LEARNING LINKS
Work As Practice and Vocation
by Michael Jones

The primary work of leaders in the 21st century, rather than performing to meet externally imposed demands, will be to deepen their ability to sense and act on emerging opportunities and challenges amid constant change. Practice—the ongoing process of experimentation, learning, skill-building, attention, and self-reflection—equips us to cultivate this ability in several ways.

First, practice often pulls us away from the comfortable and familiar, preparing us to recognize and align ourselves with the change that is already occurring around and within us. As a pianist, I learn through practice to have faith that my intuition will lead me where my fingers want to go next. Like piano players, leaders need to be adept improvisers, willing to set aside their scripts and listen for signals, follow their instincts, and imagine a future that has not yet arrived.

Second, practice cannot be rushed. While acquiring knowledge happens quickly, transforming it into wisdom takes time. When we try to speed up, we often commit errors that force us to backtrack and start over again. Finally, practice teaches us detachment. The "performance" may be exciting, but we often practice in an inspired solitude that aligns us with a deeper inner harmony.

As long as we remain open to noticing our experience and how it is changing, then we are fulfilling the essential spirit of practice. When we devote this level of attention to any aspect of our lives, not only do we improve the outcome—the song we play or the product we create—we also discover within ourselves a heightened sensitivity and a new way of being present in the world.

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As we watch some of our large global systems—economic, political, religious—fall into crisis, many of us feel deeply disturbed, wondering what we can do to prevent further disasters. To uncover solutions to ensure our planet's long-term viability, living-systems theorist Meg Wheatley urges us to call upon our greatest human gift—the ability to think critically together. Author of the newly released Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future (Berrett Koehler, 2002), Meg has focused her recent work on how to cultivate change through collaborative reflection. "How can we possibly survive without using that skill?" she asks. "We keep running faster, hoping we'll get lucky and become smarter, but what's really happening is, at all levels, we're just creating more disasters: change initiatives that don't work, people that get hurt, environmental consequences that keep showing up."

According to Wheatley, "Learning from what we're doing is the only way to avert that level of failure." But how often do we take the time to reflect on and learn from our actions? She asks, "When do we sit with colleagues and inquire into why something failed or succeeded, why a customer got angry with us, or why we keep firing people when they make mistakes?" Focused on the task at hand that we must get done, few of us pay attention to how our actions affect other parts of the system. "Instead of making us more productive, speeding up has only made us more blind to our actions," says Meg. "But you can't operate at this level of power and this level of interconnectedness and do it blindly. It's a suicide course."
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Meg Wheatley will discuss her new book at this year's Pegasus Conference, Leading in a Complex World: Systems Thinking in Action®. Learn more about the conference. Learn more about books and resources by Meg Wheatley by reading Pegasus Highlights in the right column.

In an unprecedented move among global corporations, Hewlett-Packard has undertaken an initiative to bridge the digital divide worldwide. Seeing vast opportunities in serving the billions of people around the world who are currently excluded from the information service economy, the company launched the e-Inclusion Solutions Initiative. Through this program, HP works with local and global partners to identify and develop grassroots projects that support economic development. Over time, the company expects to create significant new markets that will drive growth in revenue and profit. The company also seeks to bring tangible economic and social benefits to the poor and meet their top priorities, such as healthcare, education, employment, access to markets, and access to credit, while at the same time respecting different cultures and preserving and enhancing the environment.

Some of the initial projects backed by e-Inclusion include:
—In Costa Rica, HP handheld computers will help farmers streamline the production and certification of organically grown coffee.
—In Senegal, the program is bringing affordable Internet connectivity and training to rural and urban areas.
—In Brazil, e-commerce opportunities will soon be accessible at over 50 McDonald's restaurants.

In each case, the goal is to support economically self-sustaining solutions built on entrepreneurial creativity; success requires grassroots participation, strong local leadership, and solid partnerships. While HP leaders frankly acknowledge that financial sustainability is a must for e-Inclusion, they continue to stay focused on the long-term view of their investment—extending the promise of the information age to those currently left in its shadow.

Source: Janice Molloy, "Debating the Digital Divide," The Systems Thinker, April 2002, and www.hp.com/e-inclusion.

In his latest column, Bill Harris evokes a prominent corporate leader's rule of thumb for managing growth successfully. Plugging this magic formula—the maximum rate a company can grow and still live within its means—into a computer simulation, Bill invites you to test the model and create your own rule of thumb to guide your company's growth. Read the column and test the model.