Complexity in structure enables simplicity in operations
I have been reading Incorruptible, the new book by Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup.
Subtitle: Why Good Companies Go Bad. And How Great Companies Stay Great.
It is simultaneously wonderful and slightly heartbreaking.
Wonderful because someone with such a large platform is writing Syntropic. My work of the last 12 years.
And slightly heartbreaking, because he is writing Syntropic, using different language, and sometimes the same language.
In the introduction…
If you’re building something right now, you’ll learn the principles and practices that allow you to protect what you are building for the long-term. What if I tell you that it is… a matter of design.
How we design enterprises to leave everything better is Syntropic.
In Chapter Two. Who is the bank?
‘A consistent organisational character that shaped every decision. I use the ancient Greek word ethos to describe this quality. Aristotle used it to mean the ‘habit’ or ‘character’ that defines a person.’
In Syntropic World, we call this Pattern Integrity. We teach that you must know it, guard it fiercely, and design it into the organisation’s architecture.
What science refers to as emergent intelligence, in Syntropic, we call synergy, and it requires – surprise, surprise – specific structural conditions to be met in order for it to exist. The Trust Manifesto, Synergistic Accounting, Stewardship in the cell membrane. All deliberately designed to create ecologies of synergy, where we are collectively better than we are on our own.
“Good organisational structures can amplify the group’s intelligence far beyond any individual.”
Yep. Ecologies of synergy. Agentically brilliant and collectively synergistic.
Then he describes synergy, almost taken from Buckminster Fuller’s definition. “They exhibit behaviours that emerge from their parts but can’t be predicted by studying those parts in isolation.” (Fuller said, synergy – the behaviour of the whole cannot be determined by an examination of the parts separately.)
Ries’s questions at the end of chapter two are,
Does your organisation have an ethos (Pattern Integrity), or is it drifting without one?
Does it fight for human flourishing or against it? (In Syntropic, we extend that beyond human flourishing, for what is human flourishing without all of life flourishing? Does it fight for all life flourishing would be how we say it.)
Is it creating value or extracting it? (Syntropic – zero colonisation, zero extraction to extinction, zero exploitation)
Are you shaping the ethos (Pattern Integrity) or is it shaping you? In Syntropic, the primary role of the steward of the Source Idea and its Pattern Integrity is to ensure that the Pattern Integrity is never violated.
Chapter Three is on Gravity, one of the key principles we teach.
At the end of Chapter Three, Ries quotes, “In order to build organisations that are truly strong, we need to pay special attention to the exoskeleton that separates the inside from the outside. Fortunately, there is already a discipline that specialises in the design of this most essential semipermeable membrane. (In Syntropic, we call this the cell membrane, not the exoskeleton. Because of the features of a cell membrane.) I like to think of it as the art of organisational soulcraft, designing the deep structural foundations that give the organisation strength. It’s called governance.”
This is the main body of Syntropic’s design work. Getting this threshold crossing membrane right for purpose. To do exactly as Ries says. It involves interrelational agreements, exchange and contribution protocols (Synergistic Accounting), and legal codes that ensure the Pattern Integrity is locked in and cannot be corrupted.
The core features of this new vision of governance are, as expressed by Ries.
Compliance.
We wrap compliance into the Trust Manifesto.
Purpose
He speaks of the purpose as legally binding, pursuing a long-term mission aligned with human flourishing (all life flourishing) backed by a principled ethos (Pattern Integrity). He then says, ” This powerful combination unlocks magnetic powers of attraction that are stronger than gravity.”
In the Syntriopic World, we speak of the Evolutionary Purpose, the Source Idea and its Pattern Integrity, and when we have these aligned and coherent, we create a Vector of Power.
Coherence
“The degree to which an organisation’s systems function and departments pursue a singular, unified direction.”
In Syntropic, this is the lived practice of being the change you seek, in all things. The quadrants from Integral Theory are the template, where the interior and exterior of the individual and collective are aligned and coherent.
Integrity
“I use the word integrity both in the sense of being able to keep a promise and in the sense of structural integrity, the ability to resist external pressure. Integrity turns governance into a semipermeable boundary that allows the beneficial exchange while filtering out corrupt influences.”
Anyone who has taken the Syntropic Foundations Masterclass knows that we teach integrity by having you build a structure of integrity, so that the enterprise design holds its shape. And we use the cell membrane as the example of that semipermeable membrane. We also teach polarity as a design feature to ensure structural integrity. The Goldilocks – not too negative, not too positive.
In Chapter Five, Ries says, Complexity in structure enables simplicity in operations.
Syntropic says, take the time to get the relational design right as a priority, for when you do, you can achieve escape velocity and your organisation, teams and partnerships will hold their shape.
In the create more value than you capture section of Chapter Five, he says our measurement tools are designed to miss value. And loyalty has no ledger entry. “This asymmetry between measurable costs and unmeasurable benefits explains why conventional business analysis systemically misses the most profitable opportunities.”
The Synergisitic Accounting app (coming soon!) is designed to measure and capture all value, even the immeasurable value sets and experiences.
Ries talks about how harder is easier. Syntropic talks about provisioning and the very next step. Where the field will inform both. This is harder. But worth it. Even more so when we are doing things that have not been done before, so they have no maps.
The book does provide many examples of businesses that have succumbed to what he calls corruption and those that have thrived. He also provides the statistics on stress, profitability, and other measures of what we would call Syntropic Enterprises.
He uses similar tools to Syntropic. A cultural bank account – we use an integrity bank account.
He speaks of pledges. “In one study, CFO’s who swore integrity oaths reduced earnings manipulation by 20% and operational manipulations by 15%.
One of the very first things we created in Syntropic was the Syntropic Covenant. A pledge. You can read it here.
I was very happy to see he spoke a lot about Steward Ownership and Mission Lock – all the great work of Purpose Economy out of Germany, an alliance we have held from the beginning.
This great question…How do you know if the mission has truly achieved sovereignty? Apply this test: Delete every founder’s name. Delete every major investor. Can the mission still defend itself?
The very foundation of Syntropic is to create this type of enterprise, where the Purpose, Idea and Pattern Integrity are the sacred ground of everything. How we express that in form can change.
“The ethos (Pattern Integrity) animates structure; the structure protects the ethos. (Pattern Integrity) Kill either one, and the whole thing dies.
Yep. This is Syntropic.
If this gets out into the world and people actively apply the work covered in Incorruptible, then the world will be a better place. I will cheer this. And Eric Ries has a far, far bigger platform than we do.
It would be wonderful to see the work of Syntropic – these ideas that we have been teaching and applying for over a decade- reach the mainstream. Incorruptible builds a strong case.
I believe our work is more advanced. We have the tools. Synergisitic Accounting is far more advanced than what Ries presents.
We have the whole suite, including the work of Stewardship and Dare to Care.
For that to happen, we need your help.
Spread the word. Take a class. But most of all, build Syntropic Enterprises and leave everything better.
*This message was written by me, AI-free. 🙂 I would love to hear your thoughts.
I asked Claude to create a Syntropic vs Incorruptible summary, accessing 100% of the Syntropic Website. If you want to read it, you can download it here: The_Map_Was_Already_Made_Syntropic.pdf
