3 Review(s)

As he did in his classic Synchronicity, Joseph Jaworski once again takes us on a mind-expanding journey, this time to the very heart of creativity and deep knowing. Institutions of all sorts are facing profound change today, with complexity increasijaing at a speed and intensity weve never experienced before. Jaworski came to realize that traditional analytical leadership approaches are inadequate for dealing creatively with this complexity. To effectively face these challenges, leaders need to access the Source from which truly profound innovation flows. Many people, including Jaworski himself, have experienced a connection with this Source, often when called upon to respond in times of crisis moments of extreme spontaneity and intuitive insight. Actions simply flow through them, seemingly without any sort of conscious intervention. They dont think about what to do; they just know. But these experiences are chance occurrences ordinarily, we dont know how to access the Source, and we even have a blind spot as to its very existence. Jaworski tells the story of the development of the U Process, which enables leaders to get in touch with the Source. When two pilot projects proved the truth of what one expert had told him that action arising from access to the Source is shockingly effective Jaworski committed himself to developing an even more powerful and evolved process, one that would allow leaders to main- tain a deep and consistent connection to the Source. And he became obsessed with a truly fundamental question: what, precisely, is the nature of the Source? In an extraordinarily wide-ranging intellectual odyssey, Jaworski relates his fascinating experiences with quantum physicists, cognitive scientists, indigenous leaders, and spiritual thinkers, all focused on getting to the heart of the Source. Ultimately, he develops four guiding principles that encompass the nature of the Source and what we need to do to stay in dynamic dialogue with it. Using the combination of narrative and reflection that made Synchronicity so compelling, Jaworski has written a book that illuminates the essential nature not only of visionary leadership but also of relationships, consciousness, and ultimately reality itself. About the Author Joseph Jaworski has devoted much of his life to exploring the deeper dimensions of transformational leadership. As founder and chairman of both Generon International and the Global Leadership Initiative, Joseph collaborates with leaders who are committed to developing the capacities for innovation and transformation that result in fundamental change both in themselves and in their organizations. Joseph began his professional career as an attorney at Bracewell & Giuliani, a prominent international law firm, where he was senior partner and a member of the executive committee. In 1975 he was elected as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an honor awarded to the top 1% of American litigators. In addition, he ran a successful horse-breeding operation (Circle J Enterprises) and helped found several business, including a life insurance company and an oil refining company. In 1980, Joseph founded the American Leadership Forum, a non-governmental organization dedicated to strengthening collaborative civic leadership in the United States. Ten years later, he joined the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies in London to head Shell's renowned team of scenario planners. Under his leadership, the Shell team made a fundamental shift in the way the company framed and used scenarios as a tool for strategy formation. Joseph encouraged the company to use scenarios not merely to adapt to different possible futures, but to generate--to participate in bringing forth- -better futures. Joseph returned to the U.S. as a senior fellow and member of the Board of Governors of the MIT Center for Organizational Learning, later co-founding the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL). He is co-author of Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society, which explores the collaborative development of a new theory of profound innovation and change. Josephs forthcoming book, Source: The Inner Path of Knowledge Creation, is scheduled for publication in Fall, 2011. Jaworski's older son, Joe, is the Mayor of Galveston and practices law in the Gulf Coast region of Texas. His younger children, Leon and Shannon, live in Minnesota and California, respectively. Jaworski currently resides in the Green Mountains of Stowe, Vermont.