EDITOR'S NOTE
In an effort to make the FLASH more useful to you, we have published this issue in html and added hyperlinks from the table of contents so you can jump to the items of most interest to you. I know that not everyone prefers to receive emails in html format, and we will retain a plain text version for distribution to those who request it. I intend further improvements to the FLASH, and would welcome your suggestions. Please feel free to forward me copies of other e-newsletters that you like as we consider additional format and style upgrades.
This issue of the FLASH includes items from SoL members and friends Bill Torbert, Carol Gorelick, Art Kleiner, Joe Laur, Penny Kennington, Irène Dupoux-Couturier, Steen Buchreitz Jensen, Arno Korpershoek, Göran Gennvi, John Sterman, Jose Ramos, Diana Durham, Georgie Bishop, Jim Ritchie-Dunham, Marianne Picard, Rick Karash, Sandy Heierbacher and Leanne Grillo. Knowledge and information exchange is what the FLASH is all about. Please let us know more about the work you are doing so that we may share it with the community.
Send FLASH submissions, suggestions for improvement, or requests for a plain text version to: <mailto:schubert@solonline.org>
Vicky Schubert
Editor
**TABLE OF CONTENTS**
FEATURE: SUSTAINABILITY FORUM UPDATE: SoL Forum on Business Innovation for Sustainability: Leadership and Learning for a Living Economy, October 11-14, 2004, Dearborn, MI
FEATURE: RECENT SoL MEMBER PUBLICATIONS FROM BILL TORBERT, CAROL GORELICK, ART KLEINER
1) PRESENCE READERS WRITE
2) 7th SoL ANNUAL MEETING BLENDS ACTION AND REFLECTION
3) SUSTAINABILITY UPDATE
4) UPCOMING FOUNDING SoL EVENTS AND COURSES
... Learning for Sustainability Core Competencies
Course Hosted by The Coca-Cola Company, September 27-29, Atlanta, GA
... Core Competencies Course, October 4-8, 2004, Bedford,
MA; October 17-21, 2004, Vålådalen, Sweden
... SoL Forum on Business Innovation for Sustainability:
Leadership and Learning for a Living Economy, October 11-14, 2004, Dearborn,
MI
... NEW SoL OFFERING! The Fundamentals of Structural
Thinking, October 25-27, 2004, Boston, MA area
... Foundations for Leadership Course, November 25-27, 2004,
Boston, MA area
5) OTHER SoL EVENTS AND COURSES
... SoL Europe
... SoL European Sustainability Group
... SoL France
... SoL Netherlands
... SoL Sweden
6) COMMUNITY NEWS: Opportunities,
Publications, Events
7) SoL BUSINESS
... Plans for Global Forum 2005
... Staff Changes
... Staff Positions Available at SoL
8) TO UNSUBSCRIBE
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FEATURE: SoL FORUM ON BUSINESS INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY
The final agenda for the SoL Forum on Business Innovation for Sustainability,
October 11th-14th in Dearborn, MI is complete! The program features more than
40 renowned leaders, mentors and guides; 32 interactive learning sessions and
workshops; and the participation of over 30 leading institutions as program
partners and sponsors. Please consider joining your colleagues at the Ford Motor
Company Conference and Event Center, for this important event in the fall.
Discounts are available for registrations received by August 15th as well as
for SoL Members, non-profits, and teams.
View
the full conference brochure.
To learn more about the event or to talk about sponsorship opportunities, visit the Forum website, or email Todd Langton or Amir Lewkowicz, or call them at +1-617-964-2221.
Click here to register today.
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FEATURE: RECENT SoL MEMBER PUBLICATIONS
** Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming
Leadership, by Bill Torbert and Associates
In their new book, Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership,
SoL Research Member Bill Torbert and Associates introduce a fresh approach to
helping individuals and organizations learn in the midst of the cut and thrust
of daily action.
In examining the practice of action inquiry in the context of Torbert's developmental leadership model, the book
Peter Senge calls the work "A book for managers and students of management who are serious about exploring in depth how leaders and organizations can develop the capacity to continually learn and transform themselves."
