"Lots of organizations go through this analysis. How do you leverage your brand or your customer base to get to the next level, to enter new markets or new technologies--and do it while running your old business. And almost without exception, organizations are run by people who want to protect the old business, not develop the new one.
When you think about your business, realize that it is a combination of assets and constraints. The Times understood both, but suddenly, the constraints changed. Now, it's possible for a single individual with a Typepad account to reach more people than almost any newspaper in the country can. Loosen one constraint and the game changes. That leaves you with the assets, for a while anyway.
When in pain, the answer is not to pander to the masses and undo the very things that made you special."
I pulled this quote from a recent Seth Godin post and felt that I could assess CCC similarly. Like the Times, our organization is caught in a season of deciding whether to protect the old or develop the new. Because the power to change the organization is constrained to a very small percentage of the organization, most of whom seek to protect the old, the only thing that has been changing is the language of our organization, not our actions.
I believe that a significant power redistribution must happen for CCC to significantly move forward in manifesting our vision on the college campus and in the lives of our staff. Most simply, more authentic power needs to be distributed downwardly toward the local level. Those leading individual campuses must have a genuine voice at the table where organizational decisions are made. I also believe we must sub-divide our various regions (currently there are 10 or 11, I would vote for 25-30 new regions), where local leaders would participate in direction setting, and would be listened to rather than spoken to by our national leaders.
Our regions (and country for that matter) has become significantly more diverse both culturally and religiously. No longer can a small group of national leaders discern the unique needs of the various parts of the country by offering general vision and direction. What's needed is specific and contextualized empowerment that will allow leaders on the field who can see the needs but lack the power to significantly tackle them a new platform to not only lead but be served by our vast resources, rather than serve them.
