#113 From Vision to Action with John Marks

Let's talk Transformation : The business leaders podcast

"Everybody, essentially, deep down on a personal level, wants the same thing.”

A brilliant and humbling conversation with John Marks where we delve into the power of social entrepreneurship as a transformative force that blends positive change with financial sustainability. We look at the 11 principles John has taken from his work in international conflict resolution and what it means to fully empower yourself and others and embrace adaptive leadership.

We discuss the need to decrease the defensive, reactive tendencies we have, regulate our emotions, and add intentionality in order to be more effective adaptive leaders - eventually it must come naturally. We discuss various initiatives, such as improving U.S.-Iran relations through “wrestling diplomacy,” and reflect on John’s own transition from opposition-focused activism to collaboration-centered leadership, promoting a “win-win” approach. It is important to be defined not by what you are against but what you are working for – this paradigm shift can be transformative for people as leaders and as individuals.

We look at the challenges of collaborative problem-solving at different scales, the consistent principles of mediation, and the importance of active listening and mediation in leadership and other insights to improve business culture.

John generously shares insights and stories from his wealth of knowledge and wisdom from working with international actors and conflicts across the globe. If you are passionate about creating positive change in the world but unsure how to balance your ideals with financial sustainability listen here to the rest of this episode which unpacks the rich insights from his transformative book, “From Vision to Action: Remaking the World Through Social Entrepreneurship.”

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

- Vision is to create a more peaceful world and deal with conflict peacefully; applied visionaries use the ideas of mediation to resolve problems and set up processes to deal with problems.

- Social entrepreneurship is a means to try and make the world a better place for someone with the skills to launch an initiative and make it happen, beyond themselves, without financial gain as the primary goal.

- Having purpose can find resources for and with us, e.g. the SFCG mantra is to understand differences and act on commonalities, i.e. find ways for people to agree, starting with what is possible, and building trust during the process to resolve the conflict.

- An inclusive approach is based on everyone essentially wanting the same thing and commonalities can be used to bring people together, e.g. sport – building teams, both sides being ready and willing.

- Example of ‘wrestling diplomacy’ [when the US wrestling team visited Iran] gained press coverage and provided leverage for further signalling at a political level – different motivations for different parties but all benefited.

- It is important to be defined not by what you are against but what you are working for – this paradigm shift can be transformative for people as leaders and as individuals.

- ‘Yesable propositions’ offer win-wins that make you more attractive to others; it doesn’t mean getting everything you want, rather the maximum you can get, and the same for the other side.

- Essential mediation skills are paired with the skills to put together the process, and generally require two different people with two different skillsets; difference should be used as a positive lever.

- The goal is collaborative problem-solving across all manner of boundaries - the more people are involved in a conflict, the harder it is to resolve, and it is tricky to achieve the scale of reaching multitudes of people.

- Soap operas for social change aim to represent the diversity of society; they are based on common ground and as such can change attitudes through repetition, familiarity and relatability.

- Napoleon’s ‘on s’engage et puis on voit’ approach involves trusting the process and letting things unfold – many of the best ideas come from what has already happened: adaptive management is a good approach for social entrepreneurs.

- 80% of work is about showing up, and operational work is important for leaders to keep them grounded. Persistence is required to deeply engage in a project; capitalise on people’s energy; gain credibility; and scale a trust base.

- Often easier to implement in social enterprise than in business (profit is not the ultimate end) – conflict resolution in business is implicit rather than explicit, e.g. the ‘track 2 process’ charts the unofficial, parallel things that go on.

- Patience is required for long-term projects; also helpful is the aikido strategy of not reacting adversarially, but rather diverting the opponent’s energy for the benefit of both parties.

- We need to decrease the defensive, reactive tendencies we have, regulate our emotions, and add intentionality in order to be more effective adaptive leaders - eventually it must come naturally.

- ‘Yesable propositions’ must understand the audience, accept them for what they are and work with them to try to find a workaround; when you can’t change the situation that exists, acceptance is the only option (cf. Zen).

- Most transformative accomplishment is to prove what is possible: start something, engage with it, stay with the vision, and do something that makes your heart sing.

Find out more about John and his work here :

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-marks-36a3569/