181. ...Except for all the others (Condition #29: democratic process)

In the last episode I tried to encourage you not to fall back on the temptation to use your corporate model as an excuse not to try new things in the boardroom. In my experience, the most common constraint related to corporate structures and models is democracy. And democratic processes are *definitely* a condition that affects decision-making. And let’s be honest, it’s not likely that we can be too intentional about democratic processes themselves, although we *can* be intentional about other stuff in order to make our democratic constraints less painful. A couple of obvious examples. Let’s say you, me, and some random person called Luis are all siblings, and we’re board members of a company that our parents built, grew, and still own. Let’s also say that our parents are kinda super stubborn and tend to reject any idea that feels weird or different to them. Let’s also say that we think the status quo isn’t working. Well, we can’t change the fact that our parents own and control the company. But you and Luis and I *can* ask ourselves, “what conditions might make our parents feel more comfortable having a fun conversation about what new things we *could* try?” Or maybe the three of us aren’t siblings, but instead are board members of a big trade association with a politically complicated membership. Maybe, in fact, the three of us tend to fight a lot in the boardroom because we’re protecting the interests of the regions that elected us. It’s our democratic model that brought us to this point. Take a step back, though. Scroll through some of the previous episodes in this season. Start writing down some of the conditions you might be intentional about in service of cutting through the political BS and, y’know, cultivating EFFECTIVE conditions…instead of crappy ones.