Through a special arrangement with the publisher, SoL members receive a 20% discount on this title when you order directly from them (no discount is available from Amazon). Use the code SOLBT1 during the checkout process. Learn more or order Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership.
** Performance through Learning: Knowledge Management
in Practice, by Carol Gorelick, Nick Milton, and Kurt April
An international perspective on knowledge management is featured in this new
book from SoL Research Member, Carol Gorelick, published in April by Elsevier-Butterworth
Heinemann in their Improving Human Performance series.
Mark McElroy, a past SoL member and President of Knowledge Management Consortium International writes: "This is the most definitive work I know of that clearly links knowledge management strategy with enhancements in organizational learning. Complete with several first-hand accounts of related case studies, Gorelick and her collaborators make it clear to all who will listen that KM has become a powerful, new social science, not a fleeting technology, and is here to stay".
Performance through Learning is a practical guide to the key issues surrounding knowledge management from a human resource perspective and provides incisive insights into developing a strategy linked to organizational learning. The authors present a framework and model that practitioners within organizations can adapt to increase performance through learning using knowledge management tools.
Learn more or order Performance through Learning: Knowledge Management in Practice.
** Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power,
Privilege and Success, by Art Kleiner
This new book from SoL Research Member Art Kleiner, describes the true purposes
and values of the most powerful entities of our contemporary world -- organizations.
It starts with the premise that, in every company, agency, institution and enterprise,
there is some Core Group of key people -- the people who really matter. Every
organization is continually acting to fulfill the perceived needs and priorities
of its Core Group. It's sometimes hard to see this, because the nature and makeup
of that Core Group varies from workplace to workplace, and so do the mission
statements and other espoused purposes that get voiced to the rest of the world.
Art Kleiner is a writer, lecturer and editorial consultant with a background in management, interactive media, corporate environmentalism, scenario planning, and organizational learning. A co-author of the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook series, his column, "Culture and Change," appears in Strategy & Business, the business quarterly for general readers published by Booz Allen Hamilton.
Learn more or order Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege and Success.
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1) PRESENCE READERS WRITE
SoL's first published book, Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future, by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers, has been garnering enthusiastic attention with over 7,000 copies sold to date. Readers have been moved and inspired by the authors' journey of inquiry.
Stefan Skarin, the CEO of Nocom in Sweden, writes: "The story of Hitler's secretary made me realize that I am a living example of being an instrument without sensing and feeling. I truly believe that many CEOs are in the same situation. I hope this book reaches many people who want to create change. I know we and the world need that, and Presence is an opener, a tool, and a guide."
Rose von Thater-Braan, co-founder of The Native American Academy writes: "You and your friends have illuminated, instructed, and brought hope and opportunity with this work. Presence is marked with a clarity fueled by humility appropriate to the mystery of the topic and the gravity of the times."
If you have read the book, but haven't yet had a chance to comment on it, please visit the Presence website. You can add your reflections to those of the hundreds of others who have contributed their thoughts through the online feedback form there. You will also find a sampling of other readers' comments.
When you order the book through SoL, you receive access to either The Presence Workbook, a 40-page guidebook that includes eight capacity-building exercises, or The Presence Reflections Collection, a compilation of six articles cited in the book, which were originally published in Reflections. You may start by visiting the Presence website, or purchase the book directly.
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2) SOL ANNUAL MEETING BLENDS ACTION AND REFLECTION
More than 200 participants from six continents and 20 countries came together to share ideas and explore how the theme of "Leading in Action" is reflected in themselves, their work, their community, and the world. The meeting was a great success in surfacing the range of work going on in the SoL community, while also allowing the community to simply be together. An outing to Thompson Island in Boston Harbor was blessed by great weather, a fine New England clam bake, and an opportunity to practice skills of quiet and reflection complemented by rich conversation.
We want to thank all the SoL community members and other volunteers who participated in the meeting as keynote speakers, session presenters, support staff, and design team members. In particular, congratulations to our fabulous "Masters of Ceremony", Marilyn Darling (SoL consultant member), Robert O'Bryan (SoL practitioner), and Becky Smith (SoL research member).
