Organizational Rebirth

David L. Bevett, BS, MPH
March 23, 2002

The founders must allow all illusions and attachments to the transient existence of company X go and
focus all of the mind energy on the birth of company Y. As the founders transcend the barrier of the
end of company X, a new reality will slowly begin to unfold. Freed by the chains of the organization's
previous culture and structure, the founder and organization are able to experience a new reality: a
place where the new organizational form and vision is a reality waiting to happen. It is then that the
founders and organization must recall the lessons learned in their organizational life review:

Innovation and flocking require organizational space—freedom from control, from direction, and
from punishment for failures. Experiments must take place with relative safety. Conversation must be
free and candid, without fear of reprisal. Employee movements must be largely self-determined; no
one can “command” a bird [or human] to flock in a certain direction, because the travel pattern of
the flock emerges from its own movement. This is terrain where many managers fear to travel.
De Gues, 1997, p. 139-140.

The next stage for the founders, after the review of their previous existence, is to begin to consider
how they build on lessons learned. They must focus on their vision for company Y and consider how
to incorporate and reconstruct their experiences of what worked well in company X using an “…
object-oriented approach to modularization [with] Lego-like linkages…conceived and implemented
during the initial building phase of a system and further developed over time” (Haeckel, 1999, p. 214).
As each unit of the company becomes encapsulated in a block of knowledge representing the core
competencies developed in its past life, they must also reflect on whether “…a culture of trust,
learning, and innovation was encouraged in the past…”(Bevett, 2002, p.5).

The founders, having accepted the end of company X, have the opportunity to transcend to a new
reality, conceive the possibility of company Y, and reflect on past technical competencies balanced by
the need for trust and innovation are then almost prepared to bring their new reality into being. Put
simply, the founders are almost prepared to reenter the world of business. However, they must pause
to contemplate their newfound appreciation that ideas, become strategies and “strategy, becomes
structure as businesses seek to seize competitive advantage through modularity, using it to customize
large numbers of profitable responses to individual customers” (Haeckel, 1999, p.207). Meaning, the
founders must be diligent in critically evaluating what concepts they generate and policies they enact
to bring to life the culture and structure of company Y.

The final phase for the founders is to prepare for the birth of company Y. If time and consideration
was invested in learning from the past, preparing for the future, and a commitment made to infuse
company Y with all of the lessons learned the founders may be ready for a new company be born.
However, they must remember that “there is an adjustment period filled with sleepless nights and
worry about providing the right resources to sustain the newborn”(Bevett, p.2).  Yet, “With time, a
comfort level develops as the founders gain new skills and confidence in how to care for … their
new enterprise.” And, “Eventually, the circle of individuals caring for the fledging company is
widened”(p.2). Hence, the founders must select people that can engage and embody their new vision,
and themselves stay true using the wisdom of the past as a guide for the future. And “create a
potential for combining rather than a predetermined, hardwired set of combinations…” to choose
how to develop company Y more humble, grateful and enlightened by the process of transformation.  

References
De Gues, A. (1997). The Living Company. Boston: Harvard Business School Press
Freke, T. (1998). The Illustrated Book of Sacred Scriptures. Wheaton, Illinois: Godsfield Press.
Haeckel, S. (1999). Adaptive Enterprise. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
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