Strategic Thinking and the New Science: Planning in the Midst of Chaos Complexit

Description: Strategic Thinking and the New Science by T. Irene Sanders The future is happening today, and the most successful organizations will be those that understand the dynamics of the "big picture" in which their decisions are being made. This book describes how to understand and influence that picture. Irene Sanders pioneered the application of chaos theory and complexity to strategic thinking -- the most essential skill in todays fast-paced business environment. Now, in this straightforward, easy-to-read book, she shows how the most up-to-date strategic thinking is done, and how you can begin using it in your enterprise. Sanders original and practical approach moves far beyond traditional forecasting, futuring and scenario-building. The new science of chaos and complexity has shown scientists and business professionals alike the importance of looking at the world as a whole system, rather than as a collection of deterministic principles. Consequently, the human mind -- through the integration of intuition and intellect -- is now recognized as the only information processor capable of understanding the level of complexity in todays global business environment.By engaging the minds eye through the use of visual thinking, Sanders shows you how to develop insight about the present and foresight about the future, thereby allowing you to see and influence the future as it is emerging. The new planning paradigm presented in Strategic Thinking and the New Science is nothing less than a transformation of the science of business. For the first time in history, we have the knowledge, tools and techniques to develop visual thinking as the essential insight/foresight skill of the future. In addition to breakthroughs neuroscientists have made about brain-mind interactions, artists and psychologists are revealing the role of imagery in the creative process. And now, the new field of scientific visualization brings all of this information together with computer graphics to demonstrate how visual images can be used to engage our imaginations, enhance learning -- and stimulate our deeper levels of awareness. In this groundbreaking book, Sanders is the first to define the new model of strategic thinking -- a model that is bound to revolutionize organizations of all types as they begin to see and influence their futures -- today. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography T. Irene Sanders is principal of Sanders & Company, a consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations see, understand and influence the dynamics of the real world context in which their decisions are being made. She has worked with a wide range of Fortune 500 companies, international groups and nonprofit organizations, and she frequently provides strategic thinking and planning services to individual members and committees of the United States Congress. She lives in Evergreen, Colorado. Table of Contents Contents PROLOGUE: Exploring the Unknown INTRODUCTION PART ONE Understanding and Using the New Science 1. Listen To the Footprints 2. Butterflies and Hurricanes 3. Getting Started: Real World Applications PART TWO The Art and Science of Visual Thinking 4. Visual Thinking 5. From Forecasting To Foresight 6. The New Planning Paradigm Notes Glossary Bibliography Acknowledgments Index About the Author Review Edward N. Lorenz "Professor Of Meteorology, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology An eye-opening account of how an awareness of chaos can enter practical decision making.Ron J. Anderson, M.D. "President and CEO, Parkland Health & Hospital System This book should be in the toolbox of all the leaders of complex health care organizations. Sanders application of chaos theory will be helpful to leaders of institutions that must work in communities where change is the only constant and where continuous adaptation, anticipation, and visualization of unseen patterns are necessary prerequisites for effective leadership and stewardship.Rosabeth Moss Kanter "Harvard Business School, Author of "Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers Of Management" This useful book is a welcome reminder that forecasting is not foresight, and that the best-laid plans mean little without understanding the web of relationships in which they must be enacted. Review Quote Rosabeth Moss KanterHarvard Business School, Author ofRosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers Of ManagementThis useful book is a welcome reminder that forecasting is not foresight, and that the best-laid plans mean little without understanding the web of relationships in which they must be enacted. Excerpt from Book Chapter 1 Listen to the Footprints You must first be on the path, before you can turn and walk into the wild. Gary Snyder The Practice of the Wild Imagine what it would be like if every day were just like the day before. Only one season, spring. Trees and flowers in full bloom. Children, the same children, play in the park; no births, no deaths. Politicians give the same speeches over and over. No new wrinkles, gray hair, or bulges at the waistline. The sweetness of spring fills the air and our hearts are open to all possibilities. Only there arent any. In a world of sameness, the only possibility is that somehow something might change. Now imagine this same scene set in motion. Children grow up, we begin to see the signs of aging, and we and our loved ones leave each other by choice or by death. Conflicts arise. Businesses expand and contract. The sweetness of spring becomes the fullness of summer. Our hearts feel the ups and downs of all our experiences, and we realize that in a world of change the possibilities are endless. Every culture since the dawn of humankind has faced the challenge of explaining why and how things change. Where do stars come from? What causes the sun to push the stars aside and fill the morning sky with light? Why does a full moon gradually shrink into a crescent? Why do volcanoes erupt? Why was one tribe victorious over another? How do new tools come into existence? Where do new ideas come from? What causes disease? We live in a world of constant change, and the explanations about it are as varied and interesting as the cultures they reflect. In looking back, history reveals that the answers to these types of questions were shaped by the underlying worldview of each culture. For the earliest cultures it was observation and imagination, which grew into rich mythologies. The Greeks used a combination of