Some notes and presentation materials from the meeting are available to registrants
and SoL members on the website, and others will be added as they become available.
See
these and other reflections on the meeting.
To view the
program of the Seventh Annual Meeting of SoL which listed session themes
and presenters.
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3) SUSTAINABILITY UPDATE
** SoL Forum on Business Innovation for Sustainability: Leadership and Learning
for a Living Economy, October 11-14, 2004, Ford Motor Company Conference and
Event Center, Dearborn, MI. (See further details in FEATURE
above); View
the Forum Brochure.
** Learning for Sustainability Core Competencies
Course Hosted by The Coca-Cola Company, September 27-29, 2004, Atlanta, GA
SoL and The Coca-Cola Company, are pleased to join together to present the third
annual Learning for Sustainability Core Competencies Course.
Facilitators: John Gartner, Joe Laur, and Peter Senge
Program Description
This 2½-day course follows on the success of sessions offered in conjunction
with Harley-Davidson and Pratt & Whitney over the past few years. The program
is designed to address a need articulated within the SoL Sustainability Consortium
for shaping sustainable enterprise through practicing the principles of organizational
learning.
Who Should Attend
Focusing on sustainability, this course is designed as a hands-on introduction
to the concepts, methods and tools for building learning organizations. We encourage
the participation of individuals and teams interested in working together to
apply organizational learning tools and methods to the triple bottom line issues
their organizations face.
Participants will have the opportunity to explore practices of organizational learning and systems thinking together with cutting edge principles for sustainable enterprise in an easy to learn interactive manner. You will build or strengthen your base in organizational learning disciplines, practice applying core principles for sustainable development to current business issues, and hear cases from companies who have embraced sustainability as a strategic business practice. For more information, please contact Joe Laur or see a course description and registration page.
** SoL European Sustainability Group
-- Successful June Meeting in Hungary
The SoL European Sustainability Group held a very diverse and interesting three-day
meeting in Budapest on 14-16 June 2004. The event began with a seminar by Eve
Mitleton Kelly on Co-evolutionary Sustainability, giving us a complexity perspective
for working towards sustainability. On the second day Jozsef Veress from the
Prime Minister's Cabinet Office, presented a most interesting session looking
at how civil society and organisations can work together to build sustainability
environmentally -- and also financially, socially, regionally and culturally
-- and how the state can support, initiate dialogue etc. The agenda for Day
Two was rounded out with several other diverse sessions on aspects of organisational
sustainability and regional development. And the final day featured a planning
meeting at which the eleven group members present reflected on the outcomes
of the first two days of the meeting, and considered what projects might be
taken up going forward.
-- Next Meeting, 4 and 5 November, at the Small Earth Centre, Rotterdam, The
Netherlands
Johan Breukelaar of Shell Chemicals and Bernedine Bos of NIDO are jointly hosting
our next meeting on 4 and 5 November, at the Small Earth Centre, which is run
on sustainability principles in the Netherlands. The first day will explore
the links between organisational learning and sustainability, and focus on some
organisational principles and tools - including the conditions for dialogue,
and sessions on story-telling and connecting with nature. On the second day
we will be working on our projects and on the development of our group. We are
seeking to expand the group, and particularly wish to invite people from for-profit
and not-for-profit organisations to come to the next meeting.
See notes from the June meeting and more on the activities of the SoL European Sustainability Group, or contact convenor, Penny Kennington. To learn more about the November meeting, please contact Johan Breukelaar.
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4) UPCOMING FOUNDING SoL EVENTS AND COURSES
** Learning for Sustainability Core Competencies Course Hosted by The Coca-Cola
Company, September 27-29, 2004, Atlanta, GA
Facilitators: John Gartner, Joe Laur, and Peter Senge. (See
description in "SUSTAINABILITY UPDATE" above.)
