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January 26, 2006 Issue 70




"We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves."
—Chief Seattle

"If everything in the universe depends upon everything else in a fundamental way, it might be impossible to get close to a full solution by investigating parts of the problem in isolation."
—Stephen Hawking


NEW!
Sustainability Learning Package

Sustainability is arguably one of the most important topics of our time. Faced with potentially dramatic challenges to our customary ways of life—in areas such as climate change, loss of natural resources, economic upheaval—individuals, businesses, and communities are looking for new ways of thinking that foster more sustainable growth and development. At Pegasus, our recent production of the video Growth on a Finite Planet, and much of the content of our annual conference programs, underscore our commitment to provide our audience with tools and ideas for taking a systems approach to this controversial subject. We are pleased to introduce this learning package that includes a selection of products for deepening your understanding of the crossroads where we find ourselves today and adopting new strategies for moving forward.

Sustainability Learning Package
Order #LP0601, only $135 (regularly $193.40—a 30% savings)
The Sustainability Learning Package includes the following 8 items. Click on "Order" to learn more about each item. The price for each item when sold separately follows the item description.

• Growth on a Finite Planet DVD
Order #VONE003DI, Color, NTSC, 47 minutes, $125.00

• Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update
Order #OL027, Softcover, 338 pages, $22.50



• The Natural Step: A Framework for Achieving Sustainability in Our Organizations (PDF Format)
 Order #IMS005E, 15 pages, $10.95

• Creating Sustainable Organizations: Meeting the Economic, Ecological, and Social Challenges of the 21st Century (PDF Format)
Order #IMS008E, 20 pages, $10.95

• How Attractive Can Our Communities Be? (PDF Format)
 Order #130105, article, $6.00

 • An Economy Designed to Sustain the Environment (PDF format)
Order #130706, article, $6.00

• Overcoming the Seven Sustainability Blunders (PDF Format)
 Order #140501, article, $6.00

• Sharing the Bounty, Stewarding the Planet: Systems Thinking for Emerging Leaders, (PDF format)
 Order #150903, article, $6.00


PDF items will be sent to your e-mail address.

Get 10% Off Additional Sustainability Titles, Learning Packages and Sets

(To qualify for the discount on the below items use Priority Code LP70 when you place your order on the web site or by calling 1-781-398-9700. The discount will not be deducted from your web shopping cart total, but will be reflected in the actual charge to your credit card.)

Sustainability Titles

• A New Vision for an Interdependent Planet DVD—Keynote Address by Peter Senge
Order #V05K01D, regularly $125

• Transformational Collaborations to Sustain Our Global Society DVD—Keynote Address by Peter Senge
Order #V04K05D, regularly $125

Learning Packages and Sets

• Learning Package: Systems Thinking
Order #LP0401, regularly $100

• Learning Package: Systems Archetypes
Order #LP0402, regularly $95

• Learning Package: System Dynamics
Order #LP0403, regularly $160

• Learning Package: Team Learning
Order #LP0404, regularly $96

• Pocket Guides for Learning Set
Order #PGSET26, regularly $91


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Pegasus Communications provides resources that help people explore, understand, articulate, and address the challenges they face in the complexities of a changing world. Since 1989, Pegasus has worked to build a community of practitioners through The Systems Thinker® Newsletter, books, audio and videotapes, its annual Systems Thinking in Action® Conference, and other events.
 



FACE TO FACE
A New Vision for an Interdependent Planet: An excerpt from Peter Senge's Video Keynote from the 2005 Pegasus Conference

PEGASUS CONFERENCE UPDATE
• Theme Announced for 2006 Pegasus Conference
• Register by January 31 to Save $700
• 2006 Conference Call-for-Proposals, Deadline February 16, 2006

FROM THE FIELD
 Strategy+Business Magazine Survey Ranks The Learning Organization Among Top 10 Business Ideas of the Last Decade
 



FACE TO FACE
A New Vision for an Interdependent Planet: An excerpt from Peter Senge's Video Keynote from the 2005 Pegasus Conference

In his keynote presentation at the 2005 Pegasus Conference, Peter Senge examined some of the factors that make it so hard for us to understand the complex interdependencies that connect us to each other. First, he suggested that the accelerated pace of change that we are living today has brought us to a place of unprecedented complexity where it is fair to say "we have never been here before." Second, he observed that we simply have not fully developed our natural capacity to see the systems of which we are a part. And finally, he noted that we are challenged to expand our temporal and spatial horizons to see beyond the limits of our own perception to anticipate the impact and consequences of the choices we make.

