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The Power of Collaborative Leadership:
Lessons for the Learning Organization

Advanced praise for
The Power of Collaborative Leadership

"The Power of Collaborative Leadership makes Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline come to life. For those who agree with the basic message of Senge, this is fascinating reading material. It clearly demonstrates that getting involved in organizational learning is a long and tough
journey. It opened my eyes."

—Ton Vervoort, Philips International BV

"The Power of Collaborative Leadership takes us beyond process man-agement, total quality management, and even transformational leadership to organizational learning. The authors draw the important distinction between traditional single-loop learning and much more robust double-loop learning, which can shake a corporation or a society to its very foundations.

They explain how the leadership that comes from true organizational learning distributes power throughout the organization, rather than concentrating it in a centralized hierarchy. The Power of Collaborative Leadership is a thought-provoking and important contribution to management literature that every business leader should read, reflect on, and learn from."

-- Peter A. Darbee, Senior Vice President,
CFO, and Treasurer, PG&E Corporation

"In The Power of Collaborative Leadership, Bert Frydman and Iva Wilson allow us to journey with them through their odyssey of learning within large, highly structured organizations faced with new market demands and rapid technological change. This book is an honest and personally candid accounting of their personal learning experiences and the challenges that all who greet life with an open mind and a desire to search out new frontiers must ultimately
face.

This gift of a learning history will aid readers in their personal and professional journey toward greater competitive effectiveness. The Power of Collaborative Leadership will teach organizational leaders to apply the principles and insights that enable all employees to release their creative, life-affirming energy into the workplace."

-- Dave Morse, Vice President,
Customer Sales and Services, Pacific Bell, SBC, Inc.

"The format of The Power of Collaborative Leadership is ideally suited for its purpose. The authors' reflections about their experiences, as interpreted by the ideas of organizational learning and human dynamics, are fascinating to read. As an ex-CEO, I found myself fully engaged with the authors' discussions. I only wish that I had the full benefit of this book while I was leading my own company, and I'm sure that many other executives will feel the same way. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who has taken an interest in organizational learning and who is thinking about introducing the concepts of OL to their work environment.

The Power of Collaborative Leadership will become a classic OL resource book that should benefit all who care about improving the quality of life and work in modern business organizations."

—Peter M. Banks, retired President and CEO,
ERIM International, Inc.,
and former Dean of Engineering, University of Michigan

"This book is every manager's story. Two senior execs who have been through it all -- restructuring, reengineering, downsizing, and TQM—engage the reader in a rich dialogue. They argue that trans-formation is a must in today's world and ponder whether organizational learning is the way to go. They tried it in practice and learned a lot on the way. So will the reader!"

-- Arie de Geus, author, The Living Company

"If you believe as I do that organizational learning is a requirement if one hopes to build and sustain a successful organization, this is a must-read. Frydman, Wilson, and Wyer provide real life insight into the challenges of establishing an organizational learning environment.

They've been there, and their experiences are real. Now they have provided the opportunity for more organizations to join the journey to an environment where people can build futures."

-- Rich Teerlink, retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
Harley-Davidson, Inc.

"The Power of Collaborative Leadership is an extraordinary opportunity to 'participate' in a reflective conversation with today's foremost organizational explorers. Their process of learning and the practical integration of their collective experiences unfold before the reader."

-- David Marsing, Vice President and COO,
Network Communications Group, Intel Corp.

"The Power of Collaborative Leadership goes beyond the usual touting of one's successes by taking a courageous look at failures as well, and providing rich insights into the pitfalls and the challenges of pursuing visionary aspirations in the face of pragmatic realities. Through candid reflections and thoughtful dialogue, the authors provide valuable lessons about what it takes to embark on a learning journey, both individually and as an organization. This book is a must-read for all leaders who are serious about transformative change in their organizations."

-- Daniel H. Kim, Founding Member, Society for Organizational
Learning; Co-founder, Organizational Learning Center at MIT; and
Publisher, Pegasus Communications, Inc.

"The Power of Collaborative Leadership expresses an approach to business that releases creativity and empowerment in the relationships between individuals at all levels of the traditional corporate organi-zation structure, and therefore has the potential to revolutionize the structures of corporate organizations in the future. Reading The Power of Collaborative Leadership is not an end in understanding the learning model but a beginning in the exploration of the limitless opportunities that open creative expression (both within and around organizations) has the potential to unleash."

-- Michael J. Kearney, Executive Vice President, Advance
Transformer Company (a division of Philips Electronics)

"The true power of The Power of Collaborative Leadership lies in the frankness of the conversation that Iva Wilson and Bert Frydman, two early adopters of organizational learning, have with the reader. Iva and Bert call it like it is in the real world—through vivid descriptions of the challenging but valuable journey to become more effective as leaders of learning organizations."

—Kenneth W. Freeman, Chairman and CEO,
Quest Diagnostics Inc.

"What happens when two very successful senior business executives become enamored of an academic theory and apply it in two different industrial-age organizations? Anyone interested in organizational learning, institutional change, or new concepts of leadership will find much to ponder in this candid dialogue between two leaders as they share their fascinating experience with corporate culture change."

-- Dee Hock, Founder and CEO Emeritus, Visa International;
author, Birth of the Chaordic Age; Founder and Coordinating
Director, The Chaordic Alliance

"A very useful and insightful book. It is fascinating to hear two real practitioners of organizational learning examine -- and learn from -- their own experiences."

-- Phil Carroll, Chairman and CEO, Fluor Corporation

"Reading The Power of Collaborative Leadership is like crossing the Rubicon of life—as businesses and individuals alike discover the power of organizational learning, there will be no turning back. The learning experiences shared in this book provide sound reality to organizational learning theory that will shape both high performance organizations and high-quality interpersonal relationships. The Power of Collaborative Leadership is a gift to the next generation."

-- Ken Baker, President and Chief Executive Officer
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan

"Provocative and challenging! The authors offer readers a new perspective on how to lead an organization, how to involve employees, and how to get results through people involvement and learning. They give receptive leaders a new tool for the toolbox as Senge and Peters have done before them. You may not agree with all the concepts presented, but I am sure you will be a better leader after reading The Power of Collaborative Leadership."

-- Clifton L. Smith, President and CEO,
Corning Asahi Video Products Company

"In The Power of Collaborative Leadership, the authors open their hearts with a great deal of courage. They share the doubts, uncertainties, disappointments, and frustrations encountered during their journeys, while still growing from such rich and volatile learning experiences. The reader gains invaluable insight on the dos and don'ts so fundamental to any business manager who strives to move an organization to a new level of performance through organiza-tional learning.”

-- Marcos Magalhaes, CEO, Philips Electronics, Latin America