** Core Competencies Course: Building Learning Organizations,
October 4-8, 2004, Bedford, MA, with facilitators Robert Hanig and Beth Jandernoa;
and October
17-21, 2004, Vålådalen, Sweden with facilitators Göran Gennvi
and Sherry Immediato
This course conveys the essence of SoL's mission by teaching new perspectives for individual and collective learning. It was first presented in March 1992, in conjunction with the MIT Center for Organizational Learning, and has since been attended by more than 2,000 managers and individuals from SoL member and non-member organizations. It is designed for individuals and teams interested in working together to apply organizational learning tools and methods to practical issues in the context of their organization.
This is not a typical management-training course. The program emphasizes that knowledge is really the capacity for action and that learning is the development of that capacity. Although it will introduce you to new tools and methods, it is not primarily focused on tools and methods. It is based on a simple premise: that there is no better way to learn about learning organizations and how they can be brought about than to create such an organization. After attending the course, you will have an understanding of the core competencies required for building learning organizations and you will have the experience of participating in a learning community. You will have an enhanced ability to think systemically, communicate effectively, and lead honorably.
See a full program
brochure for the Boston course with registration information.
See a full program brochure for the Vålådalen course.
For other inquiries email Frank Schneider or call him at +1-617-300-9535; or fax your registration to: +1-617-354-2093.
** SoL Forum on Business Innovation for Sustainability, Leadership and Learning
for a Living Economy, October 11-14, 2004, Ford Motor Company Conference and
Event Center, Dearborn, MI. (See further details in FEATURE
above); Download
the conference brochure.
** The Fundamentals of Structural Thinking, October
25-27, 2004, Boston, MA area
Facilitator: Robert Fritz
This 3-day workshop will introduce you to the process of structural thinking,
a skill that will enable you to create clarity, deal with complexity, understand
causality, and get to the heart of the matter in any situation. Especially well-suited
for senior executives, trainers, executive coaches, consultants and
HR/OD professionals, the course is open to anyone who is intellectually curious,
generative, wanting to grow, and supportive of others' growth.
Evolved from Robert Fritz's lifetime exploration of how people learn to create, the course will give you a chance to learn new thinking techniques, understand the major principles of Structural Dynamics, practice rigor, and engage in exhilarating exercises with other interesting participants. Among the topics covered will be comparative vs. structural and original thinking, working with structural tension, and principles of visual and digital thinking.
For more information please email Frank Schneider or call him at +1-617-300-9535.
** Foundations for Leadership Course, November 8-10, 2004,
Boston, MA area
Initiating and Sustaining Profound Change
The purpose of this program is to explore the human sources of natural leadership.
Leadership is both deeply personal and inherently collective. It concerns the
capacity of a human community to shape its destiny and, in particular, to bring
forth new realities in line with people's deepest aspirations. This program
goes deeply into the domains of personal mastery, collaborative inquiry, and
the systems perspective applied to sustaining profound change. It is intended
for everyone committed to deepening their capacity for effective leadership
- including those in senior management positions and those with no formal authority.
Teams are encouraged to attend to further develop their collective leadership.
The program places a strong emphasis on the core learning competency of a creative orientation and the discipline of personal mastery. Participants spend significant time developing their personal vision as well as one they desire for their organization. Much of the learning occurs through the interplay of personal and interpersonal work among the participants. The special contribution of this leadership program comes as participants discover the profound connections between personal mastery and systems thinking, seeing that deep change in our social systems and in oneself are inseparable from each other.
See a full program brochure with registration information, or for more information, email Frank Schneider, or call him at +1-617-300-9560, or fax your registration to +1-617-354-2093.
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5) OTHER SoL EVENTS AND COURSES
** SoL Europe
-- Joint European and American SoL Organizational Members' Meeting, September
12 and 13, Paris, France
In conjunction with the next meeting of the Founding SoL Liaison Officers hosted
by Unilver in Paris (September 13-15), Solvay will host a joint American-European
meeting on Monday the 13th.
Seven organizational members of Founding SoL are scheduled to participate:
AT&T, Intel, NSA, Shell, Unilever, IFC, Sanofi-Syntholabo - along with eight
organizational members of SoL France: France Telecom, Renault, Solvay, Danfoss-Socla,
Unedic, Bonduelle, Crédit Mutuel, Institut Pasteur - and two other European
organizations: Rolls Royce and NHA.
