EDITOR'S NOTE
YOUR FEEDBACK NEEDED ON REFLECTIONS: Last year we experimented with a new format to increase the timeliness and relevance of Reflections feature articles. Based on limited feedback, we are planning changes to Volume 6, and we need your input now! Take 5 minutes and share your feedback through our online survey. It will remain active only through March 20. Thank you for completing the learning cycle with us for Volume 5.
NEW SOL OFFERING: ACCELERATED LEARNING FOR BUSINESS RESULTS:
In response to the growing demand for an action-learning approach to the disciplines
of organizational learning, the spring session of the Core Competencies Course
-- May 23-26 in Cambridge -- has been redesigned as a 4-day hands-on workshop
for teams and team-leaders. Pre- and post-session consultations are included
for participating teams, with the goal of both increased capacity and specific
results on relevant work projects. When participating at an in-house session
using this format, one team member stated the he felt they had accomplished
more in three days in clarifying their desired results, understanding the complexity
surrounding implementation, and aligning around specific actions, than they
had over the course of a year. In addition, participants create a learning community
of peers with other session participants - a network that many have activated
repeatedly over the years. This approach has proven successful for groups with
little exposure to organizational learning disciplines as well as for those
who need coaching in moving from concept to tangible application. Click
here for more information and a workshop brochure.
This issue of the FLASH includes items from SoL members and friends Prasad Kaipa, Michael Sales, Joe Laur, Sara Metcalf, Edie Farwell, Penny Kennington, Cristina Koury-d'Arce, Arno Korpershoek, Göran Gennvi, Eve Mitleton-Kelly, Jan Jutten, Andy Hines, Joe Raelin, Monica Moso, Roberta Spencer, and Carrie Ruchin, in addition to a number of business items. Member-to-member 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**
1) REFLECTIONS - THE SoL JOURNAL
... Issue 6.1: Outside Insight: Balancing Private and
Public Inquiry
... LAST CALL: Please Complete the Reflections Reader Survey
...Reflections Volume 5 Compilation Released; Additional
Copies Available for Sale
2) LIAISON OFFICERS MEET AT INTEL
... Next Meeting: Hosted by Shell in the Hague, May 18-20
3) SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
... SoL Sustainability Consortium Spring Meeting on
the Social Dimensions of Sustainabilty, April 26-28, 2005, Ocean Edge Resort,
Brewster, MA
... Women Leading Sustainability Conference Call, March 21
... Winter 2005 issue of the Sustainabilty Consortium
Newsletter now available
... Three SoL members are named Donella Meadows Leadership
Fellows
... SoL European Sustainability Group to meet March 21-23 in
Bari, Italy
4) UPCOMING FOUNDING SoL EVENTS AND COURSES
... SoL Consultants' Convergence and Capacity Building
Labs, April 4-5, 2005, Cambridge, MA
... Accelerated Learning for Business Results, May 23-26,
Cambridge, MA - A Special Edition of the SoL Core Competencies Course for Teams
and Team Leaders
... Foundations for Leadership Course, May 18-20, Boston, MA
area
... A Symphony of Innovation: the 2nd SoL Global Forum, September
13-16, 2005, Vienna, AUSTRIA - Early Registration Ends May 1, 2005
5) OTHER LOCAL SoL EVENTS AND COURSES
6) COMMUNITY NEWS: Opportunities, Publications, Events
7) TO UNSUBSCRIBE
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FEATURE: AT THE INTERSECTION OF BUSINESS, SCIENCE, AND SPIRITUALITY:
A CONVERSATION WITH FOUNDING SoL COUNCIL MEMBER, PRASAD KAIPA
(The first in an occasional series highlighting the work of SoL members.)
Prasad Kaipa strives to achieve balance in his very full schedule, equally apportioning space to his consulting, research and teaching, and non-profit endeavors. A research member of the Founding SoL Council since 2002, he divides his time between consulting clients in the western United States and India, while holding research and teaching positions at several institutions -- the Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco, the Indian School of Business, and Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India, and the Leader Academy in Belgium. And that is before even mentioning the volunteer time he devotes to SoL Council and committee business, the Institute for Entrepreneurs with TiE group http://www.tiesv.org, or working on his book about discontinuous learning, and writing projects.
