|
Dear Michel
We’ve just published a book that is so good it makes me want to cry. Which is rather unsettling. On top of which, the book is ostensibly about scenario planning. Which is doubly unsettling. Fortunately, I'm not alone.
Robert Fuller calls Facing the Fold "…a luminous distillation of philosophical wisdom and modern management theory."
It’s thirty years since I read anything this clear, compelling and inspiring. It reminds me why we mustn’t lose books in our e-frenzy and it reminds me why most of us bloggers and pamphleteers and tweeters and churners out of verbiage should stop writing and start reading again.
The first 5 pages explain the history of how we think about progress, the future, Utopia and catastrophe. I think they're particularly insightful - read those 5 pages yourself and see if you agree.
Paul Saffo says Facing the Fold "…will change forever the way one thinks about the future and the possibilities it holds."
Facing the Fold demonstrates how scenario planning works as a "vector for infecting organizations with the learning bug", how it can teach optimists and pessimists the dangers of their biases and increase the likelihood of any organization creating "better futures".
It starts with the nuts and bolts – how to do scenario planning (even on a tight budget) and how it fits with complexity thinking and other management styles and approaches.
Then it puts scenario planning in context - looking at organizational learning, complexity theory, social anthropology, strategy-making and Bateson's thinking on ecosystems.
Finally, it presents a series of case studies showing scenario planning in action. They mainly involve education, but any organisation can follow the examples and put the principles to work.
"…should be read by anyone... who is interested in taking wise action in complex and fundamentally uncertain times."
To read more about it, visit Facing the Fold at Triarchy’s website. Save 40% if you buy it before 6th March.
-------------------------------
About Triarchy Press
Triarchy Press is an independent publisher of books and pamphlets, focusing on organisations, how they work and the way we work in them.
admin@triarchypress.com ~ www.triarchypress.com
| 