The tentative schedule calls for SoL European company members to meet on Sunday,
September 12, at noon in Paris (location to be announced) to define the specific
outcomes they intend for this meeting. Potential topics for consideration might
include global competition, innovation, change management, quality, sustainability,
trans-national projects, Eastern Europe projects, Trans-atlantic projects.
For more information, please contact SoL Europe coordinators, Irène Dupoux-Couturier or Steen Buchreitz Jensen.
** SoL European Sustainability Group
SOL European Sustainability Group Meeting, 4 and 5 November, at the Small Earth
Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
(See details in SUSTAINABILITY UPDATE, above.)
For more information, please get in touch with Penny Kennington or Johan Breukelaar.
** SoL France
This year, SoL France has started its own publication, called "Les Cahiers
de SoL France". In June, they published a Special Issue featuring an account
of the Working Day "en famille" with Peter Senge which took place
on March 25 in Paris. The publication opens with a particularly interesting
feature in which the editors took the key elements of Peter's interventions
at different moments of the day and presented them as an "imaginary dialogue"
with Peter. This special issue of the "Cahiers de SoL France" is partly
in French (1/4) and partly in English (3/4).
For more information, please contact SoL France coordinator, Irène
Dupoux-Couturier.
** SoL Netherlands
Dutch Open 2004: September 23, 2004, Driebergen, Netherlands
This year's theme is "de lerende of ontlerende organisatie?" or "the
learning or 'de-learning' organisation?" Some SoL-Netherlands members have
defined this year's event as a challenging one without guest speakers, Powerpoint
presentations or workshops. Instead, participants will meet in open spaces to
speak, discuss and challenge each other.
Also planned for winter 2004 are a Dutch course 'bouwen aan een lerende organisatie' (building a learning organisation), organized by Guus Geisen and Arno Korpershoek, and a new Systems Thinking course.
Visit the SoL Netherlands website, or for more information on SoL Netherlands activities please contact SoL Netherlands coordinator, Arno Korpershoek.
** SoL Sweden
Core Competencies Course, October 17-21, 2004, Vålådalen, Sweden
Facilitators: Göran Gennvi and Sherry Immediato
(See description in "Founding SoL Events and Courses, above).
Conducted in English, this course is located in the breathtaking mountains of Sweden, giving the facilitators the opportunity to weave the SoL principle of alignment with nature into each day's inquiry.
SoL Sweden holds their regular monthly meetings at 17.30 on the first Tuesday of every month. Location: United Spaces, Södermälarstrand 26, 6th floor.
Download the course brochure, or for more information, please contact SoL Sweden coordinator Göran Gennvi.
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6) COMMUNITY NEWS: Opportunities, Publications, Events
** Donella Meadows Online Archive
Now Available Through the Sustainability Institute
Educators and others interested in sustainability have a new resource - the
Donella Meadows Archive. The Archive is an online library containing nearly
800 short essays written by the late systems analyst and journalist, Donella
H. Meadows.
Donella (Dana) Meadows was extraordinarily productive and inspiring, and her influence continues to be felt in many ways. Her newspaper column, The Global Citizen, appeared in more than 20 papers every week for 15 years. Through her writing and teaching, she helped people understand global systems with long delays and complex feedbacks, while also inspiring many to think about individual choices in our daily living. Both of these themes are reflected in her Global Citizen columns - engaging short essays filled with insights into how the world works now and how it might work better. These columns remain immensely useful in helping frame issues and understand the complexities of current human and natural systems. That is why Sustainability Institute has established the Donella Meadows Archive which now provides public access to a collection of 15 years worth of Global Citizen columns. In the future the Archive will house other writings and speeches of Donella Meadows, plus teaching resources developed from her work.
Visit the Donella Meadows Archive, or for more information, email Diana Wright at the Sustainability Institute or call her at +1 802 436 1277.
** Online Bibliographic Resources for Action Learning/Research
Futures
Jose M. Ramos of the Australian Foresight Institute, Swinburne University of
Technology, invites contributions to this newly compiled bibliographic resource.