Recently, Prasad shared some thoughts about the special niche in which he works. In describing the vision that drives him, he commented: "Everybody talks about the 21st century being the age of knowledge. It is about people and service. How people can tap into their genius within, and how they align personal aspirations with their organizational goals are two questions that pay off handsomely for both individuals and organizations. I envision that at the intersection of business, science & technology, and spirituality (three polarities) there is unexplored wealth to be discovered. That is the area I have been digging into for the past 17 years and will stay with for the next 20!"
Drawing on his background in physics, the Indian Vedantic tradition, and 20 years of business in high tech industries, Prasad is energized by the magic he and his clients experience when he works with senior executives hungering to explore their spirituality in the context of their work and life. As to the eclectic mix of methodologies he employs, he noted: "I use business stories, scientific metaphors, movies, poetry, art, visualization, case studies, parables and meditation, in addition to conceptual models and frameworks in my work. Obviously systems thinking is at the root of my work and appreciative inquiry and dialogue are part of my tool kit."
Prasad is happy to share what he knows and what he has developed over the years
with interested colleagues.
Click here to read the
full Q and A.
Prasad can be reached through his web blog http://www.prasadkaipa.com
or by email at pkaipa@selfcorp.com.
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FEATURE: NEITHER RAIN NOR SLEET NOR SNOW: CONSULTANTS
DEFY NEW ENGLAND WINTER TO COLLABORATE ON EMERGENT LEARNING MAP
In spite of approximately 30 inches of snow falling at the foot of the SoL offices, the January 23-24 Consultants' Convergence meeting proceeded with great success thanks to a persistent design team -- led by Marilyn Darling, Jean Tully, Madeline Nold, and Michael Sales -- and a lot of patience and logistical effort by a variety of others, as well as a spirit of willingness and flexibility on the part of participants!
The planned face-to-face meeting was nimbly converted to an extended phone conference during which nineteen hearty souls used Signet Consulting's Emergent Learning Map technology to reflect on how the Consultants' Community had evolved over the past 12 months and consider opportunities for action during 2005 based on that analysis.
The process produced hypotheses about how the group gathers, how they work
together and how they market organizational learning. The opportunities generally
clustered around a few standout hypotheses:
>>If we regularly schedule meetings, we will grow the community and the
community's knowledge.
>>If we focus on producing real work results for real clients in real
time, then we will create more tangible value as a community.
>>If we continue to develop our awareness of what each person has to offer,
it will help the community make offers that involve each other.
The next Consultants' Convergence is scheduled for April 4-5 in the SoL offices
in Cambridge (see note in Upcoming Founding SoL Events below). To learn more
about the January meeting and the action steps that are planned, including other
upcoming meetings and capacity building events, please
go to the consultants' informational website.
For more information, contact Michael Sales at mjsales@comcast.net, or your consultant representatives on SoL's governing council, Julie Arnold at jarnold@mindspring.com, or Heidi Sparkes Guber at heidiji@mac.com.
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1) REFLECTIONS Volume 6, Number 1: Outside
Insight: Balancing Private and Public Inquiry
Our current feature, a conversation between Peter Senge and Saj-nicole Joni,
looks at the value of creating a network of informed, trusted, and impartial
advisers as a resource in balancing public inquiry and private reflection. This
issue is available only to Reflections subscribers and SoL members. If
you are interested in becoming a Reflections subscriber, please visit
the website.
>> REQUEST & REMINDER: We are planning future issues of Reflections and considering a variety of improvements. We would appreciate your feedback. Please complete the online survey. It will take about five minutes of your time and provide the staff which much needed feedback. Thank you!
>> Reflections Volume 5 Compilation
All 10 feature articles in Volume 5, along with a number of Emerging Knowledge
Forum pieces are featured in this 200-page compendium. To
order extra copies, visit our online store.
If you are already a Reflections subscriber, you will have received a separate email from Sherry Immediato with a link to the latest issue. If you are not a subscriber, you may become one today by visiting the Reflections website. For more information or for inquiries about your subscription, contact David Mahaffey at david@solonline.org.
