We don’t claim that it is unique, nor do we claim that it’s ours. However, it’s close to our hearts, and it’s rarer than we’d like it to be.
Our name comes from an idea - Everyone’s voice matters. And organisations, cultures and teams are better when designed by many. ByMany stands for a shift from individual to networked contribution. Accessing and harnessing collective wisdom. And the most powerful lever we have is leadership.
Leadership has always evolved to meet the context of the world. From feudal structures to scientific management, and more recent models of charismatic, heroic individual leadership. Today there is a shifting expectation in the world, towards more purpose-driven, future-focused, collective leadership. Largely driven by increasingly diverse, distributed, skilled and empowered communities of workers seeking more control, connection and conscience in their work.
Some leaders are adapting, while others are holding firm and fighting hard. The world is changing faster than our ways of working and leading. We need people, teams, companies and countries to redesign their leadership.
That’s our purpose and our work at ByMany. Designing leadership for a better world. People, teams, companies and communities. We underpin our work with five foundational beliefs:
1. Business performance and human flourishing are the same work. This is not a trade-off or a paradox to manage. Peak performance requires humans to flourish and this in turn drives performance and impact in the world. There’s no more one-size fits all approach to managing people and performance. One size fits one.
2. We need leaders who can take us somewhere we’ve never been before. A fundamental capability for all leaders is an enhanced ability to see and create a better future. Problem solving and managing to plan and budget is still necessary but grossly insufficient for leaders in a world that’s changing so fast.
3. People want to expand and grow in all aspects of life. People must be allowed and encouraged to bring an expanded sense of themselves to work. Who we are at work, home and in our many communities; our many identities are becoming more integrated.
4. Learning will matter for more than knowing. Therefore, companies must focus and more on creating environments for speed of learning, not just having expertise. This includes continuous access to diverse sources of cleverness, and a culture that makes it easy to share learnings and feedback fast.
5. Connection is more important than it’s ever been. The world is getting lonelier, and people at work are becoming more and more disconnected from each other, their customers and the context of their work. Being intentional about creating connection is more important than ever.
The workplaces that understand these ideas and adapt the fastest will be the winners of the new game. They will know how to embrace multiple technologies and diverse humanity.
Driven by these beliefs, ByMany practices and helps people learn the science and art of new leadership.
Values
Our values unite us.
We hold strongly to the belief that they’ll grow and change with us.
For us, this means collaboration, no-hierarchy, growth, team, harmony are key.
Design, mastery and rigor make this possible.
It takes, and is a source of, courage, action and optimism for us.
We believe partnership, community, generosity and diversity make us all stronger.
Many voices, not few, lead to better outcomes.
Our Em Dash
The em dash (—) is named after its length—it’s about the same width as the capital letter M, connecting to Many. Writers love em dashes as much as master painters love paint brushes. It’s not difficult to understand why. Like the artist's brush, em dashes are handy tools and perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark.
Our work often deals with the intangible. You can’t pick up and hold culture. You can’t install leadership. It’ll take more than a to-do list to make this world a better place.
Our work asks us to hold many truths at once—many paradoxes. Many points of view call many meanings to the fore.
The em dash is the perfect tool for us. We have a lot of creative people with unique voices under one roof. Our em dash allows us to be as free and expressive as we want. Many meanings hide within this simple line. It has many uses, many connotations.
Depending on the context, the em dash can be stronger than a comma, more relaxed than a parentheses, or less formal than a colon—in each case to slightly different effect.
This is how we like to work—within context. It’s the core of how we see the world.
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