He writes:
"We have recently put together a bibliography of online and hard copy resources
that relate to action learning/research futures work. The bibliography is aimed
at giving context to our upcoming special issue of Futures, via some of the
work being done in the area, as well as related work, or even work from years
ago that gives a sense of history or the emergence of the practices.
"The bibliography, however, is not complete. If possible, send me additions and comments. You may have an article recently written which should be inserted, or perhaps you can offer more hyperlinks to either your respective websites, or others you know would be valuable. Once I've received feedback over the next few weeks, I'll then send out a more updated bibliography".
Please view the bibliography, and email Jose M. Ramos with additions or comments.
** The Return of King Arthur,
by Diana Durham
Poet and Dialogos associate Diana Durham has written a significant new book
on collective leadership, exploring the myths of King Arthur and the Round Table
and using the Arthur and Grail stories to show leaders how to develop authentic
presence in the workplace.
Cultural Anthropologist Angeles Arrien writes: "The Return of King Arthur is an outstanding and important reminder that the two entwined stories are more than relevant to solving modern problems and demonstrates how multiple individual paths can come together to determine the nature of collective destiny."
Learn more or order The Return of King Arthur.
** The Sustainability Forum, Zurich, August 26-27 2004,
5th International Sustainability Forum "Business Investment in Development.
Experiences
& Perspectives"
What Is the "Business Case for Development"?
Poverty, underdevelopment and misguided development clearly constitute challenges
for politics - but should they also concern the private sector? The main thesis
to be discussed at the International Sustainability Forum 2004 is this: based
on its expertise and influence in strategically important sectors like agriculture,
information technologies, logistics and finance, the private sector can make
a substantial contribution to development in poor countries, and it should do
so in its long-term self-interest. Moreover, this contribution is indispensable
for getting closer to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
View
the full conference brochure or visit
the Forum website to register.
** Emotionally Intelligent Leaders, September 13-14, 2004,
Washington, D.C.
This course is the latest addition to the Organizational Learning Curriculum
of the Graduate School, USDA.
Emotional intelligence and the skills it encompasses are powerful tools for
leadership success. These skills have proven to be as important as technical
expertise. Emotional intelligence supports achievement and task performance
in many areas, including team building, performance evaluations, leadership
development, fostering innovation, personnel retention, conflict resolution,
change management and setback coping skills. Most importantly, emotional intelligence
helps individuals and their organizations nurture technical expertise and intellectual
capital, the lifeblood of any successful enterprise.
Designed and facilitated by Dr. Hank Weisinger, a pioneer in the study of emotional intelligence and its application, the program will focus on the core competencies of emotional intelligence: High Self-Awareness, Managing Emotions, Motivating Oneself, Interpersonal Expertise, and Emotional Mentoring. There are numerous studies that indicate that individuals and organizations that develop and apply these five areas of emotional intelligence are the most successful, both personally and professionally.
This class will also be offered March 14-15, 2005, and July 11-12, 2005, in Washington, D.C. For more information, please contact Georgie Bishop, or visit the Graduate School USDA website.
** Improving Business Performance with ithink, September
20-22, and November 8-10, 2004, Boston, MA
Instructor: Jim Ritchie-Dunham, SoL Consultant Member, visiting scholar at MIT,
and President of The Institute for Strategic Clarity.
Improving business performance is about the art of "seeing" the optimal
paths through a field of complexity. This requires the ability to see and understand
the whole. However, we have been systematically taught and managed to see/understand
pieces. Managing from Clarity offers a clear transferable process for constructing,
holding, interpreting and navigating the whole.
We ask you to bring your most important issue to the course as we will apply the Managing from Clarity principles and tools with you on that issue. By the end of the course, we offer you the ability to:
Register online at the website, or by phone at +1-603-643-9636. Or for more information, contact Jim by e-mail or by phone at +1-603-643-9636.
** Center for Creative Leadership's, 6th Annual Friends of the Center Leadership
Conference, September 29 - October 1, 2004, Chicago, IL
Peter Senge will deliver a keynote entitled "Creating a Global Society:
Separation without Separateness" at this three-day conference for managers
and executives interested in leadership excellence.
