A Company of Citizens
What the World’s First Democracy Teaches Leaders About Creating Great Organizations
by Brook Manville and Josia Ober
Book Review by Herb Rubenstein
Introduction
The authors combine their extensive knowledge of the Athenian culture with their real-world experience in American business to show how key organizational development values, structures and practices invented by Athenians are appropriate to guide leaders of organizations today. Four key elements gleaned from the Athenian culture of 500 to 400 BCE may yield significant improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of today’s businesses and nonprofits. They are:
1. Alignment of the values of individual excellence and community focus
2. Creation of a reliable model of self-governance based on significant participation by the members of the organization
3. A passionate quest for greatness, excellence and justice on the part of the leaders and all members of the organization
4. A renewed emphasis on the values of freedom and equality.
These approaches are important in the Knowledge Age as workers demand independence while they seek meaning and community in their workplace. Athens The culture, governing apparatus and economy of Athens were built on the principle of knowledge sharing. Athens supported the ideals of giving rights to workers in exchange for their taking on responsibilities. Workers were treated as “members” and were passionate about their work. This “citizenship model” is similar to the thoughts expressed by Charles Handy in his 1998 essay, “The Citizen Company.”
The Current Content and Context That Makes This Book So Relevant
Organizations today must perform and innovate at a fever pitch. They must produce near-perfect quality. They must add value with every dollar they invest, every new product and service they invent. And they need to keep their workforce happy, engaged, energized and dedicated in tight labor markets. Companies and non-profits must continuously form strategic alliances and therefore must find ways to ensure that “freedom 2 seeking, entrepreneurial organizations” work together, for the common (company’s) good.
This book suggests that there is much from the Athenian society that can help organizations “harmonize the goals of strong individuals with a cohesive [high performance] organization.” For example, the Athenian culture appeared to make great strides in solving the dilemma that companies must be able to act as “one,” to scale human capability and nurture its workers (citizens) along, while at the same time, they must be able to build individuality and a strong workforce at the same time. Resolution of the individual/community dilemma or paradox is a key learning from the book. Athens created an “ethics.” Athenians were proud to be a citizen of Athens. In Athens, decision-making was “knowledge-driven, participatory and efficient.” Leaders were accountable to their citizens. When they failed, they were tried and convicted quickly and paid a high price. Athens was built on three tiers – “values, structure and practices,” plus a “civic identity.” Citizens were directly involved in the day to day workings of their government. In today’s companies employees are not engaged to any great extent in helping make the great decisions that guide an organization.
Three core values of Athens that are relevant for the modern organization are: “individuality, community and moral reciprocity.” Moral reciprocity means that every citizen had a duty to become educated and to educate others, to reach their potential, to contribute to the common good and to participate actively in governing Athens and carrying out the decisions of that government. In Athens, people’s desire for participation and their values guided the development of a complex, but efficient governance structure. The structure for Athens was shaped by the values of the people. Today, we do this backward. We first develop structures and then try to fit people into the system. Under the Athenian model, it is the practices of the people that translate values into action.
The Current Workplace and the Relevance of Athens Knowledge
Workers want to control their own destiny. Leaders must share power with their people in order to be effective. Leaders need to build “engagement” among their workers, their supply chain, vendors, strategic alliance partners, boards and all key elements of their production function. Leaders must focus the knowledge and talents of an organization and build motivation around the organization’s vision. Today, companies need people who can both plan and be decisive, can learn quickly and be willing to share what they learn, can analyze and implement effectively. Companies also need workers who will speak up to sound the alarm if they see that something is awry. The unfettered free speech environment of Athens, unique for its time and place in history, promoted this type of discourse, learning, teaching, action and planning. Athenian culture fostered a union of values and structure through participatory practices that maximized collective knowledge and human potential. Every organization needs to do the same in today’s business and non-profit environments.
Democracy in Athens Athens faced five “organizational imperatives” that molded its democratic structure around 500 BCE.
1. It aligned change around a steep performance challenge. This led to the creation of a new organizational model that had to be comprehensive and effective.
2. Athens harnessed the power of collective action - stimulating maximum effort and wise use of talent, knowledge and resources. Athens used an inclusive model, open architecture and built systems quickly that promoted citizen action.
3. Athens expanded and enhanced the meaning of “belonging” to a community. Belonging to the community provided security and freedom that Athenians held in the highest regard.
