Wednesday, June 11
Coming together for our Wednesday evening reception,
we will start by sharing stories of SoL's own learning journey - the insights,
the mistakes, and the guiding principles that have shaped SoL's Global Network.
Our purpose in choosing such a beginning is to bring 'new' and 'old' together
in a way that makes the most of the collective wisdom and shared understanding
of everyone present.
Related Materials:
SoL's Purpose and Principles
Marblehead Letter of Invitation
Thursday, June 12
Peter M. Senge
 Dr.Peter
M. Senge is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He is also founding chairperson of the Society for Organisational Learning
(SoL). Dr. Senge is the author of The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice
of the Learning Organization. He has lectured extensively throughout the
world, translating the abstract ideas of systems theory into tools for better
understanding of economic and organisational change. He has worked with
leaders in business, education, health care and government. The Journal
of Business Strategy (September/October 1999) named Dr. Senge as one of
the 24 people who had the greatest influence on business strategy over the
last 100 years.
The world is growing closer in some respects,
but is coming apart in others. Worldwide economic globalisation, a sign
of the macroshift, all too often benefits the few rather than the many.
There have been other macroshifts in human history, but they spanned centuries,
allowing cultural values, beliefs, and change to occur gradually. Today,
technology has reduced our time to adapt; the entire critical period of
change is compressed into the lifetime of a generation. Today's macroshift,
explains Laszlo, harbors great promise, as well as grave danger. He outlines
two possible scenarios: "The Breakdown," where we choose to drift without
a change in our current direction toward chaos, anarchy, and destruction,
or "The Breakthrough," where we collectively transform our thinking and
behavior to produce creative, sustainable solutions to dangerous global
problems. And he shows what each of us can do - politically, professionally,
and privately - to bring about the Breakthrough and shape a humane and sustainable
global future. While technology is what drives the unprecedented speed of
this macroshift, it is our vision, values, and actions now that will ultimately
determine the outcome. The choice is up to us - the power is in our hands.
Erwin Laszlo
 Prof.
Erwin Laszlo is co-founder of the Club of Rome and president of the Club
of Budapest - two organisations devoted to peace and understanding between
generations. Systemic philosopher and field theoretician, his so-called
"fifth field" describes an integrative quantum field of cosmos and consciousness
with far-reaching practical consequences, not only for constellation work.
Prof. Laszlo is the author of many books, including "Macroshift: Navigating
the Transformation to a Sustainable World" and "You Can Change the World:
Action Handbook for the 21st Century".
Friday, June 13
A learning organisation and profound change are
not built without leadership and a working leadership model. Leadership
does not develop by itself. It takes a change in acts and mental models.
In the core of change are committed and enthusiastic people. You will hear
an interesting story of a Finnish organisation which started its leadership
model development in 1999 as a part of the changing process of the whole
organisation. The CEO of Ahlstrom Corporation, Juha Rantanen will tell an
inspiring change story of the organisation. Juha Rantanen
 Mr.
Juha Rantanen was appointed president and CEO of the Ahlstrom Corporation
in June 2001. From February 1998 to June 2001, when the company split, he
served as president and CEO of the former A. Ahlstrom Corporation.
Before joining Ahlstrom, he held several managerial
and leading positions with the Finnish engineering company Partek Oy and
the fuel company Neste Oy between 1975 and 1993. Mr. Rantanen is currently
the vice chairman of the board, chairman of the energy policy committee
and member of the executive committee of the Confederation of Finnish
Industry and Employers. He is also the chairman of the Finnish Forest
Industries Federation as well as a member of the boards of several companies.
We learn, adapt, and bring forth our worlds through
the networks of conversation in which we participate, according to Dr. Humberto
Maturana. To reflect on our conversations over the two days, we will use
the World Café as an innovative methodology for dialogic inquiry, collaborative
learning, and knowledge creation. This session will help us synthesize our
experience in the parallel sessions and identify specific opportunities
for applying this knowledge. David Isaacs
 David
Isaacs, and his partner Juanita Brown, are co-founders of The World Café
(www.theworldcafe.com), an innovative approach to evoking collaborative
knowledge in both small- and large-scale settings. David is also an organisational
consultant and partner to leaders, accompanying them as they design and
co-evolve future strategies for these challenging times. Bo Gyllenpalm
 Bo
Gyllenpalm, a faculty member of the Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa
Barbara, California, has been part of the development team for The World
Café concept. Bo has been working as a management consultant with large-scale
change projects, and has been CEO for a Philips company and a Siemens company
in the past. Bo is now leading a project on how to turn the Café principles
into a new research methodology. |
Saturday, June 14
There is much to learn from the wisdom of
the leaders and novel practices adopted by Unilever. Hear experiences
first hand from a top executive, Tex Gunning, who designs rich collective
experiences that puts learning and reflection at the heart of his practice,
who genuinely cares about the people and taps into the collective wisdom
embedded in the organization. Listen to the story, richly documented as
a detailed learning history by Philip Mirvis and Karen Ayas, highlighting
how 200 leaders have taken on the leadership of the company, bringing
the future they desire into reality. Engage in a dialogue with Tex Gunning
and Joe Jaworski as they discuss the action theory guiding the transformation
and reflect on the experiences and the learnings in this company.
