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May 2007, Issue 86

When new theories emerge that advance our capacity to adapt to change, we are reminded of both the continuous nature of learning and the importance of having a sound foundation on which to build. This month we bring you a taste of leading from the future, along with an opportunity to expand your collection of recordings from groundbreaking systems thinkers.

In This Issue
  • New Theories and Cherished Classics
  • C. Otto Scharmer on "The Blind Spot"
  • Learn Across Boundaries with Presenters from Every Sector
  • Purposeful Play at DynamiQUEST 2007

  • C. Otto Scharmer on "The Blind Spot"
    Alisa Gravitz

    Dr. C. Otto Scharmer is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges (SoL, 2007). In this new book, Otto expands on the "U" methodology of leading profound change that he first introduced in earlier articles and in the book Presence, with co-authors Peter Senge, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers. As we anticipate Otto's keynote presentation at this year's Pegasus Conference, we invite you to enjoy this excerpt from the introduction of Theory U. In it, he describes the "blind spot," that inner place from which we operate that we must come to understand in order to bring forth the profound systemic changes so needed in business and society today.

    The Blind Spot
    The blind spot is the place within or around us where our attention and intention originates. It's the place from where we operate when we do something. The reason it's blind is that it is an invisible dimension of our social field, of our everyday experience in social interactions.

    This invisible dimension of the social field concerns the sources from which a given social field arises and manifests. It can be likened to how we look at the work of an artist. At least three perspectives are possible:

    • We can focus on the thing that results from the creative process; say, a painting.
    • We can focus on the process of painting.
    • Or we can observe the artist as she stands in front of a blank canvas.
    In other words, we can look at the work of art after it has been created (the thing), during its creation (the process), or before creation begins (the blank canvas or source dimension).

    If we apply this artist analogy to leadership, we can look at the leader's work from three different angles. First, we can look at what leaders do. Tons of books have been written from that point of view. Second, we can look at the how, the processes leaders use. That's the perspective we've used in management and leadership research over the past fifteen or twenty years. We have analyzed all aspects and functional areas of managers' and leaders' work from the process point of view. Numerous useful insights have resulted from that line of work. Yet we have never systematically looked at the leaders' work from the third, or blank-canvas, perspective. The question we have left unasked is: "What sources are leaders actually operating from?"


    Learn Across Boundaries with Presenters from Every Sector


    Choose from among 24 diverse concurrent sessions to customize the conference experience to meet your particular needs and interests. A balance of case studies and skill-building opportunities illustrate the power of systems thinking in a wide range of applications.


    Some highlights

    Uncovering the Source of Phenomenal Results in Hewlett-Packard's Inkjet Division
    Anne Murray Allen, AMA Associates; Bob Johnson, Conversant/Storytellers, USA; Greg Merten, HP (ret.)
    Can the lessons learned inside Hewlett-Packard's legendary inkjet division be repeated by other organizations willing to follow relationship-based strategies to break from the pack? Leave with an introduction to (or reminder of) the principles that are essential for increasing healthy, phenomenal performance in 21st-century organizations.

    Teach Our Students Well: Introducing Systems Principles in the Classroom
    Diana M. Fisher and Former Students, Wilson High School, Portland, OR
    Are we helping our students think long term, understand how feedback operates in complex systems, and see how our decisions affect our immediate environment? Hear former students talk about the lessons they learned in creating high school-level models of dynamic systems and learn how to introduce modeling into your local schools.

    Only You Can Prevent Firefighting: High-Leverage Interventions for Lasting Impact
    Michael Goodman, Innovation Associates Organizational Learning; David Stroh, Bridgeway Partners
    "Firefighting" cultures that pride themselves on their ability to manage crises typically produce temporary improvements at the expense of sustainable impact. Understand why firefighting breeds "arsonists" and find the leverage points that can help you break out of the firefighting mode.