**********************************************************************
2) LIAISON OFFICERS' FEBRUARY MEETING HOSTED BY INTEL
Employee Engagement emerged as the central theme of the February 2005 Liaison
Officers' meeting, hosted by Intel at their Albuquerque, New Mexico plant. Representatives
from member companies Intel, AT&T, NSA, Shell, Unilever, IFC, Ford, Petrotrin,
and guest company Boeing enjoyed two days of story sharing and collaboration
during which the universal relevance of the challenge of building a culture
of engagement resonated with everyone.
Highlights included a "peer assist" session in which Intel's Jim Fleming requested help with developing strategies to increase the net level of employee satisfaction. Participants responded with very consistent feedback about their own experience with keeping employees engaged in a rapidly changing business and economic environment. This was the third in a series of peer assist sessions which have become a regular element of the LO meetings. Additionally, Greg Clark presented a compelling case study from Ford in which he and his team had used systems thinking tools to assess the underlying forces affecting diversity goals and driving attrition and retention rates. For a summary of the peer assist process, see these notes posted on the National Health Service website (a SoL UK member). The next peer assist topic is scheduled to be on large scale project management.
Robert O'Bryan and Kristin Browning of Intel presented the results of an accelerated problem solving project in which multiple loop learning was achieved through the formation of focused task forces which reduced the problem solving cycle from 20 weeks to just 4, and created new, transferable knowledge about the problem solving process.
Marilyn Darling led the group through an Emergent Learning Map exercise; facilitators Jean Tully and Henry Frechette recorded the many cross-organizational promises and requests made, which included proposed learning journeys hosted by SoL members, as well as seeds for projects in the areas of large scale project management, leadership development, and performance management conversations. (See a summary of the Emergent Learning Map process.)
The next Liaison Officers' meeting will be hosted by Shell in The Hague, Netherlands, May 18-20, 2005. Potential members are invited to attend. If you think this type of peer collaboration would be of interest to a client or colleague, or for more information, contact Jeff Clanon at jclanon@solonline.org or Frank Schneider at frank@solonline.org.
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3) SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
** SoL Sustainability Consortium Spring Meeting, April 26-28, 2005, Ocean Edge
Resort, Brewster, MA
The Social Dimensions of Sustainability will be the central theme of this spring's
meeting. How are the social dimensions of sustainability interwoven with ecological
issues? What are success stories from the field? What are the principles underneath
these stories that make them work? How can we ferret out conditions for success
based on these principles? How will we apply them to challenges facing us such
as sustainable mobility?
A special session on Wednesday evening will feature a conversation with Stu Hart of Cornell University on the "Bottom of the Pyramid" - an approach to building real wealth and well being for the many on the bottom rungs of society.
Pre-meeting events on April 26th will include Jacquie Ottman's special session
on Design Green from 1-5 PM, as well as community meeting times for the Materials
Pooling/Value Chain project group, Products and Markets, Regenerative Business
Initiative, and Women Leading Sustainability workgroups. Any other group that
would like pre-meeting time should contact Consortium stewards Joe
Laur or Sara Schley.
Click
here for hotel information, travel help, logistics, and a preliminary agenda.
** Latest
Sustainability Consortium Newsletter
Available now in the knowledge repository, the Winter 2005 issue includes workgroup
updates, member field news, and recent publications and resources.
For more information on the Sustainability Consortium in general, please go to their public webpage.
** Women Leading Sustainability Conference Call, March 21,
1:30 to 3:00 EST
The centering question for this community of interest's next monthly dialogue
is: What does globalization mean in terms of sustainability? This question emerged
at the end of the group's February call, and they would like to see what it
triggers. They will enter this conversation with a check-in on where group members
are in their sustainability endeavors, and follow it by a deeper discussion
using the method of appreciative inquiry to probe questions as they emerge from
shared experiences.
If you are interested in joining the Women Leading Sustainability group, please
contact Sara Metcalf at sara.metcalf@sloan.mit.edu.