mythology, philosophy, and science. Later, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam provided religious explanations. And now, modern science and its primary language, mathematics, are the dominant sources of our worldview. Its misleading to think that science can be understood in isolation from the social, cultural, and political contexts in which it developed. Its even more misleading to think of science as a timeline, the kind we all memorized in school; a straight line of names and dates attributed to specific events, discoveries, and theories. But it is important to understand how science has and continues to influence our view of the world. I prefer to think of the history of science as a collection of campfires -- campfires of thought -- dotting the social, cultural and political fields of their time. Imagine that each campfire represents the conceptual essence of those gathered around it. In order to appreciate the connections and relationships among these conceptual clusters, as well as their contributions to generations of future thinkers, we need an aerial view. From above, we see that some fires (ideas) burn brightly for a while and then go out; others never quite catch on; some become wildfires as they consume those nearby; in some places, sparks from existing fires ignite new ones; a few burn eternally; occasionally, twin fires burn like pillars of light until one grows stronger or the ground between them catches fire, creating a single column of light; some die down, then catch a gust of wind, flare up, and burn for a while longer; and others glow softly in the background, their embers keeping ancient memories alive. The history of science is a relatively new discipline, and as such there is still much to learn about the contributions of early cultures to the evolution of science. With that caveat in mind, the campfire image helps us appreciate the fact that there is an historical field or context in which new ideas develop. It helps us recognize the similarities as well as the diversity of thinking that developed in different parts of the world during the same time period. And it helps us appreciate the important impact that contact with other cultures and other schools of thought have on the spread and evolution of new ideas. Historians usually have a purpose or an agenda. In my case, its to follow the theme of change from the scientific perspective, which I believe will help us understand some of our present-day dilemmas. By listening to the voices of those who came before us well understand how we developed our preference for linear, mechanistic thinking and the assumptions by which we live and work. And well begin to understand the limitations of this worldview. Beginning with a scientific retrospective will also help us understand the context in which the new science of chaos theory and complexity began to take shape, and why it is generating so much excitement. In that light, I invite you to ride with me through the fields of history visiting briefly the major campfires of thought leading to the present. Our view of history is rarely complete. New discoveries often surprise us by pointing to much earlier and higher levels of knowledge and skill than current theories suggest. For example, we now know that by the time Egyptian civilization made the transition to hieroglyphic writing its science, art, astrology, astronomy, and architecture were all well-developed. The span of human pre history is enormous, covering the million or more years preceding the development of the first written languages, which appeared around B.c. 3000. Archaeological evidence is often fragmented, separated by continents, still buried, or destroyed by cataclysmic events or dramatic changes in the Earths climate. Because of this, little is actually known about the worldview of those who lived before the time of written history. However, by studying the earliest written records, artifacts, and the stories that exist in oral traditions today, anthropologists and historians have found clues to the belief systems of those who lived just before and after the beginnings of recorded history. These early cultures saw the world as an interconnected whole in which man, nature, a variety of mythological characters, and many types of invisible forces worked together to bring the world into its present form. Each culture had an elaborate creation story and a collection of other stories that explained the natural, social, and technical changes leading to the present. In these prereligious cultures the gods were an immanent part of the universe, not transcendent as religious leaders would later proclaim. And as such, the deities played an active role in human affairs, and natures extremes were seen as expressions of divine anger or benevolence toward humankind. Inconsistencies and contradictions were irrelevant as long as the stories satisfied questions about the past and supported stability in the present. For example, the origins of the world, its peoples, plants, and animals usually are attributed to the sexual activity and progeny of various gods and goddesses. The gods often fought among themselves. Even when killed and dismembered, a heros body could be reassembled long enough to accomplish an important task. And to account for new tools or insights, stories were expanded to include the heros use of the new "whatever" in his victory. In Western culture, we are accustomed to thinking of myth as merely fiction. But when viewed from the perspective of psychology, for example, rather than from those of anthropology or history, we see contemporary personal and interpersonal themes enacted in the mythological dramas -- love, betrayal, death, the struggle for power, and the search for wisdom. These universal or archetypal themes help explain the renaissance of mythology as demonstrated in the work of Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Robert Bly, Jean Shinoda Bolen, and Clarissa Pinkola Est Details ISBN145162428X Author T. Irene Sanders Short Title STRATEGIC THINKING & THE NEW S Language English ISBN-10 145162428X ISBN-13 9781451624281 Media Book Format Paperback Pages 192 Year 2010 Publication Date 2010-09-20 Subtitle Planning in the Midst of Chaos Complexity and Chan UK Release Date 2010-09-20 Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2010-09-20 NZ Release Date 2010-09-20 US Release Date 2010-09-20 Publisher Simon & Schuster Imprint The Free Press DEWEY 658.4012 Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:46743588;

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