It seems to me that this image of "beyond the horizon" is really an important one for us to embrace, because we can expand our horizons, both spatial and temporal; the horizon is not fixed.

Many of you in business know that one of the most effective things you can do to extend your spatial horizon is to just go out and visit customers and suppliers. We have strategies for expanding our spatial horizon. And oftentimes, this comes down to talking with people, visiting people, seeing first hand. You don't have to live in India to appreciate the lives of people in India. But you have to see it some time first hand. And of course, you have to get to know the people. Then they become real to you. The same is true in your supply chain and inside of your organization. It's kind of mundane to say it, but without a doubt, one of the primary strategies for systems thinking that I've seen for twenty-five years in countless organizations, is to simply get people together. They talk, they see each other face to face, and all of a sudden this network of interdependency is not an abstraction; it's real human beings.

Now, in many ways, the temporal horizon is trickier. How do I expand my temporal horizon? We're interdependent in space and time. Things I do today affect my kids and my grandkids; things that other people do affect them. Things that were done twenty, thirty, fifty years ago, affect us today. This is a huge puzzle, and it's always been one of the core puzzles in the systems field. But I believe that once we see the problem, we find ways of dealing with it.

I want to use an example from the climate change area, and my reason is very simple. In some sense, this is tangible; it can be seen. Secondly, it really matters a lot. And there's absolutely no reason in my opinion, that we do not have a broad based consensus in the world - cutting across every imaginable political, religious, and cultural boundary - of the simple facts of the matter. The implications are different for everybody, and obviously there are lots of debates as to what to do. But it's hard to get to those questions if we don't have the facts.

Read the continuation of this excerpt.

View a clip from the video.

 



PEGASUS CONFERENCE UPDATE
Lowest prices in effect through January 31!

• Theme Announced for 2006 Pegasus Conference

We are pleased to announce the theme for the 16th Annual Pegasus Conference:

Leading Beyond the Horizon: Strategies for Bringing Tomorrow into Today's Choices
November 13-15, 2006, in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA (just outside of Boston)

We all know how to improve our effectiveness by learning from the past. But today's complex problems call on us to traverse time and distance in the other direction - using our imaginations instead of our memories, to anticipate the future. As we'll explore at this year's conference, systems thinking and related disciplines can help us develop this kind of foresight. By understanding the long-term impact and unintended consequences of different scenarios, we can take wiser, more effective actions.

At this conference, you'll:
• Learn from insightful speakers whose work regularly takes them beyond the horizon
• Acquire skills for anticipating unintended consequences and managing "wicked messes"
• Uncover possible futures through storytelling, scenario planning, and systems modeling
• Network and collaborate with a community of people dedicated to designing sustainable solutions rather than quick fixes
• Reinforce your commitment to making a difference on a personal, organizational, and global level

Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline and founding chair of SoL, Society for Organizational Learning, is a featured keynote speaker. Other speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

• Register by January 31 to Save $700

Act now to secure your early bird discount! Register before January 31 for only $950 and save $700 off the standard conference price! Additional discount available for teams of 4 or more! When you register, you may also elect to receive a special one-year subscription to The Systems Thinker Newsletter for only $89—a $30 savings off the regular price. Register on our web site, or call 1-781-398-9700.

• 2006 Conference Call-for-Proposals, Deadline February 16, 2006
We are looking for presentations, both application case studies and skill-building workshops, that explore how we can extend our vision and strengthen our ability to lead now by making the right choices for today and tomorrow. If you would like to submit a proposal, please read the submission guidelines on our web site.

The deadline for preliminary applications is February 16, 2006.
 



FROM THE FIELD
Strategy+Business Magazine Survey Ranks The Learning Organization Among Top 10 Business Ideas of the Last Decade
For its 10th-anniversary issue, Strategy+Business magazine invited readers and thought leaders to respond to the following question: Of all the Big Ideas we have covered over the past decade, which are most likely to endure for (at least) another 10 years? Here's their answer:

1. Execution
2. The Learning Organization
3. Corporate Values
4. Customer Relationship Management
5. Disruptive Technology
6. Leadership Development
7. Organizational DNA
8. Strategy-Based Transformation
9. Complexity
10. Lean Thinking

Click here for complete article and commentary from Art Kleiner, Rosabeth Moss Kantor, Michael Schrage, and links to related resources.

 



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