** Sustainability Institute Announces Donella Meadows
Leadership Fellows
Congratulations are due to three members of the SoL community who were among
the eighteen environmental and social leaders selected for the 2005-2006 class
of Donella Meadows Leadership Fellows: Jerry Nagel, a SoL Connections member
and the president of Northern Great Plains, Inc.; Matt Roman, Environmental
Affairs Manager at Visteon Corporation, a corporate member of SoL; and Michael
Dupee, Vice President of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., a member of the
SoL Sustainability Consortium. They will receive training throughout the year
in systems thinking, organizational learning and personal mastery, and ongoing
support for applying these tools to sustainability challenges they face in their
day-to-day work.
Fellows were selected for their ability to grapple effectively with multi-stakeholder
issues in their current work, and for their potential to influence thinking
in wide circles of people.
For a complete list
of fellows and their projects, visit the Sustainability Institute's website.
** SoL European Sustainability Group
>> Next SoL ESG Meeting in March 2005, Italy
The SoL European Sustainability Group (SoL ESG) will hold its fifth meeting
in March, in Bari, southern Italy, hosted the Politecnico di Bari. On 22 March,
there will be an all-day forum with Peter Senge, entitled "Can Innovation
Be a Driver for Competitiveness and Sustainability?" A panel of companies
including Nike, Italian energy company Enel, Shell, and Unilever will begin
the conversation. On 23 March in a smaller half-day meeting, participants will
pursue work begun at recent meetings -- including developing roadmaps for the
sustainability journey, looking at the system associated with leadership, stakeholder
action and sustainability, and at the course under development: "Sustainability
in Action."
See
the full meeting brochure.
Open
the registration form.
View
travel and hotel information.
Contact Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo at pontrandolfo@poliba.it
or Penny Kennington at pennykennington@waitrose.com.
>> SoL ESG's Recent Meeting in the Netherlands
In February, five of our company members and three researchers and consultants
met to explore the question of how people in organisations can move from awareness
to conviction to action on sustainability. To enable us to focus practically
on this issue, we started by looking at the sustainability journey and current
issues at supermarket group Ahold and chemicals company Solvay. We borrowed
some ideas from Unilever and Shell, and began to develop roadmaps of the past
and future journey to sustainability, looking at the different constituencies
(leaders, change agents, etc.), and the skills and processes developed and used
at each stage. For more information, contact Penny Kennington at pennykennington@waitrose.com.
To learn more about the SoL ESG, please visit their informational website.
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4) UPCOMING FOUNDING SoL EVENTS AND COURSES
** SoL Consultants' Convergence and Capacity Building
Labs, April 4-5, 2005
SoL Offices, Cambridge, MA
Design team members Michael Sales, Ellie Seamans, Cynthia Way, and Michael Yacavone
have planned a two-day event for the next consultants' convergence and capacity
lab. Grady McGonagill will be facilitating a module focused on one's theory
of practice. Marilyn Darling will be leading an exercise focused on further
insight into the power of Emergent Learning Mapping. Rick Karash will be hosting
an evening get together on April 4 at his home on historic Beacon Hill.
A block of rooms has been reserved at the the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge. If you would like to make a reservation please call Stacy Bougie at +1-617-300-9560, or email her at stacy@solonline.org.
** Accelerated Learning for Business Results: Core Competencies
in Action, May 23-26, 2005, Bedford, MA
Facilitators Robert Hanig and Sara Schley
What does success look like?
The ability to learn faster than the competition is a core competency for success
in a world of increasing globalization, complexity, and speed. In this intensive
and comprehensive workshop your team will gain an appreciation for the fundamental
tools and methodologies necessary for building a learning organization by applying
them in the context of your most pressing business challenges and opportunities.
This workshop marks the next generation of SoL's Core Competencies Course (see
editor's note above). It re-emphasizes integration with ongoing project work
to maximize the relevance and sustainability of the learning. Your teams' real-life
projects and goals will drive the content of this action-oriented 4-day immersion,
which will be augmented by pre- and post-session consultations with an experienced
consultant.
A full
program description with registration information is available on our website.
For other inquiries contact Frank Schneider by phone at +1-617-300-9535, or
by email at frank@solonline.org.
