Each time I re-read The Starfish and the Spider I gain new insights, often from seemingly throw-away comments that turn out to have profound implications. If you've not read the book, read the first chapter and buy it!
Explaining their metaphor, the authors note "If you cut off a spider's head, it dies; but if you cut off a starfish's leg, it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an early new starfish. Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of business and the world."
There are links to some of my old blog posts on the key topics below. And here's a useful tool from the book. Analyze your organisation and see where on the scale of spider vs. starfish you fit:
See also
Explaining their metaphor, the authors note "If you cut off a spider's head, it dies; but if you cut off a starfish's leg, it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an early new starfish. Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of business and the world."
There are links to some of my old blog posts on the key topics below. And here's a useful tool from the book. Analyze your organisation and see where on the scale of spider vs. starfish you fit:
| Spider | Starfish | |||
| Someone is in charge | No one is in charge | |||
| Headquarters exist | There are no headquarters | |||
| Thump its head, then it dies | Thump its head, it survives | |||
| There's clear role division | Amorphous role division | |||
| Take out a unit, harm the whole | Take out a unit, there's no harm | |||
| Concentrated knowledge & power | Distributed knowledge & power | |||
| Organization is rigid | Organization is flexible | |||
| Organization funds the units | Units are self-funded | |||
| Can count the participants | Can not count the participants | |||
| Communicates through intermediaries | Direct communication between units | |||
| CENTRALIZATION | DECENTRALIZATION |
See also