The Friends of the Center Leadership Conference is a chance to explore new ideas on leadership and leadership development, examine today's leadership challenges, and network with peers, mentors, and authors. Participants will include an international audience of 250 professionals from business, education, and nonprofit organizations who are interested in advancing the understanding, practice, and development of leadership.
Linked by a common commitment to leadership excellence, the Center's community of alumni, partners, donors, clients and friends convene each year in an exceptional gathering devoted to the understanding and practice of leadership. The Friends of the Center Leadership Conference is an opportunity for leaders to listen to the latest ideas on leadership, and to learn from noted thought-leaders, authors and Center faculty.
For more information, visit the conference website.
** 2004 Spirit in Business Conference: Great Leaders · Good Leaders©,
September 30 - October 2, 2004, Zurich, Switzerland
Peter Senge is among the impressive roster of speakers scheduled for this spirit-filled
gathering of business leaders. The meeting will be characterized by plenary
dialogues and panel discussions with entrepreneurs and CEOs, followed by in-depth
"learnshops". All sessions are highly interactive, with limited one-way
conversations and ample space for dialogue.
More than ever, a new concept, and practice of leadership which transcends the dichotomy of "hard" and "soft" power is needed. "Hard power", the font of conventional leadership, is the resultant force of our mental, material and competitive assets: intent, analysis, competence, insight, speed, dexterity, physical resources. "Soft power", the least utilized and most difficult to exercise, is the resultant force emerging from our conscience, heart and soul: values, principles, inspiration, the spark to dream and take action, empathy, humanity, open-mindedness, the energy to be just warriors, compassion, love.
Lasting success in business, enterprise, politics or civil society, today and
in the years to come, can only be achieved by recombining the elements of hard
and soft power into a new fabric of leadership. Newly discovered knowledge,
such as the science and spirit of interconnectedness and emotional-physical
linkages, needs to be added to the ingredients that make up this new fabric.
That's the scope of Forum 2004 and that´s how we can rise to become great
leaders AND good leaders, and make a difference to our lives, our enterprises,
our society, today, tomorrow.
For more information, visit the conference website.
** The Art of Thinking Together, October 13-15, 2004, York
Harbor, ME
This two-and-a-half-day integrated introduction to dialogue, organizational
learning, and collective inquiry, promotes system-wide commitment and organizational
productivity made possible by dialogue. Dialogos International has designed
"AoTT" to build your intellectual understanding and your practical
ability to use dialogue as a strategic addition to your communications repertoire;
experiencing dialogue as both a practice and a way of being.
Dialogue enables people to access and expand their collective intelligence. In AoTT you will begin developing this capacity through skill-building and practical exercises such as:
This program is also being offered October 19-21, 2004, in Macau, China; and November 3-5, 2004, in Santa Monica, CA. For more information, please visit the Dialogos website at , or email Marianne Picard or call her at +1.617.576.7986.
** Systems Thinking: A Language for Team Learning and Leadership,
October 19-20, 2004, San Francisco
Facilitator: Richard Karash
The purpose of this two-day intensive program is to develop systems thinking
skills for practical, everyday use. Participants learn to work in teams to understand
complex problems together using the methods and tools of systems thinking. Prerequisite
for this program is a basic introduction to systems thinking as provided in
the Core Competencies courses of SoL or the Graduate School, USDA.
Participants in this two-day systems thinking program:
The program is also offered November 16-17, 2004, in Washington, DC. For more information or to register, please go to the Graduate School USDA website, and follow the link for "Systems Thinking", or contact Rick Karash.
** The 2004 National Conference on Dialogue &
Deliberation, October 23 through 25, Denver, Colorado
The second National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation will be held at
Regis University in Denver. Organizers hope to have this conference surpass
the groundbreaking 2002 conference in every way -- in numbers, in quality, in
networking opportunities, in learning and skill-building. So save the date and
get in touch if you'd like to join the conference organizing team, co-sponsor
the event, present a session or become involved in any other way! For more information
or to express your interest, go
to the NCDD website.