** Foundations for Leadership Course, May 18-20, 2005, Boston,
MA area
Initiating and Sustaining Profound Change
Facilitators, Peter Senge and Robert Hanig
This program goes deeply into the domains of personal mastery, collaborative inquiry, and the systems perspective as key competencies for sustaining profound change. Through the interplay of personal and interpersonal work, participants will recognize that leadership concerns the capacity of a human community to shape its destiny and to bring forth realities aligned with people's deepest aspirations. From senior executives to those with no formal authority, leaders at every organizational level will gain deeper insights into leadership as a collective phenomenon. Teams are encouraged to participate and explore together what it takes to create an environment in which leadership is a shared responsibility, naturally embedded in the fabric of an organization or community. This program was the origin of Peter Senge's book The Fifth Discipline (Doubleday, 1990).
SoL's courses are an ideal entryway into the SoL community, a premier network of skilled practitioners, consultants, and researchers who have made a commitment to life-long learning, systems change, and a sustainable future. Course participants can deepen their learning and application skills by taking advantage of the wide range of resources available from SoL such as customized in-house programs and workshops, coaching, team facilitation, intervention design and implementation support, and assessment processes.
A full
program brochure with registration information is available on our website.
This course will also be offered December 13-15, 2005 in Cambridge, MA, facilitated
by Sherry Immediato and Alain Gauthier.
For other inquiries contact Frank Schneider by phone at +1-617-300-9535, or
by email at frank@solonline.org.
** A Symphony of Innovation: Leveraging Complexity to
Create Knowledge and Confidence, The 2nd SoL Global Forum, September 13-16,
2005, Vienna, AUSTRIA
The 2nd SoL Global Forum will be held in Vienna's lively MuseumsQuarter. The theme for the forum is "A Symphony of Innovation: Leveraging Complexity to Create Knowledge and Confidence." Registration is expected to open on March 21st. Early registration for SoL members will be 675 Euros. This special rate will increase to 875 Euros after May 1st. Organizations are encouraged to be sponsors of the event and receive complimentary registrations and acknowledgement for scholarships or Forum events. You will receive a separate mailing on programme and registration details within the next week. Rates for non-members, tentative programme details, and instructions for scholarship applications will be posted on the Forum website.
Click
here to learn more about the 2nd SoL Global Forum.
Click here to
RSVP so that we will remind you as soon as registration opens.
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5) OTHER LOCAL SoL EVENTS AND COURSES
** SoL Brazil
>>Global MindChange Forum - South America Regional Meeting Going Beyond
Traditional Business Objectives, March 31-April 3, Sao Paulo, BRAZIL
Going beyond traditional business requires one to open his/her consciousness,
a transformation of our participation within organizations, within our society,
and a strengthening of communication skills at all levels. These are the main
focal points of the Global MindChange Forum - South American Regional Meeting,
taking place at the SENAC Convention Center (Centro de Convenções
do Centro Universitário SENAC), in Sao Paulo (SP). All the events are
organized by Willis Harman House/Antakara Cultura Arte Ciência with the
sponsorship of SENAC.
The agenda will span four days:
-- From March 31st through the morning of April 1st, there will be a conference
offered by The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and The Natural Step (TNS),
called "The Consciousness of a Sustainable Society."
-- From the afternoon of April 1st through April 3rd, the World Business Academy
(WBA) in partnership with the Society for Organizational Learning of Brazil
(SoL-Br) will offer a forum entitled "Going beyond Traditional Business
Objectives."
-- On the night of April 1st there will be a public presentation by Manfred
Max-Neef (Chilean Economist and 1983 Alternative Nobel Prize recipient - Sweden).
Click here for more details, or contact SoL Brazil coordinator Cristina Koury-d'Arce at quartet@uol.com.br.
** SoL European Sustainability Group
(See details in Sustainability News above)
For more information, please get in touch with Penny Kennington pennykennington@waitrose.com
or Johan Breukelaar at johan.breukelaar@shell.com.
** SoL Netherlands
Visit the SoL Netherlands website, or
for more information on SoL Netherlands activities contact Arno Korpershoek
at arno.korpershoek@chi-consulting.net.
** SoL Sweden
SoL Sweden holds their regular monthly meetings at 17.30 on the first Tuesday
of every month. Location: United Spaces, Södermälarstrand 26, 6th
floor.
For more information please contact SoL Sweden coordinator Göran Gennvi
at gennvi@naturakademin.se.
