I have been reading (listening to) the starfish and the spider for the last few days when walking. I never heard of it till I heard one of the interviews on the after on podcast. It feels like the Catherial and the Bazaar for the internet age, ever so relevant.
Something really got me thinking… The idea that The Catalysts sound very similar to The Firestarters?
The book identifies a set of people the authors call “catalysts”, who tend to be skilled at creating decentralized organizations. The authors list several abilities and behaviors (called “The Catalyst’s Tools”) that “catalysts” have in common, including:
- Genuine interest in others.
- Numerous loose connections, rather than a small number of close connections.
- Skill at social mapping.
- Desire to help everyone they meet.
- The ability to help people help themselves by listening and understanding, rather than giving advice (“Meet people where they are”).
- Emotional intelligence.
- Trust in others and in the decentralized network.
- Inspiration (to others).
- Tolerance for ambiguity.
- A hands-off approach. Catalysts do not interfere with, or try to control the behavior of the contributing members of the decentralized organization.
- Ability to let go. After building up a decentralized organization, catalysts move on, rather than trying to take control.
This book has some similarities to books like The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, as both identify certain sets of people who are important to change in a society or an organization, and try to define the attributes that people belonging to these sets have in common.
I think the Firestarters is next on my list, as I’m keen to see if there is cross overs or should I tweak my title to catalyst?
