I was reading @William_MacAskill Eccentrically Effective, and one observation really caught my attention: EA grew stronger because it was willing to be strange.
Coming of age in Boulder, CO, where every other car had the bumper sticker ‘Keep Boulder Weird,’ this appealed to me. I like strange. It's often just misinterpreted differences.
I started thinking about how we build and operationalize organizations. By WE, I am referring to anyone like me with experience doing this already. I’ve had a decent career helping organizations take ambitious ideas and build the capacity to create continuous impact. Yet as I’ve been learning more about the EA community, I have been struck by the willingness to challenge established ways of doing business.
I’ve been particularly fascinated by the concerns around operational bottlenecks and the rising interest in operations generalists. In more traditional business environments, generalists can sometimes be viewed as "jacks of all trades, masters of none." I can say that because I've spent much of my career being considered one! Happily, I’ve noticed that in these emerging EA organizations, there is a real appreciation for people who can work across functions, figure things out, and adapt quickly.
That’s fantastic. But. What about the deeper expertise in organizational design, management, and strategic operations that may not make sense in a full-time capacity but could actually provide the missing link between inspired visions and incredible impact? Where does it fit in? Does it anymore? Which established practices are still valuable, and which seem like an acceptable risk to skip over?
With all of this swirling around in my head, I’m asking the same question over and over: How can operations experts help unconventional organizations become more effective without making them more conventional?
I would really love to hear from the community on this:
Where have operational challenges slowed you down or pulled your attention away from your mission?
Are there traditional business practices you've intentionally avoided or reinvented? What's worked, and what hasn't?
When you've needed operational expertise, where have you turned? Have you found people who understand and support your approach?
I’d love to hear your experiences. Especially around what established principles are still valuable, and which practices are worth rethinking or abandoning altogether?