** SoL-UK (London)
Coordinator Eve Mitleton-Kelly reports that SoL-UK (London) has begun two projects
which are in their very early stages. One is with the National Health Service
on Large Scale Change, which they hope to link with the four projects on that
theme in the USA. The other is on Leadership with the Environment Agency.
The community has been actively engaging in periodic workshops, including:
-- A very successful evening meeting recently facilitated by two individual
SoL-UK members on leadership and on the book Presence: Human Purpose and
the Field of the Future, by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski,
and Betty Sue Flowers.
-- A workshop hosted by the Environment Agency as part of the leadership project.
The workshop provided the opportunity for other corporate members to share their
experience in addressing some of the critical questions they are seeking to
address in the project.
-- A network meeting focused on the inspiring story of The Hub and LearningHouse,
two social enterprises with aligned purposes to advance social entrepreneurship
and build dynamic learning communities.
Upcoming events include:
-- Annual Dinner at The House of Lords, 14 March, 6.00 to 10.00pm
Hosted by Lord Williamson
Special guest, Arie de Geus, will give a pre-dinner speech on "Decision-Taking
and How to Accelerate It." Arie de Geus is SOL-UK President. Retired Group
Planning Coordinator, Royal Dutch Shell Group and his publications include "Planning
as Learning" in the Harvard Business Review (1988), and the book The
Living Company (1997).
-- Networking Meeting "Stimulating Innovation" to be hosted by Roy
Woodhead (Hons) PhD (Leeds), Oxford Brookes University, April date and venue
TBD
-- Council Meeting and Seminar with Dr Melissa Lane, Cambridge University, May
9
"Many Hands: How Organisations Complicate Ethical Life."
For more information on SoL-UK (London) activities, please contact coordinator
Eve Mitleton-Kelly at E.Mitleton-Kelly@lse.ac.uk
or Ann Ward at annward.willow@care4free.net.
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6) COMMUNITY NEWS: Member Events, Opportunities,
Publications, Awards
** Job Opportunity: Research & Consulting Managing Director, RMI
Rocky Mountain Institute is seeking a Managing Director of its Research &
Consulting (R&C) Group. The Managing Director will play a leading role in
building RMI's future position in the environmental consulting market, promoting
our mission throughout the world and ensuring that we continue to provide the
most innovative and effective solutions.
RMI's entrepreneurial, solutions-based philosophy uses the principles of Natural
Capitalism, whole-systems thinking and end-use/least-cost design to improve
the man-made environment, industry and production processes, and energy utilization
through the efficient and restorative use of resources.
For more information or to apply, visit
the RMI website.
** Sustainable Learning: Systems Thinking
in the School of the 21st Century, March 18, 2005, "De Efteling,"
Kaatsheuvel, The Netherlands
Peter Senge, Mary Scheetz, Jan Jutten, Linda Booth Sweeney, Guus Geisen, Nico
van der Meer, Tijn Nuyens and others will lead this unique event offering an
opportunity to learn about systems thinking and sustainability in education,
with attention given to how systems thinking is connected to recent developments
in the field of leadership and learning. Peter Senge's morning keynote will
be followed by an afternoon highlighted by the opportunity to work with several
experts in systems thinking and sustainable learning:
>> Four representatives from the Waters Foundation, an American organization
that has worked for over 10 years to build systems thinking in education.
>> Mary Scheetz -- who in visiting The Netherlands has been touching the
hearts of many Dutch educators -- will review, together with her colleagues
Joan Yates, Tracy Benson, and Tim Taber, the various possibilities systems thinking
offers in an educational context.
>> Linda Booth Sweeney from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
is an expert in translating systems thinking to the classroom. She is the author
of several systems stories for children and The System Thinking Playbook.
>> Rob Quaden is an experienced teacher in systems thinking who works
in the Carlisle School, a primary and secondary school near Boston, MA. He wrote
a practical book about systems lessons in the classroom: The Shape of Change.
Jan Bisschops translated the book and adapted it to the Dutch situation. Together
they will share practical lessons.
Other workshop leaders include Jan Jutten, the author of Natuurlijk Leren
(Learning Naturally) and De systeemdenker in actie (The Systems Thinker
in Action), along with Guus Geisen, Nico van der Meer, and Tijn Nuyens.
