Books

Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society
by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers

How would the world change if we learned to access, individually and collectively, our deepest capacity to sense and shape the future? This is just one of the questions posed by the authors of a book that combines unusual personal honesty with rigorous critical thinking.

Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities
by Adam Kahane

Our most common way of solving problems—at home, at work, in our communities, in national and international affairs—is to use our expertise and authority to apply piece-by-piece, tried-and-true "best practices." This works for simple, familiar problems. But it doesn't work for the complex, unfamiliar, conflictual problems that we increasingly face. When we try to solve these problems using traditional approaches, the problems end up either getting stuck or getting unstuck only by force. We need to learn another way.

Character and the Corporation
by William J. O'Brien

Between 1969 and 1991, Bill O'Brien was marketing vice president and then CEO of Hanover Insurance in Worcester, Massachusetts. Over that period Hanover went from the bottom of the US property and liability insurance business to the top quartile. Peter Senge of MIT describes O'Brien's work at Hanover as “the most dramatic, sustained corporate renewal” he ever witnessed. In this book, O'Brien reflects on how he did it.

Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership
by Joseph Jaworski

We've all had moments when things come together in an almost unbelievable way, when events that could never have been predicted, let alone controlled, seem remarkably to guide us along our path. Carl Jung called this phenomenon "synchronicity." In the middle of his adult life, Joseph Jaworski became intrigued by a series of such experiences in both his business and personal life. In Synchronicity, he tells the remarkable story of how this journey led him to a deeper exploration and understanding of issues of leadership. It is a personal journey that encourages and enlightens all of us wrestling with the profound changes required in public and institutional leadership in the 21st century.

The Soul of Corporate Leadership: Guidelines for Values-Centered Governance
by William J. O'Brien

Values-centered leadership concerns not just mundane day-to-day matters, but matters of the bottom line; not just matters of the head, but matters of the heart; not just matters of profit, but matters of soul—in short, it concerns the very essence of our humanity. In this booklet, Bill O'Brien submits that it is time for us to heal this ecology—this relationship between human beings and their work environment—so that work serves people not only as a means for earning a living, but also as a way for us to develop our talents and express our best selves.