Redshift³

The Starfish and the Spider (Portfolio, 2006) is written by two superb dot-connectors, Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom, who weave lessons from anthropology, chemistry, industrial theory, web culture, the war on terror, the Great Barrier Reef and other seemingly random topics into a tightly-knit quilt of logic covering the fascinating phenomenon of leaderless organizations.

 

Their evocative metaphor of the starfish and the spider is pretty simple: with a spider, if you cut off the head, it dies. A starfish, on the other hand, doesn’t have a head. Its life-force runs throughout its body—cut off an arm, and it will grow into a brand new starfish. Brafman and Beckstrom’s argument is straightforward: the more organizations can adopt the characteristics of the starfish, the more powerful they will become relative to more hierarchical (spider) organizations.

 

The joy of this book lies in the myriad examples the authors use to flesh out their arguments. In 1519, Cortés met Montezuma in Tenochtitlán, the vibrant city of ancient Aztec civilization. Cortés, having the goal of becoming rich by appropriating the Aztec’s gold, had Montezuma killed. Within two years, Aztec civilization had completely collapsed. With control of the American continent in hand, the Spanish went north in the 1680s only to encounter the fierce Apache tribes. The story of the Apaches, however, had a slightly different ending than that of the Aztecs--this time, the Spanish lost. How did they so easily defeat people with thriving, powerful cities and yet lose to a tribe without towns, gold or even a ruler?

 

The startling answer: Apache culture was a decentralized starfish, unlike the spider-like Aztecs. The Apaches, lacking any physical infrastructure, simply melted into the shadows to coordinate raids on the Spanish interlopers. Not only did they hold off the Spanish in the late 1600’s, but did so for another two hundred years—and remained a threat to outsiders until 1914! Some would point to Geronimo as a key leader during this time—but the Apache concept of leadership was utterly unlike that of the Aztecs. Apache leaders were called Nant’ans, inspirational leaders utterly lacking in coercive power. Apparently, the idea of coercion doesn’t even exist in Apache culture. Hence, the befuddled Spanish (and later the American cavalry) didn’t really know to deal with the Apaches. And therein lie important lessons for modern organizations.

 

From the Apache wars, the authors take us on a path of discovery covering the oscillating decentralization-to-centralization and back again nature of the music industry, identifying the current “sweet spot” held by Apple’s iTunes music store. Other stories highlight the disruptive decentralization of Craigslist, Skype, Wikipedia, Alcoholics Anonymous, the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements, Burning Man, al Qaeda, Toyota and many others. The authors do a masterful job of introducing a five-part starfish model (circles, catalysts, ideology, pre-existing networks and champions) and supporting it with concrete examples.

 

Recently, author Rod Beckstrom told NPR’s Steve Inskeep that he was surprised to learn that The Starfish and the Spider is a hit with the Tea Partiers—but that it made sense, saying that the book “is really a guidebook for people, to help organize decentralized movements and organizations of any type.”ⁱ

 

Finally, there is a warning for spider organizations: according to the book, the harder one fights a decentralized opponent, the stronger it gets.