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The Power of Collaborative Leadership:
Lessons for the Learning Organization


The Power of Collaborative Leadership: Lessons for the Learning Organization
is written as a dialogue by businesspeople for businesspeople.

Bert Frydman was a former vice president of quality at Nortel Networks (formerly Bay Networks). In this capacity he had responsibility for quality throughout the enterprise from the supplier to the customer. His focus was on driving quality from a customer perspective into the innovative, quick time-to-market, high tech engineering climate that characterizes entrepreneurial Silicon Valley. The five disciplines of organizational learning provide tools to help accomplish this goal.

Prior to joining Nortel, Bert was the service policy and quality vice president for Pacific Bell, responsible for the implementation of strategic initiative regarding competitive service for all of Pacific Bell’s core markets. Before that, he was the general manager of the South Bay Business Unit at Pacific Bell. In addition, Bert serves as vice-chairman of Valley Credit Union and is a director of The Wellness Community of the Bay Area.
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Iva M. Wilson
was the President of Philips Display Components until 1996, when she retired. During her tenure with Philips she initiated efforts to create a learning organization in the US Division she was responsible for. Iva has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from University of Stuttgart In Germany and an MBA from University of Chicago. She participated on the design team that created Society for Organizational Learning and was appointed its President through 1997. She is also a trustee of Environmental Research Institute in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the Chairman of the Board of Michigan Future Inc. Both of those organizations are non-for-profit. In addition to that she is coaching executives who have committed themselves to create a learning organization in their respective companies.
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JoAnne Wyer
, Ph.D., Listener and Writer - I came to be the learning historian for Iva’s transformation project, beginning in 1995. Later I did some similar Organizational Learning work for Pacific Bell where I came to know Bert Frydman. In the fall of 1997, I played the role of catalyst, helping to bring personnel from Philips and Pacific Bell together for the first time to share their stories. As Bert and Iva began to share their experiences of transformation and struggle, they discovered common patterns. They also found opportunities for sharing insights and learning from each other. They formed a relationship that has endured and deepened over time. And I have been privileged to be part of it, playing the roles of interviewer, facilitator, and documentarian.
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