Tex Gunning
 Born
in 1950 in the Netherlands, Louis (Tex) Gunning is nowadays the head of
Unilever Bestfoods, Asia. He has held several positions within the company
in the Netherlands as well as abroad including director of the board of
Unilever Australasia, chairman of Unox, chairman of Van Den Bergh, Nederland
and chairman of the spreads and cooking category in Europe, business group
president for East Asia Pacific and president of the Home and Personal Care
business in East Asia Pacific. He is also a co-author of the book "To the
Desert and Back: The Story of the Most Dramatic Business Transformation
on Record." Philip Mirvis
 Philip
Mirvis, Ph.D, is an organisational psychologist who joined the Center for
Work & Family as an academic fellow in 1994. He received his BA from Yale
University and a Ph.D. in Organisational Psychology from the University
of Michigan. He is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Michigan's
Graduate School of Business, is a faculty member at Boston University, and
a visiting professor of Strategic and International Management at the London
Business School. His research and private practice concern large-scale organisational
change and the character of the workforce and workplace. He is also editor
of the 1996 book, "Building the Competitive Workforce," which offered the
field an honest look at the competitive strengths and weaknesses of the
management practices of North American companies. Karen Ayas
 Karen
Ayas is a research fellow at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands,
partner in The Ripples Group - a consulting practice specialising in growth
strategies and change management - and associate editor of Reflections:The
SoL Journal. Joseph Jaworski
 Joseph
Jaworski has devoted much of his life to the study and practice of leadership
development. He is the founder of the the American Leadership Forum, a non-governmental
agency responsible for developing collaborative leadership. He has been
a member of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group team of scenario planners and a
senior fellow and a member of the Board of Governors with the MIT Center
for Organizational Learning. "The essence of Joe Jaworski's revolutionary
method," says Peter Senge, "is to create a deep conversation that both opens
the heart and allows for a kind of connection between each individual story
and the larger pattern in the system as a whole." Jaworski is the author
of the critically acclaimed book "Synchronicity" (1996; Berrett-Koehler),
an explication of generative leadership based upon his lifelong work and
experience.
| 1.15 - 3.00 pm |
Closing Session: The Desired Futures of SoL
Göran Carstedt, Arie de Geus and Sherry Immediato |
As in all living systems, the growth of SoL as
a global network cannot be controlled or pre-determined. Just as every cell
is unique, every embodiment of SoL's basic pattern of organizing will be
shaped by the institutions and individuals who comprise its members. We
believe that it is important to build "inwards from the outward circle,"
by creating conditions for initiatives around the world and creating minimal
infrastructure to coordinate and connect these efforts. In our closing session,
we will share some of the diversity of interests going forward, while also
naming the questions and issues which we hold in common. Göran, Arie and
Sherry will offer some ideas about developing the minimal infrastructure
we need to enable the SoL community to realize these commitments.
Göran Carstedt
 Dr.
Göran Carstedt is a former managing director of SoL who has been deeply
involved in the development of SoL's global network. Dr. Carstedt is also
a consultant and coach to various US and European organisations and serves
as chairman and board member in several corporations. He is the former head
of IKEA Retail Europe, president of IKEA North America and member of the
IKEA Group Management Board. Mr. Carstedt has served for many years with
Volvo, e.g., as president of Volvo France and manager of corporate planning
at Volvo headquarters. Arie de Geus
 Arie
de Geus worked for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group for 38 years, from 1951 to
1989, on three continents. He headed Group Planning, which did pioneering
work in scenario planning, in the nature and decision-making processes of
large corporations, and in the management of change. Arie
de Geus is a connoisseur of lasting and durable companies. His famous
book, "The Living Company: Habits for Survival in a Turbulent Business
Environment," was published by Harvard Business School Press in May 1997.
In addition, he has written several articles, which have been published
in highly esteemed professional journals such as the Harvard Business
Review.
Sherry Immediato  Sherry
Immediato serves as SoL's managing director. Her work in economic development
led her to the field of organisational learning over twenty years ago.
She is an experienced organisational consultant and founder of Heaven
& Earth Incorporated. She is also vice chair of the board of the Northeast
Foundation for Children.
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