4. Athens balanced the goals of individual autonomy and community responsibility. People had to be voted on by their peers for citizenship at age 18.
5. Athens built and defined networks of people to people relationships. Athenians also practiced “moral reciprocity” as discussed earlier. The goal of Athens was the same goal that every company today (and every non-profit or government agency) should aspire to: To build knowledge, productivity, innovation and flexibility among multiple, connected subcommunities without creating a self-serving bureaucracy or a demotivating system of command and control.
Modern PR and Marketing in Athens
Athens participated fully in one of today’s hottest business strategies, “branding.” Athens adopted a symbol – “The mature bearded man” and called it the “Demos” (meaning Mr. People). This was the symbol of Athens and like successful brands, logos or tagline, it “invited” those who saw the symbol to want to be a part of it, to participate the “shared identity” that the symbol communicated. Demos represented the union of Athen’s core values (participation based on equality and freedom) and governance structures that promoted execution, justice and decision making. It was an immensely successful branding campaign.
Governance: The Athenian Distinction
Athens showed the world the difference between aristocracy and democracy. In a democracy stakeholders make the key decisions. Passion was the engine of commitment and decision making in Athens. Unlike Sparta and unlike the Athens of old, by the 400’s BCE Athens shed its aristocratic, command and control past in favor of democracy and freedom. The Essence of the Athenian Moral Code Citizens of Athens were committed to moral as well as material improvement; to the expansion of public virtue as well as private wealth and individual prosperity. An often quoted phrase sums up the moral code that guided each Athenian’s life. • “If he had good ideas, he felt a moral responsibility to let them be known.” More reciprocity was defined by an unwritten agreement for the exchange of value between a community and its citizens.
The Athenian community at large served as the educator, security provider and constantly created new and innovative structures to promote four opportunities for personal development. Individual teachers gave substantial time, resources, participated in government decision making and action and took personal responsibility for community. In Athens leaders were held accountable on a regular basis by citizens. Public opinion was informed and knowledgeable. Athens was a learning community. Athens balanced innovation and experimentation with leveraging value from traditions. In Athens, there was a fundamental respect for the dignity of each citizen. In Athens, every organization was first and foremost, a moral community. After a decision was made by the citizenry, everyone was expected to support it, even if the citizen vigorously opposed it during the debate. However, over time bad decisions were expected to be challenged openly, publicly and without fear of retribution. Lessons Learned In Athens, the citizenry knew that maximum alignment (and all of the benefits that flow from it) occurs when the implementers and the decision-makers are one in the same.
This is one of the key theoretical bases for the current movement toward participatory management. In Athens, disputes between citizens were solved by fellow citizens – mediators, arbitrators and juries (without judges); and this was done quickly and informally and without great societal or personal expense. Trials in Athens were generally limited to one day, stressing the importance of speed, efficiency and finality. Majority verdicts ruled. Plaintiffs that lost had to pay a penalty. Other key elements of Athenian decision making were: simplicity, openness and trust. One major goal of Athens was that: everyone learned from everyone all of the time. People who suggested harmful legislation or actions that were very unsuccessful could be sued in the courts for leading Athens in the wrong direction. All actions of the Athenian citizenry carried reward for success and risks/penalties for failure. All public officials were accountable to the community.
In Athens each citizen had a duty to prosecute another individual or public official whose actions, behavior or proposals were injurious to the community or were misaligned with the values of the organization. Conclusion The lessons of the book call for a redirection of many of the American practices in business, government and the non-profit worlds. Since there will need to be much “learning” to accommodate these new practices and to build the mental infrastructure and culture to make these practices successful, when an organization today wants to embody these practices in it’s organization and give “citizenship” to its employees, it will need to build the values, structures and practices that fit that particular organization to enable these practices to be successful.
Conclusion
Organizations will need to share leadership, can experiment with several classes of citizenship to reflect part time status and will need to declare the set of rights and responsibilities that each class of citizenship shall have. The bottom line is that the authors of Company of Citizens believe and argue successfully that creating a “company of citizens” can increase an organization’s performance, agility, vitality, human capital development, innovation trajectory, and dramatically increase its potential for growth and self renewal over time. It is no guarantee of success, but in our ever increasing knowledge-based economy, it appears to be as relevant an organizational model today as it was in 400BC.