The SoL Library

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Welcome to the SoL Library. Here you will find a searchable collection of publications, presentations, papers and web links that document SoL's activities and share community research and knowledge. By clicking on advanced search, you can search by category, subject and description. Use the quick links below to access selected favorites, frequently requested titles, and classic working papers.

Please visit the Library Highlights. This resource provides links to examples of research at SoL or made possible through SoL.

Selected Favorites

• The Sustainability Toolkit
  This toolkit was compiled at the request of the members of the Sol Sustainability Consortium. Its purpose is to provide a starting place and support for those who want to begin the process of educating, illuminating and shifting their organizations toward renewal, regeneration and nourishment of natural systems, communities and the financial bottom line. Clicking on each link will provide you with the website where the described materials can be downloaded, viewed, or purchased.

• "The Marblehead Letter"
  During an Executive Champions Workshop at Marblehead MA in the summer of 2001, a group of senior leaders developed this invitation to the SoL community describing an agenda for executive dialogue. 2001

• Presencing: Illuminating the Blind Spot of Leadership - C. Otto Scharmer
  Virtually all established learning theories are based on reflecting on experiences of the past. Here Scharmer discusses “presencing” or pre-sensing and bringing into presence one’s highest future potential. 2002

• Creating Desired Futures in a Global Economy - Peter M. Senge
  In June 2003, 335 researchers, consultants and executives from business, government, and civil society gathered at SoL’s first Global Forum, in Helsinki, Finland. This article was adapted from Peter’s remarks at that forum. 2003

• Looking Back, Leaping Forward - Mieko Nishimizu, Vice President, South Asia Region, The World Bank. In a keynote address from The 50th Anniversary of Japan's Bretton Woods Membership, the author describes her concern that "the future is alien to us." 2002
  

• Learning about Organizational Learning - Creating a Learning History - George Roth and Art Kleiner
  This article explores “learning histories,” a method of learning assessment developed at the MIT Center for Organizational Learning. 1995

• Leadership as a Commitment to Personal Development - Greg Merten
  In this speech, Greg Merten of Hewlett Packard cites examples from his career at HP to highlight how his committment to personal development results in sucessful leadership. 2002

• Roger Saillant on leadership - Roger Saillant
  In the immediate aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, Roger Sallant delivered this stirring talk at SoL's Second Research Greenhouse. Video, 2001

• Towards Sustainability: the Need and the Journey: Roger Saillant presentation at Bowdoin College October 5, 2004 - Roger Saillant
  Returning to his alma mater, Bowdoin College, in late 2004, Roger Saillant applauds the school's explicit commitment to sustainability and shares some of his own thoughts on people and our relationship with the planet. In this talk, he highlights data of global significance, and explores some of the values, beliefs and practices which impact humankind's approach to the world. Jan 11, 2005

Frequently Requested Titles

• Leading Learning Organizations - Peter M. Senge
  In this article, Peter discusses the three types of leadership (available but not always recognized) in organizations and the reasons why change does not necessarily need to happen from the top down. 2002

• Personal Transformation - Peter M. Senge
  At the heart of any serious effort to alter how we operate lies a concern with three dysfunctions of our culture: fragmentation, competition, and reactiveness.

• Career Anchors Revisited: Implications for Career Development in the 21st Century - Edgar H. Schein
  A "career anchor" is a person’s self-concept as it relates to their career. In this article, Schein reflects on the 8 categories most people’s self-concept revolve around and how these “anchors” will be relevant in the 21st century. 1996

• Kurt Lewin's Change Theory in the Field and in the Classroom: Notes Toward a Model of Managed Learning - Edgar H. Schein
  This essay spells out some of Lewin's basic dictums and their influence on contemporary work. Schein shows how his own thinking evolved from theorizing about "planned change" to thinking about such processes as "managed learning." 1995

• The Language of Systems Thinking: "Links" and "Loops" Michael Goodman, Jennifer Kemeny, Charlotte Roberts
  This article introduces reinforcing and balancing loops, the fundamental concepts behind systems thinking. The authors suggest ways to identify the linked events that create these loops and discuss the impact of “delays.”

Classic Working Papers

• The Ecology of Leadership - Peter M. Senge
  To sustain change -- particularly change requiring new organizational capabilities and collective intelligence -- senior executives must do two things: develop personal learning strategies, and understand the context in which they work. This article describes this "ecology of leadership." 1996

• Understanding Organizations as Learning Systems - Edwin C. Nevis, Anthony J. DiBella, and Janet M. Gould
  The authors provide a framework for examining a company, based on its "learning orientations," a set of critical dimensions to organizational learning, and "facilitating factors," the processes that affect how easy or hard it is for learning to occur. 1994