By Peter Block

This culture holds firmly to the belief that our institutions and our citizens are driven and shaped by those who lead them. When we look at a workplace, we explain its culture by looking at the management style and vision of its leaders.

We ignore the possibility that leaders are created, manufactured, and molded by their followers. Employees hold important cards that determine what the organization will become. Leaders have their place, and we would each rather have a great leader than a small one, but we consistently undervalue the extent to which the leadership we get is exactly the leadership we have created.

Systems Thinking in Action Conference
November 12-14, 2012
Downtown Marriott Hotel
Indianapolis, Indiana

Don't miss our early-bird registration special, which ends on January 31, 2012. For only $650--more than 50% off the full registration fee--you will enjoy 2 1/2 days of high-impact presentations, skill-building sessions, peer-to-peer sharing, and more, all designed to give you the skills and tools you need to improve your organization's results.

Need more reasons to register? How about three of the leading speakers on leadership, change, and workplaces and communities that work for all?

Margaret Wheatley, co-founder of the Berkana Institute and acclaimed author of Leadership and the New Science and more recently Walk Out Walk On and Perseverance



Peter Block, author of several best-selling books, including Flawless Consulting, Stewardship, The Empowered Manager, and his most recent title, The Abundant Community, co-authored with John McKnight


Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline, co-author of The Necessary Revolution, and founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning




Register for Systems Thinking in Action 2012 by January 31 for maximum savings--and maximum benefit to your organization and world!

By Barry Oshry

In her seminal book, Thinking in Systems, Donella Meadows lists 12 leverage points for intervening in systems. High on her list in terms of effectiveness are those interventions that result in paradigm shifts. Citing Copernicus, Kepler, Einstein, and Adam Smith, Meadow says "people who have managed to intervene in systems at the level of paradigm hit a leverage point that totally transforms systems."

When people were living in a pre-Copernican paradigm, they didn't think that they were living in any particular paradigm; they were simply seeing the world as it was. The Sun revolved around the Earth; you could count on it. Every day. It was obvious that the Earth, as God's special creation, was at the Center of the Universe.