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December 2008, Issue 104

 

As another year winds to a close, we would like to express our gratitude to all of you readers, learners, and conference participants who continue to help us pursue our mission of advancing the use of systems thinking in organizational and community life.

With an enriching conference behind us, we offer some reflections and gift ideas to help you greet the opportunities that await in 2009!

In This Issue
  • Great Gift Ideas!
  • A Passion for Turning Learning into Action
  • The Pegasus Conference Returns to Seattle
  • Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?

  • A Passion for Turning Learning into Action
    Mark Alpert

    An Interview with Mark Alpert

    On December 1, Mark Alpert officially assumed the role of president of Pegasus Communications. With a background in performance improvement and a proven track record of implementing learning in support of organizational strategy, he is excited about the opportunities inherent in his new role. Mark talked with Leverage Points about what drew him to Pegasus, his reflections on attending the Pegasus Conference for the first time, and his hopes for supporting the learning community Pegasus serves into the future.

    LP: Can you comment on why leading Pegasus makes so much sense for you as the next step in your career and personal learning journey.

    MA: People tease me for always saying, "We can only learn." I say it to my kids; I say it to the folks I work with. When people start getting frustrated at work it's often because they stop learning. When things get redundant or repetitive or nothing new is happening, people get bored and start to check out. I believe that learning is one of the most vital parts of work and life.

    Having focused on organizational improvement for the last 25 years, I am excited about the prospect of working with a community of people who are not only learners, but are serious about results. To me, learning is just part of the journey; turning that learning into action is equally important. My sense about the Pegasus community is that they are not afraid to focus on results and the accountability that comes with results. People who take on complex organizational challenges or important issues such as childhood malnutrition or apartheid or global warming are not going to be satisfied until they see real progress.

    I appreciate, too, the chance to join forces with people who think about things systemically, who know that a part is never stronger than the whole, and who are always looking at how the parts work together. Part of my frustration with industry has been trying to get organizations to think that way. Unfortunately, most organizational leaders have structured their organizations and compensation policies in ways that break things into parts and reward those parts. Then they wonder why the system, the whole, never improves. The people in this field have made that connection, and they understand the unintended consequences of thinking in terms of parts.

    LP: Having just been selected as the next president of Pegasus Communications, you attended your first Pegasus Conference in November. How would you say the Pegasus Conference differs from other conferences?

    MA: I was impressed with how the conference design encourages dialogue. I've been to so many conferences where you listen to an "expert" presenter, take a quick refreshment break, hear whatever you can hear from a couple of exhibitors, then scurry off to the next concurrent session. The Pegasus Conference is set up very deliberately to allow meaningful conversation to emerge as a means for people to learn from one another. There's a conversation space that you can drop into at any time, and lunch is mobile; you can take your food and sit down with 10 other people who are interested in talking something through with you.

    Another thing that struck me is that most other conferences try to make themselves feel huge. They assume that people have to justify their attendance, so they position themselves as "the biggest conference in our industry" or "the biggest conference this year." I think Pegasus, by contrast, succeeds in taking a pretty big event and making it feel intimate. The collegial environment lets you get closer to people, including other participants as well as presenters.

    LP: You must have had a tremendous number of new names and faces coming at you over a period of just a few days. What was your overall impression of the people in this learning community?

    MA: The people were absolutely a highlight for me. From an orientation perspective, the timing was excellent. I saw some of the behind-the- scenes ramp-up for the conference, and then, by being a full participant, I met hundreds of people. I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity for insight regarding who Pegasus is and what folks expect from us.

    I got an invaluable slice of learning history by talking one-on-one with Peter Senge, Bill Isaacs, George Roth, and some of the other founders of the field who came out of MIT and started the process of bringing systems thinking to a wider audience as far back as the early '90s. Those conversations helped me understand the groundwork that led to the establishment of Pegasus and SoL and all these various businesses that are up and running now.


    The Pegasus Conference Returns to Seattle

    Seattle, Washington The 19th Annual Pegasus Conference
    November 2-4, 2009
    Westin Seattle · Seattle, Washington.

    If you think about the times in your life when you've learned the most, you probably don't picture yourself in quiet, stable surroundings. The lessons that really change us tend to come in times of difficulty or crisis. That's why it's important to remind ourselves, when economic uncertainty is dominating the news: "This is no time to stop learning!"

