is available to order. Shipping from 18 Mar 2021.
Work with Source is aimed squarely at the courageous, creative and vulnerable souls who start social movements and purpose-driven businesses.
These founders know they have to get out of the way and decentralise the effort if they are to scale a collaboration, yet at the same time they sense there is an important role for them…
The three-step change process to loop your way to better ways of working and organising.
This article is an adapted exerpt from my forthcoming book Founders in Flow. Connect with me on LinkedIn for free chapters and a heads-up when it’s published.
Both startups and established initiatives need an approach to bring about change and development. The standard model of change taught at most business schools is to design a future state up-front and then roll out a top-down org change process that attempts to drag people along kicking and screaming until, hopefully, the destination is reached. If you’ve ever…
*flat is a bit of a misnomer. We mean upgrading bureaucratic, de-humanising hierarchy into a model that works.
Peak performance with full humanity
What would your organisation look like in peak performance? How about minimal bureaucracy with solid accountability; a fulfilling and human experience at work; lower costs and increased revenue by meeting customer needs faster, with less resource… and without the stress.
It’s possible. The models and practices exist. The case studies provide proof.
The hardest part is transforming your organisation.
Yet you can make it happen. And like the best case studies, you can do almost all of it yourself.
It can help…
UPDATE: Applications have now closed. However, if you are a purpose-driven founder and would like some support, I’ll try to help you find an investment level that works for you. Get in touch.
I’ve been fortunate this year to work with many wonderful clients and it’s given me an opportunity to support one purpose-driven founder, for free. Could this be you? Or can you connect me to someone who would find this useful?
Who am I?
If we’ve never met before then hello, I’m Tom. I have almost 20 years experience of the rollercoaster of being a founder.
I coach and advise other…
Use these two powers to hold you steady when everything’s falling apart, and survive whatever’s thrown at you.
Doomsday
I just got off a call with an entrepreneur whose business has been hit by an enormous curve-ball, completely out of their control. It could spell the end of the company.
Whilst situations like this can feel like a personal doomsday, it was a reminder of two immutable powers, available to everyone, all of the time.
1. There is always a next step, with and without money
Your business can become insolvent. You can personally go bankrupt. You can lose every penny and possession you have. These are facts. …
Links and resources for when you’re small or lacking cash to invest in expensive coaches and consultants, but want to challenge traditional management dogma in your organisation.
1. Re-imagining organisation development
Overall, don’t see developing your organisation as a linear design and implementation process. Instead, it’s a continuous evolution: Start by noticing where the organisation is feeling tensions or difficulties, then use the resources in this article for inspiration about different ways of working that might help. Then run small safe-to-try experiments to learn by doing. And repeat. If you do this, gradually things will improve.
2. Exploring organisational tensions and alternative practices
These decks of cards from org transformation firm…
Safiyya and I are looking for a third cofounder to join us in developing Maptio. Could this be you, or someone you know? We’re at an exciting moment for the company and we’re on a meaningful mission.
Our mission
We’re not creating a startup with a goal of being the next unicorn or to make ourselves huge sums of money for the sake of it. We’re shooting for something even bigger:
Maptio exists to help people develop progressive organisations that can realise purposeful ideas in the world.
Where we’re at
Our big-picture to-do list:
- Ship a working product — DONE!
- Prove there’s a market by…
“Money is fuel” says Simon Sinek. This is a creativity-stifling myth that needs to be debunked.
What money really is
Money is the greatest, most powerful storytelling device humans have ever created.
Money does not exist until humans tell a story that it exists. Bank notes; the money in your current account; debt; Bitcoin. None of that is money until someone says it is by projecting a story onto it.
Whether we like it or not money touches all of our lives and is woven into almost every human endeavour.
Money stories can be incredibly useful. They have…
The poignant, the bizarre and the hilarious. And a urinal. Is this the most extraordinary business event on the planet?
ONE
I’d been at Summercamp for precisely 24 hours when I was first moved to tears. It’s easy to be sceptical about ‘white saviours’ who ‘know what’s best’ for for bewildered ‘under privileged’ people. That scepticism is often justified, but Ash Perrin isn’t like that. His story wasn’t about grand development plans, but 10 years of simply bringing the universal fun of clowning to over 100,000 refugee children.
TWO
Tom Nixon
Researching and working with founders to realise big ideas and keep the startup passion forever.