Click
here for more information about the conference and the organizers, or go
to www.duurzaamleren.org.
For more information about registration, hotel arrangements and pre-conference
activities contact Guus Geisen at 0031-464758824 (office) or 0031-651055776
(mobile).
** Coming to Our Senses - A Benefit for the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative
Scholarship Fund with Jon Kabat-Zinn, March 22, 2005, 6:30pm
Jon Kabat-Zinn is a pioneer in bringing mindfulness to the West, specifically
integrating it into Western medicine for pain control, stress relief, and overall
well-being. Following the dialogue Jon will be signing copies of his new book,
Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World through Mindfulness.
All proceeds from the event will support non-profit professionals and law/graduate
students to attend the HNII Summer Learning Forum this June 20-24 (for info
visit the forum website).
Admission is $25 a person to benefit the HNII Scholarship Fund (cash or checks
at the door); $10 for students
Please RSVP to cmartin@law.harvard.edu.
Space is limited.
** Futures Insurrection, March 31-April 2, 2005, Miami Beach,
FL
The case for futures work has never been harder to make. It's time for an insurrection
-- a Futures Insurrection. The Association of Professional Futurists invites
you to join them for their Spring Meeting -- two action-packed days of field
training. Participants will develop a campaign strategy to create a more compelling
value proposition for futures work. The meeting will be limited to 50 participants,
and is open to APF members, sponsors, and client guests (sponsors and clients
by individual invitation only).
For
more information and a full brochure, visit the conference website.
** Learning Organization in a Learning World, April 18-22, 2005, Bangkok, THAILAND
The King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, and All India
Association for Educational Research, India, invite you to participate in an
International Conference entitled "Learning Organization in a Learning
World."
The theme of the conference is relevant to all sectors: corporate, government,
education, business, and administration. You can join the conference in multiple
ways: (a) paper-delegate (b) observer-delegate (c) workshop-organizer (d) SIG-organizer
by paying registration fees as per web information.
For RFP and more information, please visit the website.
** Spirit in Leadership; Exploring Generosity and Abundance, April 29-May 1,
2005, Peace Village, Haines Falls, NY
SoL community members Jeff Clanon, Sherry Immediato, Roger Saillant, and Martha
Brown are among the scheduled "storytelling pairs" for this weekend
retreat. As leaders, we are constantly called upon to give to others. Giving
advice and creating the space for others to be heard. Providing direction as
well as learning opportunities. Being appreciative for the contribution that
each one is making toward the success of the whole. And, before we can give
to others, we need to feel abundance within. During this retreat, participants
will use the medium of personal storytelling to explore the importance and qualities
of generosity and abundance in work and in other areas of daily life.
Sponsored by The Visions of a Better World Foundation, and the Brahma Kumaris
World Spiritual Organization.
For more information or to register, please call +1-518-589-5000.
** Creating Productive Conversations, May 1-6, 2005, Wellesley, MA
This intensive five-day program features small group work with senior Action
Design faculty and a unique opportunity to work with Chris Argyris. Effective
action in organizations depends on the working relationships among individuals
and groups and the quality of their conversation on crucial issues. People in
organizations talk together to understand complex situations, consider options,
and make choices. Workshop participants will improve the:
>>Quality and speed of key business choices;
>>Commitment of individuals and groups to taking action;
>>Effectiveness and coordination of collective actions;
>>Efficiency of information exchange.
For more information, visit the Action
Design website, or call +1-617-499-0007.
** 3rd Annual Front End of Innovation Conference, May 23-25, 2005, Boston, MA
SoL is a sponsor of this expansive product development conference, at which
Peter Senge, will join with past and current product development leaders at
Harley-Davidson to make a featured presentation entitled "Unleashing the
Organizations' Full Potential." While focusing on the Harley experience,
the discussion will address how organizational learning principles and practices
relate to the front end of innovation within any company and industry -- through
achieving greater harmony between managerial aims; a genuine sense of deeper
purpose, and managerial practices that often have adverse unintended side effects
for innovation and product development.
