In the second half of our conversation about Ron’s origins, a theme emerged that has stayed with me: the people who shaped him all refused to stay inside a single discipline. His academic journey, his early mentors, even his engagement with the RAND Corporation all pulled Ron across boundaries rather than deeper into one specialism.
That breadth wasn’t incidental. It shaped the lens through which he was able to see things others did not see in organisations. A generative culture, in Ron’s telling, is one where information and insight cross boundaries freely instead of getting trapped in silos. It’s hard to conceptualise and study that if you’ve spent your whole life in one silo.
The modern parallel is obvious. The hardest problems facing technology leaders - cyber security, AI safety, AI adoption, trust in resiliency -don’t respect the org chart. These challenges cross the gaps between functions. The leaders who make the most progress in solving them them tend to be the ones who, like Ron, are comfortable being multilingual across disciplines, and who build teams that prize the same and align around the pursuit of hard super-ordinate goals.
Listen: Family of Origin (Part 2)
These reflections come from Generative Cultures with Ron Westrum, a series of conversations I host with Professor Ron Westrum, originator of the Westrum Continuum. New thinking on generative culture, leadership, and the age of AI. [Subscribe to the podcast] · [Read the papers]