** Building Collaborations to Change Our Organizations
and the World: Systems Thinking in Action®, December 1-3, 2004, Hyatt Regency
Hotel, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
This year's remarkable line-up of speakers includes:
Don't miss out--when you register, you will receive 10% off
Pegasus products purchased on our web site, from the day you register until
the conference starts on December 1, 2004. (This offer is not applicable to
other conferences or newsletters and cannot be combined with other discounts.)
The sooner you register, the sooner you'll start saving on your Pegasus purchases,
so sign up today!
Register on the Pegasus website or call them at +1-781-398-9700.
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7) SoL BUSINESS
** Global SoL
SoL's Second Global Forum planned for fall of 2005
The selection committee for the Global SoL Forum has accepted the proposal of
SoL Austria to host this meeting. Because Austria is located in the heart of
Europe and borders on many of the new members of the European Union, a local
theme for the meeting will include building the European community. A sub-committee
is in the process of choosing the precise location (within an hour's drive of
Vienna) and dates (in September or very early October). These decisions will
be made by August 31st. The Design Team for the meeting will meet on October
1st and 2nd to determine the overall theme for the forum and to begin the planning
process. SoL members who have a particular interest in overall design, the proposal
process for concurrent sessions, plenary sessions, finance, logistics, communication/marketing
or other aspects of the meeting and would like to offer to serve on the Design
team should contact Sherry Immediato.
You may also contact her with any additional input for the Design Team. More
details will follow in the next Flash.
** Staff Comings and Goings
-- We wish a fond farewell to two staff members who are moving onward and upward:
JONI PARKER-ROACH has left the SoL staff to pursue a career as a graphic facilitator. We hope that her services will be in great demand among community members as she combines her natural gift for illustration and design with her familiarity with the language and practices of organizational learning. Joni can be reached at <mailto:joni@parker-roach.com>.
JACKIE TABB, who has served as the Programs and Logistics Manager for nearly three years, will be leaving SoL on August 11 to pursue a master's degree in Clinical Social Work and Urban Leadership at Simmons College. If you would like to get in touch with Jackie, you can reach her (after August 11) via email at <mailto:jtabb@yahoo.com>.
-- And we welcome some new colleagues:
DIANE NAKASHIAN, formerly of Dialogos, has joined the SoL staff in the role of Executive Assistant to Peter Senge and Sherry Immediato. Diane can be reached at <mailto:diane@solonline.org>
ROSS TUCKER, a senior and philosophy major at Dartmouth College, has joined SoL as a summer intern. We hope that Ross will be one of many interns and fellows who share their intelligence, energy and enthusiasm with us while supporting SoL's purpose and building long-term capacity for organizational learning. Ross can be reached at <mailto:ross@solonline.org>
-- Accountant:
With the implementation of a new in-house accounting system, we are seeking
a permanent full-time accountant. This new position is an excellent opportunity
to gain practical accounting experience in an interesting, unique non-profit
organization with an entrepreneurial culture.
See a complete
job description.
Interested candidates should send an
email to Christine Schneider, or call her at +1-617-300-9530
-- Program and Events Logistics Manager:
With the departure of Jackie Tabb, we are seeking to hire a new full-time, permanent
Program and Logistics Manager to provide logistical, operational, and marketing
support to ensure the successful planning, execution, and follow-up of all programs,
courses, meetings, and conferences (between 15 to 300 participants) offered
by SoL.
See a complete
job description.
Interested candidates should send an email
to Frank Schneider, or call him at +1-617-300-9535.
-- Receptionist/Office Assistant:
Ross Tucker, our summer intern is filling this position until his return to
school in late August. We have not yet officially posted the opening, but would
welcome early inquiries or referrals from community members. The duties include
greeting visitors to the office, phone answering and mail coordination, office
supplies management, data entry, and special projects. A strong interest in
organizational learning and the work of SoL are key to success in this position.
Inquiries about this position should be
directed to Diane Nakashian by email, or by phone at +1-617-300-9550.
**********************************************************************
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