Ten reasons why governance is like sex
In RSG advisory calls with enterprise subscribers, the issue of governance keeps recurring. Some organizations do it well; others not so much. It's the ghost at many digital banquets.
We could debate what governance means — I define it as legitimized structures and processes for making effective decisions — but everyone agrees governance is critical to long-term success.
I don't claim to be an expert on digital governance, but after a couple decades of helping people make technology decisions, I'll boil down many thoughts on the topic to one simile:
Governance is like sex.
- People tend to talk about it more than they do it, and...
- ...Most people don't do it as much as they'd like
- At least one key player needs to really want it or it will never get started
- There are many different ways to do it satisfactorily
- It's more art than science
- It's more successful in environments characterized by mutual trust
- Other people can give you a lot of good advice, but only you can make it happen
- You may not get it right at first, but that shouldn't stop you from trying
- A shared sense of fairness encourages repeatability
- In the end, bad governance is better than no governance at all
So hopefully at least by now you're smiling. If you have any particular (even X-rated) governance success stories you'd like to offer, please do using the social-sharing buttons below.
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