The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations is a 2006 book by Ori Brafman (of 2010 book "Click: The Magic of Instant Connections" ISBN 978-0385529051) and Rod Beckstrom

Rod Beckstrom

Rod Beckstrom is an author, high-tech entrepreneur, and CEO and President of ICANN.He previously served as Director of the National Cyber Security Center. Prior to that Beckstrom was Chairman and Chief Catalyst of TWIKI.NET, a company which supports TWiki, an open source wiki...

 is an exploration of the implications of the recent rise of decentralized organizations such as Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...

, Grokster

Grokster

Grokster Ltd. was a privately owned software company based in Nevis, West Indies that created the Grokster peer-to-peer file-sharing client in 2001 that utilized the FastTrack protocol. Grokster Ltd. was rendered extinct in late 2005 by the United States Supreme Court's decision in MGM Studios,...

 and YouTube

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

. The book contrasts them to centralized organizations, such as Encyclopædia Britannica

Encyclopædia Britannica

The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...

, using compendia of knowledge as examples. The spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

 and starfish analogy

Analogy

Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...

 refers to the contrasting biological nature of the respective organisms, starfish having a decentralized neural structure permitting regeneration

Regeneration (biology)

In biology, regeneration is the process of renewal, restoration, and growth that makes genomes, cells, organs, organisms, and ecosystems resilient to natural fluctuations or events that cause disturbance or damage. Every species is capable of regeneration, from bacteria to humans. At its most...

.

In addition to giving historical examples of decentralized organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...

 and the Apache

Apache

Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...

s and analyzing their nature in contrast to centralized organizations, the book considers conflict between centralized and decentralized organizations, including the "If you can't beat them, join them" solution of creating hybrid organizations such as Citizendium

Citizendium

Citizendium is an English-language wiki-based free encyclopedia project launched by Larry Sanger, who co-founded Wikipedia in 2001....

. A chapter towards the end of the book explores the concept of the "sweet spot

Sweet spot

Sweet spot may refer to:*Sweet spot *Sweet spot *Sweet spot...

", the optimal mix of decentralized and centralized attributes.

Catalysts

The book identifies a set of people the authors call "catalysts", who tend to be skilled at creating decentralized organizations. The authors list several abilities and behaviors (called "The Catalyst's Tools") that "catalysts" have in common, including:

1. Genuine interest in others.
2. Numerous loose connections, rather than a small number of close connections.
3. Skill at social mapping.
4. Desire to help everyone they meet.
5. The ability to help people help themselves by listening and understanding, rather than giving advice ("Meet people where they are").
6. Emotional Intelligence
   Emotional intelligence
   Emotional intelligence is a skill or ability in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. Various models and definitions have been proposed of which the ability and trait EI models are the most...
   
   .
7. Trust in others and in the decentralized network.
8. Inspiration (to others).
9. Tolerance for ambiguity.
10. A hands-off approach. Catalysts do not interfere with, or try to control the behavior of the contributing members of the decentralized organization.
11. Ability to let go. After building up a decentralized organization, catalysts move on, rather than trying to take control.

This book has some similarities to books like The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...

, as both identify certain sets of people who are important to change in a society or an organization, and try to define the attributes that people belonging to these sets have in common. The theoretical base draws richly from complexity writers in management, such as Ralph Stacey, Margaret Wheatley, Dee Hock

Dee Hock

Dee Ward Hock is the founder and former CEO of the VISA credit card association. In 1968, Hock convinced Bank of America to give up ownership and control of their BankAmericard credit card program. The new company, called National BankAmerica, was a non-stock membership corporation equally owned...

, Doug Griffin, Patricia Shaw, John Holland, and Robert Axelrod

Robert Axelrod

Robert M. Axelrod is an American political scientist. He is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan where he has been since 1974. He is best known for his interdisciplinary work on the evolution of cooperation, which has been cited in numerous articles...

, among others. The book provides an original and accessible way to see these principles in action.

Catalyst Examples

The book talks about 'catalysts', the people who found a starfish group and who gives it form, ideas, value, focus, and meaning. Some examples of such human catalysts in the book include:

1. Granville Sharp
   Granville Sharp
   Granville Sharp was one of the first English campaigners for the abolition of the slave trade. He also involved himself in trying to correct other social injustices. Sharp formulated the plan to settle blacks in Sierra Leone, and founded the St. George's Bay Company, a forerunner of the Sierra...
   
   , leader of the abolitionist movement against slavery in England
2. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
   Elizabeth Cady Stanton
   Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
   
   , who founded the women's suffrage movement that Susan B. Anthony
   Susan B. Anthony
   Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
   
    later took up with still greater energy
3. Craig Newmark
   Craig Newmark
   Craig Alexander Newmark is an Internet entrepreneur best known for being the founder of the San Francisco-based international website Craigslist.-Biography:...
   
    of craigslist
   Craigslist
   Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
   
   
4. Bill Wilson
   Bill W.
   William Griffith Wilson , also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous , an international mutual aid fellowship with over two million members belonging to 100,800 groups of alcoholics helping other alcoholics achieve and maintain sobriety...
   
    of Alcoholics Anonymous
   Alcoholics Anonymous
   Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
   
   

The Ten Rules

The ten "rules" are:

1. Diseconomies of scale
   Diseconomies of scale
   Diseconomies of scale are the forces that cause larger firms and governments to produce goods and services at increased per-unit costs. The concept is less well known than economies of scale.-Communication costs:...
   
   - Small companies have power.
2. Network effect - every additional person makes the organization stronger.
3. Power of chaos.
4. Knowledge at the edge - information about the organization is open to everybody.
5. Everyone wants to contribute - self-motivated employees.
6. Beware the hydra response.
7. Catalysts rule.
8. *Values* are the heart of any organization or network.
9. Measure, monitor, and manage.
10. Flatten or be flattened.

Five Legs

The five legs to a starfish organization:

1. Circles
2. The Catalyst
3. Ideology
4. The Pre-existing Networks
5. The Champion

The Major Principles of Decentralization

1. When attacked, a decentralized organization tends to become even more open and decentralized (p21)
2. It's easy to mistake starfish for spiders (p36)
3. An open system doesn't have central intelligence; the intelligence is spread throughout the system (p39)
4. Open systems can easily mutate (p40)
5. The decentralized organization sneaks up on you (p41)
6. As industries become decentralized, overall profits decrease (p45)

External links

• Starfishandspider.com
• Ori Brafman website
• Rod Beckstrom website
• USA Today article

Further reading

• The Starfish And the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, Penguin (October 5, 2006), hardcover, 230 pages, ISBN 1-59184-143-7