#43 - ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, WHO NEEDS IT? PART 1

ISSUE #43

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. - Marie Curie

DIGITAL CITY-LIKE PLATFORM

I am working on a blueprint for a multi-marketplace platform called IkoCiti which empowers the powerless. Our ambition is to eradicate generational poverty (GenPoverty) for those willing to follow the journey from inexperienced non-producers to income-earning changemakers who lead and inspire the rebuilding of the barrios they live in. The underlying philosophy of IkoCiti is detailed in the book (to be) IkoCiti – The Final Revolution of Peoples’ Impact.

My role as founder and solopreneur is to detail the blueprint in a coherent, logical way so that others (co-founders c.s.) can not only build (code) the platform but understand the intricacies of Peoples’ Impact allowing them to improve and innovate IkoCiti continuously.

IkoCiti is a digital city-like platform with 20 districts and 60+ zones each offering specific services to a wide range of groups. Many of the districts and zones will have one global and many local versions. Social change is always local, which means – in our case – that each region (Kinshasa-East, Kingston, Curacao, or Cartagena-Norte) will be managed by a local leadership team and local co-founders.

Each regional platform – governed by a People’s Impact Deal (agreement) – operates as an autonomous enterprise structured like a franchise. Our ambition is to become a dominant, global player in the Peoples’ Impact Markets which must evolve into the mainstream approach against GenPoverty. In the future, hundreds of regional platforms will be managed by as many local teams catering to different local groups.

The obvious argument is why not build IkoCiti with fewer districts and zones (aka with fewer services)?

That is a valid thought from a logistical, operational point of view. I would like nothing less than less. But… logistics and operations are not deciding factors. The true and only goal of our venture is to build a self-propelling approach that eradicates GenPoverty, regardless of the initial investments. We need to prove and demonstrate that IkoCiti works. We need to demonstrate that the offered opportunities translate into talent pools of changemakers - supported by a substantial part of the barrio - capable of producing social progress in such a way that people feel the psychological momentum turning in their favor.

SOLUTION FIRST!

Once we get there (and we get there!) we start working on how to achieve the same impact in a profitable way without jeopardizing the impact. We need the Solution First. Just like Pharma, you need to develop a working pill, powder, or injection before you start streamlining the production process.

What I do – as a solopreneur founder – is not design the SOLUTION because that is impossible from behind a computer (especially as a total outsider). What I do is design the theoretical starting position for a Reconnaissance Mission (RECON) that will gather intel by testing the platform in real life with real people in real barrios.

The first phase of the RECON is nothing but a Minimal Viable Platform allowing us to put the money where our brains are. So, the starting position for the RECON is NOT the solution but the closest thing to the final solution. And it can only become the Solution if the approach converts into a self-propelling system. I cannot emphasize this enough. There is NO WAY that you can eradicate GenPoverty if the approach does not evolve – over time – into a self-propelling system. There is no way in hell and that is why the current approaches don’t work enough – they do not convert into self-propelling systems.

LEADERSHIP

I am the leader of IkoCiti. I will never be the Mayor – the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). As a leader, you have to make hard but fair decisions. I do not qualify as CEO. I am not good enough to run the IkoCiti platform operationally. I am a thought leader; not a managing leader. Especially because I strongly believe that the CEO should be very close to the COO and the other C-level functions. We don’t need a grand-vision CEO; we need a tactical genius who quickly maneuvers based on the incoming data & intel. She needs to run a bottom-up organization able to formulate actions based on the bottom-up flow of information. We need an experienced Platform HER/HIM.

We need a C-level team that understands that their first job is to push down as many responsibilities to the operational level and in return receive reliable information on where the platform comes up short and where it is heading in the right direction. This iteration between the small leadership team and the operational network is fundamentally crucial (aka critical success factor).

I do qualify myself as Chairman of the Board with a special mandate. The Board needs to be active on the ground level of the factory. They need to communicate directly (without intermediaries) with the Maveriqs and all the others who produce Peoples' Impact and run the factory (platform). They are the direct allies of the platform’s producing class. Powered by this intimate relationship, they collaborate with the global and local C-levels on performance, strategy, and culture.

GENERAL MOTORS, DAO, OR RENDANHEYI?

But now I am still a solopreneur founder that designs the blueprint for a future venture. So knowing the global ambitions, the structure of the organization becomes even more important. Who needs it? We need it. BADLY.

My money is NOT on a traditional (semi-authoritarian) top-down organization. Neither do I believe in some DAO-style form of collective leadership to achieve operational excellence. And operational excellence is the high bar we set in stone. No discussion possible.

What makes IkoCiti different than most companies is that we have two separate levels of production – the platform level and the Maveriqs level. The platform is the toolkit for the Maveriqs to rebuild the barrio. The quality of the output of the Maveriqs determines the survival and success of the platform. Without their adequate performance there is too little impact and without impact there is no relevance for the platform.

In other social platforms, the quality of the user-generated content does not determine their success and survival in a such direct way as in IkoCiti. (of course, structurally bad content eventually leads to mortal attrition of the user base).

IkoCiti is essentially a marketplace where the supply-side production of Peoples' Impact directly determines the inflow of money on the demand side populated by the Impact Buyers. Mediocre quality does not raise buying power. No buying power, no platform. Success is in the hands of the Maveriqs.

Which organizational structure leads to operational excellence and breeds a creative, free-spirited environment focused on Maveriqs' performance?

In part II we have to decide whether to go traditional like General Motors; go alternative like many DAOs, or find a third way out by incorporating the Rendanheyi model in some way.

THE END