Other speakers include former Chairman and CEO of GE, Jack Welch; Inventor/Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Apple Computers, Steve Wozniak; Acclaimed Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic & Leadership, Creativity and Team Building Expert, Benjamin Zander; Historian, Journalist and Author, Harold Evans; Author Henry Chesbrough; President & CEO of The Clorox Company, Gerald E. Johnston, and many more.
As a member of the SoL community, you may reference the following priority
code at sign-up to receive a 15% discount on the standard event registration
fees: XM1704SOL. Be sure to stop by our table if you attend the conference.
For more information, visit the conference
website.
** 14th World Conference on Cooperative Education and the
Third International Practice-Oriented Education Conference, June 14-17, 2005
Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Participants will spend four days with the international leaders of work-integrated
learning and practice oriented education.
Speakers include:
>>Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, PhD, an expert on the economic policies
of developing and developed nations.
>>Etienne Wenger, PhD, a globally recognized thought leader in the field
of communities of practice and their application to organizations.
>>Weijang Zhang, PhD, director-general of the Education Commission for
Shanghai in the People's Republic of China.
The conference will feature three distinguished panels of college and university
presidents, executives of multinational corporations, and economic development
ministers. Participants will choose from 130 concurrent sessions, including
more than twenty devoted to practice-oriented education.
For more information and to register,
visit the conference website.
** International Innovation in Management Open Days, VI:
How to Create Learning and Entrepreneurship Capacities, June 23-24, 2005, Gipuzkoa,
SPAIN
Sponsored by the Cluster Conocimiento (Knowledge Cluster), this two-day conference
will bring together practitioners and thought leaders from business and academia
to explore the cutting-edge ideas, tools and techniques destined to be central
to the future of management practice. The "Open Days" series, which
began in 1997, has become an important forum in the south of Europe and a compulsory
event for those concerned with competitive business management. In this 6th
edition, discussion and collective learning will focus on themes such as Emotional
Intelligence, Lifelong Learning, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation.
The conference will be held in the Kursaal Convention Center in Donostia-San
Sebastián. For more information,
please visit the Knowledge Cluster's website.
** Shambhala Institute's Authentic Leadership Summer Program, June 24-July 1,
2005, Halifax, NOVA SCOTIA
What does authentic leadership look like now?
Acting from a strong sense of purpose and direction, and helping others to do
the same. Working the deep-level currents in our organizations and communities.
Opening a space for conversations that need to happen. Bringing the right people
and the right conditions together to engage tough, complex problems. Acting
with clarity, decisiveness, and a trustworthy sense of knowing. These are some
of the critical skill sets needed to lead positive change in today's complex,
challenging environments.
Join other participants for the fifth annual Authentic Leadership Summer Program
and create a powerful field of learning, action, and community.
For workshop listings,
go to the Program website.
** Twenty-third International Conference of the System
Dynamics Society, July, 17, 2005, Cambridge, MA
March 18, 2005 is the last day to submit papers/workshops/session proposals
for this year's conference.
Featured plenary speakers include Nick Pudar from General Motors Corporation and Dennis Meadows, co-author of Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update. Nick will discuss the many successful applications of system dynamics at GM, highlighting the processes that have made modeling an integral part of decision making for GM at the highest levels of management. Dennis' topic is "Sustainable Development System Dynamics." Sustainable development is not a destination; it's how you make the trip.
For more information, visit the conference website, or contact conference manager Roberta L. Spencer at system.dynamics@albany.edu.
** The 2005 Pegasus "Systems Thinking in Action"(r)
Conference, November 14-16, 2005, San Francisco, CA
A special registration rate of $995 is available through March 31 for the 2005 Pegasus Conference. The theme for this year's event is "Embracing Interdependence: Effective and Responsible Action in Our Organizations and the World." Daniel H. Kim will be a keynote presenter, and Peter Senge will appear in a special video presentation. Additional keynote speakers and program details will be announced soon.
The Pegasus Conference is an important international conference on systems
thinking and organizational learning. It brings together people from industry,
education, healthcare, government, and not-for-profits who are seeking to make
a difference through their work within their organizations and beyond. More
information is available at the Pegasus website, or by calling +1-781-398-9700.
Significant team discounts are available.
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