    Sustainable Cascadia: Inside Large-Scale Change
    Stephanie Ryan, Offerings Publications, Inc./Whidbey Institute; Sandra Poulson, Sustainable Cascadia/RealTrust Consulting
    This six-year, multi-city, multi-stakeholder bioregional initiative is a real-life example of the kind of leverage that is possible when we scale up our definition of the "system" and tackle a societal issue at the appropriate level. Learn how organizers have generated a spiral of participation to convert visions to action.

    Generational Synergy: The Alchemy for Dealing with an Uncertain Future
    Deborah Gilburg and Alan Gilburg, Gilburg Leadership Institute
    Do biased intergenerational assumptions undermine cooperation, trust, and a deeper understanding of the systemic dependencies that exist between age groups in organizations? Apply a powerful model of generational dynamics to build the intergenerational partnerships required to tackle an uncertain future.

    Save $400 off your full conference registration
    when you register by June 22...


    Call us at 1-800-272-0945 to discuss team registration options.


    Purposeful Play at DynamiQUEST 2007
    Linda Booth Sweeney leading systems games

    by Vicky Schubert

    Whether looking at the forces at work in the spread of diseases such as the Avian Flu or using sophisticated technology to model the causes of "stinkiness" in a campus pond in Nanjing, China, the students participating in this month's DynamiQUEST event located at Worcester Polytechnic Institute were not simply completing a school assignment. A key component of their work was to understand how the results of their investigation might be shared with policy makers or engineers to improve outcomes in a larger context.

    Ranging in age from 13 to 18, the students variously giggled, discussed, and pondered their way through the daylong event, which included poster presentations, systems-based games, and a facilitated interactive problem-solving session. Now in its seventh year, DynamiQUEST is a celebration of student work in system dynamics and systems thinking sponsored by the Creative Learning Exchange and hosted by the Department of Social Sciences and Policy Studies at WPI. Faculty members from the participating schools and from WPI and CLE served as coaches, gently questioning and prodding the student presenters to explain their thinking and consider the implications of their findings.

    This year's participants came from the Murdoch Middle School in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, the Vermont Commons School in South Burlington, Vermont--two schools that have made systems thinking an essential element of their curriculum--and from Nanjing Jinling High School and the Affiliated High School of Nanjing Normal University in China. The latter have established a learning partnership with the Vermont Commons School over the past two years.


    New Theories and Cherished Classics

    Theory U
    by C. Otto Scharmer

    Fundamental problems, as Einstein once noted, cannot be solved at the same level of thought that created them. What we pay attention to, and how we pay attention--both individually and collectively--are key to what we create. In this groundbreaking book, Otto Scharmer invites us to see the world in new ways and learn to connect to our essential Self in the realm of presencing--a term he coined that combines the present with sensing. Learn how to navigate the "U" process to see your own blind spot and pay attention in a way that allows you to experience the opening of your mind, your heart, and your will.

    hardcover, 533 pp, $38
    Order

    Also from Otto Scharmer:
    Presence in Action

    In this keynote address from SoL's most recent Global Forum in Vienna, Otto introduces the social technology of presencing to management and management science.

    DVD, approx. 60 mins.
    For institutional use: $175
    For personal use: $60


    Audio- and VHS Cassette Clearance Sale!

    Save on Classic Titles

    While audio- and video-
    cassette technologies have been almost universally replaced by digital formats, many of the recordings from past Pegasus Conferences retain timeless value.

    We have slashed the prices on many of these titles--from leaders such as Peter Senge, Daniel H. Kim, Jay Forrester, Deborah Meier, Harry Spence, Wendy Luhabe, and many, many more. Help us reduce our inventory of VHS and audiocassettes!

    Classic titles in VHS format: $25 each, or 3 for just $60!

    Classic titles in audio-
    cassette format: $9.95 each, or 3 for just $20!


    View full list of titles





    "Real leadership comes from the quiet nudging of an inner voice. It comes from realizing that the time has come to move beyond waiting to doing."

    -Madeleine Albright

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