[P2P-F] Fwd: Infecting Organizations with Clear Thinking

[Michel Bauwens]

a little bit hyperbolic intro, but likely an interesting bk

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michelle Smith <admin at triarchypress.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 11:30 PM
Subject: Infecting Organizations with Clear Thinking
To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com


        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<http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/pdfs/Facing-the-Fold-Sample-Pages.pdf>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*<http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/Ogilvy-Scenario-Planning.htm>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<http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/Ogilvy-Scenario-Planning.htm>
* at Triarchy’s website. Save 40% if you buy it before 6th March.

-------------------------------



*About Triarchy Press*

Triarchy Press <http://www.triarchypress.co.uk/pages/triarchy.htm> is an
independent publisher of books and pamphlets, focusing on organisations, how
they work and the way we work in them.

admin at triarchypress.com ~ www.triarchypress.com



Jay Ogilvy, author of *Facing the
Fold*<http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/Ogilvy-Scenario-Planning.htm>,
is an acclaimed thinker and writer about business, organizations and
society:



*"... should be required reading for those who lead large enterprises and
governments of any size, particularly those who believe they know where we
are headed, and how to get there."*



<http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/Ogilvy-Scenario-Planning.htm>

*You probably know that*:

...scenario planning is credited with ‘saving’ Shell from the Oil Shock of
1973



...prescient scenarios were developed for post-invasion Iraq, but the Bush
administration ignored them



...by the early 2000s, scenario planning ranked as the number one planning
tool among US corporations



These essays tell you how to understand and use scenarios in your own
organisation.

*Buy the Book - Save 40% until 6th
March<http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/Ogilvy-Scenario-Planning.htm>
*


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