More than the ideals this book talked about i.e. chaordic organisations I was deeply moved by the man, Dee Hock. He was young leading the project of that was never dreamt of. Uniting almost all the banks under a single brand whilst working for BankOfAmerica.
He starts the book with these questions
“Why are institutions, everywhere, whether commercial, political and social, increasingly unable to manage their affairs?
Why are individuals, everywhere, increasingly in conflict with and alienated from the institutions of which they are part?
Why are society and the biosphere increasingly in disarray?”
“The nonmonetary exchange of value does not arise solely from altruistic motives. It arises from deep, intuitive, understanding that self-interest is inseparably connected with community interest; that individual good is inseparable from the good of the whole; that all things are simultaneously independent, interdependent, and intradependent—that the singular “one” is inseparable from the plural “one.”
What the web3 world talks about DAOs were thought and executed by this man.
“What if ownership was in the form of irrevocable right of participation, rather than stock: rights that could not be raided, traded, bought, or sold, but only acquired by application and acceptance of membership?
What if it were self-organizing, with participants having the right to self-organize at any time, for any reason, at any scale with irrevocable rights of participation in governance at any greater scale?
“What if power and function were distributive, with no power vested in or function performed by any part that could reasonably be exercised by any more peripheral part?
What if governance was distributive, with no individual, institution, or combination of either or both, particularly management, able to dominate deliberations or control decisions at any scale?
What if it could seamlessly blend cooperation and competition, with all parts free to compete in unique, independent ways, yet able to yield self-interest and cooperate when necessary to the good of the whole?
What if it were infinitely malleable, yet extremely durable, with all parts capable of constant, self-generated, modification of form or function without sacrificing its essential purpose, nature, or embodied principle, thus releasing human ingenuity and spirit? ”
Though VISA as an org went in a direction that Dee Hock wouldn’t agree the seeds were sown and it’s our responsibility to learn and grow from this massive experiment.
Thank you Mr. Dee Hock!