The Magnitude 9.1 Meltdown at Fukushima

Nickolas Means talks about the “disaster” at Fukushima and argues that, viewed through a different lens, it wasn’t a disaster at all but a complete success in comparison to how bad it could have been.

What kept it from going so terribly wrong? Nickolas argues that it was the dynamics of great leader and a great team. His conclusion:

Lead by being worth following.

Love that.

Also: I really enjoyed this quote he pulls from Dr. Ruthanne Hising whose research shows how, contrary to what many of us may think, formal leadership (like the C-suite) doesn’t control the destiny or output of an organization as much an org chart might suggest.

[Orgs often learn] that what they had previously attributed to the direction and control of centralized, bureaucratic forces was actually the aggregation of the work and decisions of people distributed throughout the organization.