Leading Systems

Leading Systems: Lessons from the Power Lab
by Barry Oshry, Harper Business, Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, 1999. 

It took me a little over two hours to read this book form cover to cover.  (I confess that I did not take the time to reflect on the exercises and discussion guidelines  in the later chapters of Part III and IV.)  For the first hour of reading, I felt by body was tense.  This is a good indication to me that something significant is going on.

As an OD or "change" consultant, you must read this book.  Others may wonder what is the big deal.  But systems and power and individual courage are a big deal.  This book takes you through the theory to help you understand systems and brings it into the real world.  I constantly asked myself:  "How would I react if put into a similar situation?"  "What would I do?"  My own answers where confusing and sometimes disturbing.  

If you do read this book, go back and read the introduction after finishing the book.  It reminds us of the lesson s to be learnt.  Acting as a n anthropologist, Oshry tells us the stories of the whole systems and the search for leadership.  Oshry's previous book, Seeing Systems: Unlocking the Mysteries of Organizational Life, was one of the top 20 books recommended from our Book Survey.

Perhaps the knowledge he shows us can help us truly understand the global challenge we face in what Oshry calls:  The Terrible Dance of Power.  (Go to this web site and click on items for distribution; go down the page to find the discussion on the dance we humans have danced throughout our history, a terrible dance - a dance of death and destruction, human beings killing one another in great numbers, always for great and noble causes.)

RFH (99/12)

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