    The Pegasus Conference offers more than just inspiration and practical takeaways. It connects you to a community of innovative practitioners who support you all through the year. As Steve Byers, a team coach for last year's conference described it: "I go to the Pegasus Conference every year with high expectations for learning at multiple levels. I go looking for a stretch and the unexpected; I go to make a contribution, to hone skills, to make new relationships, and to connect with that tangible feeling of community and belonging."

    Register for the conference by December 31 to SAVE $745!

    Teams of 4 or more pay as little as $875 per person.
    Call for details at 1-800-272-0945.


    Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?

    Learning Linksby Janet Rae-Dupree

    At a recent Pegasus Conference, Dawna Markova shared a simple exercise to illustrate how our thinking is dominated by unconscious habit. She instructed listeners to lace their hands together, taking care to notice which thumb was on top. Then she directed us to try it with the other thumb on top. The awkward feeling we got in the new position, Dawna suggested, represented a valuable moment of confusion in which we were actively developing the kind of new neural pathway that is key to creativity and innovation.

    Markova, an executive change consultant, and her business partner M. J. Ryan, discussed the importance of consciously developing new habits in an interview with New York Times correspondent Janet Rae-Dupree. "The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder," Dawna says. "But we are taught instead to 'decide.' ...to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities."

    In their research, Markova and Ryan have identified three zones of existence: comfort, stretch, and stress. They suggest that it's in the stretch zone, where things feel awkward or unfamiliar, that true change occurs. "You cannot have innovation," says Dawna, "unless you are willing and able to move through the unknown and go from curiosity to wonder."


    Great Gift Ideas!

    27 Pocket Guides for One Low Price!

    Unbelievable Savings on Our Complete Set of 27 Pocket Guides

    Do you ever wish you had some of the great tools and concepts of organizational learning at your fingertips? Now you can have this comprehensive collection of on-the-spot resources for 50% off their already discounted price! These 5-1/2 x 8- 1/2-inch laminated guides are always among our bestsellers because of their convenient size, portability, and digest format. The set is perfect for just-in-time interventions, as a ready reference tucked into your daily planner or desk drawer, or as a bountiful gift to a friend or colleague.

    Through December 31, get the whole set of 27 guides for just $50.00!

    Titles include:
    · A Guide to Designing a Systems Thinking Intervention
    · The Do's and Don'ts of Systems Thinking on the Job
    · Guidelines for Drawing Causal Loop Diagrams
    · Systems Archetypes at a Glance
    · A Pocket Guide to Using the Archetypes
    · Guidelines for Daily Systems Thinking Practice
    · Palette of Systems Thinking Tools
    · Human Dynamics: An Overview of the Five Personality Dynamics
    · The Five Personality Dynamics: Communication Preferences
    · Private Conversation: The Left-Hand Column
    · The Ladder of Inference
    · Productive Conversations: Using Advocacy and Inquiry Effectively
    · Partnership Coaching
    · Moving from Blame to Accountability
    · Conflict Resolution: A Systemic Approach
    · The "Thinking" in Systems Thinking: Honing Your Skills
    · Vision Deployment Matrix I: Shifting from a Reactive to a Generative Orientation
    · Vision Deployment Matrix II: Crossing the Chasm from Reality to Vision
    · A Guide to Servant-Leadership
    · A Guide to Practicing Dialogue
    · Managing the Archetypes: Accidental Adversaries
    · A Guide to Appreciative Inquiry
    · The World Café: An Innovative Approach to Dialogue
    · Getting Organized to Make a Difference
    · A Guide to Accountability Leadership
    · Eye of the Needle: A Communication Tool
    · Systems Clues in Everyday Language

    Order #PGST27: Just $50.00 through 12/31/08!

    Give a full 1-year gift subscription FREE when you subscribe, renew, or buy The Systems Thinker on CD- ROM.

    The Systems Thinker is a powerful, practical e-newsletter that arrives by email in PDF format 10 times a year to give you the confidence that comes with systems understanding. It presents useful tools and practices, a systemic perspective on current issues with illustrative stories from the field, and provocative thought pieces to keep you pushing your learning edge.

    Before December 31, when you subscribe to the newsletter, renew your subscription, or buy the nine-year back issue collection on CD- ROM, you can send a full year's worth of learning to a friend or colleague for FREE!

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    --Edith Wharton

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