Swarm Leadership

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How

we change

the world

together!

Welcome to our Open Source lectures. In these lectures we'd like to give you in keys towards a professional life that brings synergy between who you are and what the world needs right now. Our lectures are all about ideas for action.

All our lectures are free to read, distribute and share non commercially, as long as you identify us as the original creators. If you want to know more about the school, wish to support us or our students then visit www.knowmads.nl

Floris Koot

Knowmads Educator

Floris studied history for a while, became a bachelor in drama, immerged himself in integral psychology. He went on to innovate education and impro theatre. He hosts and designs cocreative business events and processes. He contributes to the Dutch version of TED, StandUpInspiration. He combines being a social innovator, philosopher, educator, artist and big group facilitator.

Knowmads Lectures

Discover the world and yourself. Connect to what is. Play with what is possible. Try the impossible.

Introduction

"If in more than 1500 cities people gather under the banner of "Occupy", than one can speak of a successful movement. It gives the feeling of a lot of general agreement. And all that without formal leaders, without old fashioned top-down organisation, without hard ICT and communication infrastructure. In no time there were websites who give structured information on what is going on where."

Sanne Roemen1

How come Swarm Leadership is the hot thing for the future? What can we learn from bees and ants? What does our human intelligence add to it? What has Internet to do with it? What are its key principles? Can you make a difference with it or in it?

With the Arabic Spring and Occupy a new wind has become visible. It has been there all along, but now we know it's there, we have started to make consciously use of it and trust it.

This is a radical and wild time. We are discovering how to organise ourselves as swarms. And this may change the face of politics, organisations and communities forever.

In this action lecture you'll find out the principles behind Swarming and what this could mean for you and the world you live in. And how you can become part of positive swarms and contribute effectively to them.

Floris Koot 2011

1 Translated from Dutch, Sanne Roemen is a social media and community building expert in the Netherlands

Why the Swarm

"If the King is Sick, the Land is Sick, and when the Land is Sick, the King is Sick."

For ages we thought that leaders were a different kind of people. People standing above us. Indeed we can place them there, and if we then adore them or say yes to every whim, we help them to go crazy. Power corrupts. We have lived for ages on the Ape Rocks, where Alpha males seemed to be the dominant species. And we act like times, conditions and reality even still works like that. No longer so.

An Ape Rock works with say perhaps even up to 50 apes. I don't know, but I do know that when many Ape rocks intermingle emergence as a deciding pattern is much stronger. When we have a choice and influence each other the South African understanding of self become more true: I am because we are. Ubuntu they call this. We are together

and we are interconnected. Each of my actions have been influenced by others, and is influencing people around me. Together we weave the pattern of reality. Leadership is no longer a man above deciding. It has become up to all of us. And we can act on this too. The tools, insights and wisdom to do so is emerging throughout the world. We are the world ;-)

That means we a co-responsible for everything around us too.

Let's discover how to deal with that and work with it. We all are King and the Land is as Sick as we are.

Into the Swarm

"What is not good for the Swarm is not good for the Bee."

Marcus Aurelius

And suddenly the word Swarm turned hot. About time.

I've been working with swarm leadership for a while. I've experienced the principles at work around me and I've applied them. I worked with swarm leadership in theatre, dance, networks, organisations and gaming. I became interested in the phenomenon when I trained improvisation groups. I wondered: Would it be possible to have 30 or more people walk on stage at the same time and have them improvising a show from scratch? What kind of dynamics, tools and personal attention would they need to make it possible.

Walk with me, as we discover the principles and how they apply to theatre, internet, management and global politics.

What is a Swarm?

A Swarm can be a spontaneous movement, an informal network, an organisation with unclear boundaries or a cultural change adopted by many. It can be a tribe, a (protest) movement and perhaps even all supporters of one idea. All of

the members work together in very diverse ways to attain their shared ideal(s). The success of the whole is seen as the result of the combined passion, commitment and willingness of its members.

Swarm Leadership

Whenever there is a Swarm and someone influences it, I call this Swarm Leadership. You don't have to be aware you lead. The Swarm does not have to be aware. But you have an influence and because of it, the Swarm changes course or colour, new ideas are integrated and old ones pushed out.

The key is that you consciously play a contributing role within the Swarm. Pick a role it needs, whether anyone else notices or not. Some people may play bigger roles, have more influence than others. They may be nodes in the system of have more ideas or are just more truthful or pleasant to follow. You can develop yourself and your participation, but not enforce Swarm Leadership. Swarm leadership is therefore both a personal attitude of responsibility and a leadership role within a movement, tribe or network that you happen to have.

The Swarm Leadership Paradox

Now leading a swarm is a paradox. There