|
Our most common way of solving problems
-- at home, at work, in our communications, in national
and international affairs -- is to use our expertise and
authority to apply piece-by-piece, tried-and-true "best
practices." This works for simple, familiar, uncontentious
problems. But it doesn't work for the complex, unfamiliar,
conflictual problems that we all increasingly face. When
we try to solve these complex problems using our common
way, the problems end up either getting stuck or getting
unstuck only by force. We all need to learn another, uncommon
way.
Adam Kahane has worked on some of the toughest
problems in the world. He started out as an expert analyst
and advisor to corporations and governments, convinced of
the need to calculate "the one right answer."
Then, through an unexpected experience in South Africa during
the transition away from apartheid, he got involved in facilitating
a series of extraordinary, high-conflict, high-stakes problem
solving efforts: in Columbia during the civil war, in Argentina
during the collapse, in Guatemala after the genocide, in
Israel-Palestine, Northern Ireland, Cyrus, and the Basque
Country. Through these experiences, he has learned how to
create environments that enable creative new ideas and solutions
to emerge even in the most stuck and challenging contexts.
Here Kahane tells his stories and distills from them a "simple
but not easy" approach all of us can use to solve our
own toughest problems.
Using examples from families, corporations,
governments, and nonprofits, Kahane explores the connection
between individual and systemic transformation, and shows
how to move beyond politeness and formal statements, beyond
routine debate and defensiveness, towards deeper and more
productive dialogue and action. Engaging and inspiring,
personal and practical, this book offers us a down-to-earth
and hopeful way forward: a way of "open-minded, open-hearted,
open-willed talking and listening" vital for creating
profound and lasting change.
Adam Kahane is a founding partner of
Generon Consulting and the Global Leadership Initiative.
He is a leading designer and facilitator of processes through
which business, government, and civil society leaders can
solve their toughest, most complex problems. During the
early 1990s, Kahane was head of Social, Political, Economic
and Technological Scenarios for Royal Dutch/Shell in London.
Previously he held strategy and research positions with
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (San Francisco), the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development (Paris), the International
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Vienna), the Institute
for Energy Economics (Tokyo), and the Universities of Toronto,
British Columbia, California, and the Western Cape. Kahane
has a B.Sc. in Physics (First Class Honors) from McGill
University (Montreal), an M.A. in Energy and Resource Economics
from the University of California (Berkeley), and an MA
in Applied Behavioral Science from Bastyr University (Seattle).
He has also studied negotiation at Harvard Law School and
cello performance at Institut Marguerite-Bourgeoys.
|
