Minding the Invisible: Paying Attention to the Dark Matter of Organizations Linda Maepa - The Future of Energy is Cybersecurity

Minding the Invisible: Paying Attention to the Dark Matter of Organizations Gayle Karen Young TALK: Consider that for leader, working with culture is like understanding the role of dark matter of the universe. One cannot understand the dynamics of the universe without taking into account that which we cannot see but that we are aware exists and holds a disproportionate weight, without which all our models and understanding of reality would be flawed. Working in the field of leadership for the past two decades, it has become abundantly clear to me that there are the visible, tangible, practical, and pragmatic aspects of leadership that need to be executed on a day-by-day basis, and that these are the aspects that have been written about ad infinitum in books that fill the shelves of executives and entrepreneurs, those aspiring to understand why there is so much written on great leadership and yet we experience a scarcity of great leadership in our political and corporate sectors - certainly fewer accessible examples than we need in this world. Then there is what is “the invisible work”, the “minding the invisible”, of leadership - intangible and enigmatic, though no less practical. This is the work of caring for the the spaces between people, of seeing complexity and interdependencies, of understanding relationships and power and all the ephemeral things that still exise tremendous influence on the day-to-day behaviors of people. Thus it is the invisible work of leadership, the work of showing up, setting culture, and creating spaces for others to thrive is the focus of my work. Namely, it is some of the specific practices and competencies people who want to do work changing the world need to be willing to take on.

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