THE STRING THEORY FOR LEADERSHIP.

The string theory in the world of physics suggests everything is made of unbelievably tiny strings; the vibrations of which create effects. That is to say that everything is connected either directly or indirectly by virtue of these tiny strings intersecting each other with physical contact, or by vibration, and indeed the movement of these small things is what creates an impact. In short: everything is connected.

Similar in principle (however, that’s as far as the similarity stretches) to the famous butterfly effect, string theory is a well known argument which has engaged theoretical physicists since Gabriele Veneziano published his paper introducing a principle in 1968 that would provide the foundations for the string theory and, according to academics, answered several questions at once. Since then many physicists, academics and researchers have laid claim to taking what the most famous physicist of all time, Albert Einstein, started and combining it with other models to develop a greater understanding of how our world works - and indeed its relation to other universes.

As you can imagine, it’s incredibly complex. However, when I began reading about it I immediately saw how the essential principals of string theory could be applied to leadership for creating a truly effective model to reframe mindset, and deepening our understanding of the impact of effective leadership above and beyond models of top-down modelling and behaviour profiling to find ‘natural born leaders’. Reflecting on 21 years working with leaders and the organisations they lead, the useful metaphors surrounding string theory began to fall into place, and the more I explored overlaying the physics string theory model onto leadership, and specifically leadership behaviours, I noticed a fascinating corollary. 

It struck me early on when exploring the notion of how string theory might be useful to consider for maximising leadership potential and bettering our understanding of how and why effective leadership works, that a ball of string represents the perpetual, unanswerable question: 

“How long is a piece of string?” 

Although, that’s the wrong question to ask. Every question has an answer, and in this case, it’s: 

“Twice as long as it is from one end to the middle”.

The answer to the right question is often simpler than we imagine or expect, or sometimes want it to be. The ball of string represents almost every problem I have ever been presented with by my clients: it has a beginning, and an end, and what occasionally appears to be a complicated and tangled middle separating the two.

What we see and understand is one piece. One object. One problem. However, on closer inspection, many pieces make up the whole, and the more we remove from that piece of string, or leadership challenge as it may be in practice, its true simplicity becomes easier to see and subsequently work with.

For it is when we ask the right questions that in turn help to drive positive behaviour changes, we are effectively asking questions that create vibrations throughout a team or an organisation’s culture: we are orchestrating small changes that will deepen in effect, and grow in magnitude. Equally, when organisations seek my advice on how best to stop silo working, engage their workforce, or resolve ruptures in culture, the very first thing I want to review is the leaders purportedly overseeing what is now been identified as an organisational problem. Have they asked the right questions? Do they even know which questions to ask? Are they aware they should be looking for a knot, and do they realise the impact small changes can make on the wider landscape?

Pushing the string metaphor further, much of my work is about finding the metaphorical knots in an individual, team, or entire organisation; those areas which have stopped vibrating. I see my task as finding the loose ends, and working out how to best untangle the knots to allow freer communication and/or behaviour change. In most cases that loose thread is a question. 

Many attempt to untangle the whole problem at once, or become distracted by the greater problem. My job for 21 years has been to know where to look for the loose thread - and which question to ask when you find it.

The string theory helps uncover the right questions, which in turn help clients better untangle problems; to untangle their metaphorical ball of string, for the right question reveal new answers and new ways of thinking. The right questions lead us to reconsider leadership norms, and to focus on the small, simple, easy differences we can make to how we lead in the form of what we say, and how we say it, and how we frame and approach leadership as a concept.

Just like the physics theory of the same name, one small change to the way we think, feel, or behave, can cause extraordinary, positive results.