Sector: Social Change

Showing 10 of 133 results (by popularity)

Systems Thinkers Must Go Down the Rabbit’s Hole

You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the…

From Students to Citizens and Workers: An Interview with Deborah Meier

You and some colleagues are on a retreat, discussing long-term strategies for your organization. As the hour grows late, someone brings up the issue…

Helping Groups to Function on Their Own: A New Form of Consulting

Everyone knows that we are going through a time of significant social change affecting all areas of our lives. The workplace is no exception.

Bringing Out the Best in People: An Interview with Warren Bennis

Ifirst encountered the work of Warren Bennis, widely known as “the dean of the leadership gurus,” in 1986. With a newly minted doctorate in…

The Mantra of Appreciation

Ifirst learned about Appreciative Inquiry in the late 1980s when David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney developed their model, echoing Maslow’s idea that we look…

Exposing the Hidden Benefits of Business As Usual: Why the Status Quo is So Difficult to Change

For the medical informatics unit of a major health services organization, the vision was clear and compelling: assure that the most advanced current knowledge…

Acting and Thinking Systemically

In the summer of 2006, a group of local foundations supported the leaders of Calhoun County Michigan (population 100,000), in developing a 10-year plan…

Encouraging the “Epidemic” Spread of Change

Why did the crime rate in New York City drop so dramatically starting in 1993? How is it that some products—such as Hush Puppies…

Conflicting Goals: Structural Tension at Its Worst

Susan is a task manager in an international development bank who finds herself ceaselessly pulled between satisfying client expectations on individual country projects and…

Active Convergence: Breaking Down Silos at University of Central Oklahoma

Once upon a time, not so long ago nor far away, there was a great kingdom with really super people. The ruler had tasked…