#0: “Leave everything better than you found it.”
Simple, but powerful. It’s not just a rule—it’s a mindset. No matter if it’s a place or a person, always aim to leave them better than you found them. But first, make sure you’re clear on what “better” means to you. Take the time to define it for yourself, your organization. Is it more peaceful, more organized, or simply more cared for?
#1: Intelligence: A Whole Brain is Better than Half a Brain.
True intelligence means embracing the full spectrum of our abilities—balancing logic with emotion, creativity with analysis, and instinct with reason. When we integrate all sides of our mind, we make better, more holistic decisions that benefit the entire system, not just a single part.
#1a: Intelligence Keeps the System Safe and Alive
Intelligence = Learning, Adapting, and Anticipating for System Survival and Success.
Intelligence guides us toward what’s best for the whole system, thriving only when we measure and act on values like collective creativity, adaptability, and true innovation. Real change comes not from forced behavior but from genuine shifts in perspective, fostering an environment where authenticity and trust naturally encourage growth.
#1b: It’s Cognitive and Social Intelligence: “Neocortex + Limbi”
To truly thrive, we need to balance both our rational and emotional brains, fostering collaboration that feels safe, purposeful, and authentic. When people feel psychologically safe to be themselves, learn, contribute, and challenge, they’re no longer simply complying—they’re genuinely engaged and invested.
#1c: A Repressed Limbi Doesn’t Just Disappear—It Becomes Destructive
The first step to a thriving workplace is to stop creating environments that suppress our emotional intelligence, turning it instead into resistance. By building systems that support deep soft skills and prioritizing people’s growth, we create spaces where collaboration and shared success flourish naturally.
#2: Complexity is Your Friend
Complexity resists simplification, carrying qualities that can’t be reduced without loss, which challenges our logic-focused Neocortex. While the Neocortex craves predictability, our Limbi is naturally suited for navigating social complexity, feeling and understanding the nuances that logic alone can’t fully capture.
#2a: Human Relationships are Complex
Reality is complex, especially in human relationships, and it can’t be managed by control—trust and curiosity are key to thriving within this complexity. For organizations and individuals alike, our true strength lies in addressing our most vulnerable areas, understanding that our capacity to collaborate and adapt depends on recognizing and nurturing these weak links rather than masking them.
#2b: Purpose and Direction (Clockwork) + Productivity (Network)
In complex environments, models (the Clockwork) give us direction and purpose, acting as seeds around which systems (the Networks) can naturally evolve, but they’re not full solutions. By fostering genuine connections and a shared purpose rather than over-institutionalizing, we reduce control needs and let complexity—and social intelligence—thrive, creating a more engaged and resilient society.
#2c: Solutions Structure Complex Self-Organizing Environments
In complex systems, structure thrives best when it’s flexible and descriptive, providing tools to navigate rather than control. By treating every aspect as a “Solution” that adapts to fulfill needs, we create an organization that’s both resilient and attuned to the natural stability within complexity.
#3: Collaboration is Productivity
Collaborative systems are the most productive because they benefit everyone involved, thriving on emotional safety, adaptability, and shared purpose. However, these systems only succeed when grounded in high ethical standards, as trust and shared values are essential to sustain true collaboration and avoid the bottlenecks and insecurity that hierarchical “top-performer” models create.
#3a: Collaboration is Simple and Magic
In collaborative systems, six foundational elements support a network that, when healthy, produces meaningful results—our “golden eggs.” By embracing complexity rather than controlling it, we allow these elements to interact dynamically, unlocking a synergy that fosters productivity, innovation, and growth far beyond the sum of individual parts.
#3b: Productivity is not Linear—Believe in Social Magic
By removing barriers to collaboration, chickens saw a 260% productivity boost—imagine what we could achieve by embracing human complexity! In collaborative settings, rigid control stifles the natural strengths of our Limbi, whereas fostering trust and social intelligence unlocks our true potential, engaging both Social and System Intelligence to create dynamic, thriving environments.
#4: Build Healthy Systems and Leave Them Alone
#4a: Give it Purpose and Direction, and Gain Productivity
Purpose-driven systems naturally foster productivity, as efforts align with shared values and direction. Tools like the Value Watcher and a psychological safety-focused Heinrich’s Law help maintain integrity and internal alignment, ensuring a healthy, value-centered organization that’s both productive and ethically resilient—setting a new gold standard for sustainable, value-based success.
#4b: It’s Neither Push, Nor Pull. It’s Pull’n’Release.
In intelligent systems, true growth means guiding with purpose and values but then allowing space for self-management and evolution. Over-controlling a system stifles its natural flow and potential, leading to dependency and missed opportunities for productivity; instead, leaders should focus on building resilient systems that thrive independently.
#4c: Populations are Power Tools
Populations are naturally diverse, with each subgroup contributing unique strengths that enable resilience and adaptability. In intelligent systems, embracing this diversity—like the Pioneers, Guardians, and Lifelines in the P-G-L model—fosters balance and innovation, while recognizing generational “teen” challenges like those from Gen Z can help us reflect and evolve, addressing core issues rather than merely symptoms.
#4d: Balanced Networks are the Spirit of Collaboration
In complex systems, no single perspective captures the full picture, so collaboration becomes essential to harness diverse insights. Through trust and creativity, we continually balance these perspectives, not aiming for perfection but for ongoing improvement that respects the system’s inherent complexity.
#5: Resistance is Our Friend
Intelligence means designing systems that minimize resistance, using friction as a guide rather than a force to battle. When discipline aligns with purpose and comfort, it encourages creativity and flow; by working with natural tendencies rather than against them, we conserve energy and foster innovation across all areas of life.
#5a: Resistance is the Guide to Improvement
Resistance in a system signals a dysfunction that needs fixing, not forcing. When leadership frequently steps into operational tasks, it’s a red flag that the system isn’t functioning optimally; in a well-designed setup, things should flow naturally without constant intervention.
#5b: Success Can Make Us Stupid Too
The Success Fallacy traps us by shifting focus from our core purpose to external achievements, turning success into the business’s primary goal rather than a byproduct. True intelligence redefines success holistically, prioritizing long-term impact on people, society, and the world; by nurturing the values and conditions that originally fostered success, we avoid hollowing out our systems and ensure sustainable growth.
#5c: Values are the Foundation
When we’re told to “be professional” at the cost of our humanity, it signals a system that’s drifting from its values. True professionalism means integrating values deeply, using them to guide actions and decisions, creating an environment where cognitive and emotional intelligence work together; this approach builds a smarter, more human system that fosters resilience, collaboration, and genuine long-term value.
Enhance your organizational journey with OrgIQ.
- Understand Your Current State
- Enhance Perspective and Solution Space
- Use Complexity … it’s your greatest power
- Enhance Collaboration
- Make Your Success Sustainable with Humanity as the Foundation