The Living Organization

Book excerpt: The pressure on CEOs and other leaders to create results, while balancing an increasing diversity of opposing demands, is reaching oppressive levels. Leaders sense a breakdown to our existing approaches to business. The framework that was used to guide their efforts and create successful outcomes no longer produce the same results. The Living Organization® delivers a new model that transforms the best of what worked before and expands it to deliver new life and growth for organizations. First and foremost, The Living Organization deepens our understanding of how any living organization creates the results it desires. Norman Wolfe draws on decades of experience both leading and consulting with organizations, large and small, to unravel the mystery of creating results Based on scientific, philosophical and spiritual truths, The Living Organization model explores how three distinct yet highly interdependent fields of energy influence and determine what results will and will not be created. Beyond just a new theory, Norman Wolfe provides practical tools for aligning and focusing the organization on strategy execution. Building on decades of learning about organization effectiveness and execution management, The Living Organization expands our frameworks for allocating resources and making decisions that will reap the desired results. Most organizations fail because they focus only on activities and reduce organizations to simple machines of production. But machines are, by their very nature, soulless and everything the machine paradigm touches turns soulless and lifeless. By contrast, The Living Organization brings life to an organization's activity. It is energized by relationships and brings meaning and purpose to activities. The Living Organization is a creative force and is in harmony with its environment,growing and developing as it contributes to and enhances all members of its ecosystem. "Like all living systems, organizations create by transforming energy. The magic of companies like Apple, Whole Foods, Harley Davidson, Nordstrom," Wolfe writes,"lies in their ability to harness the three energy fields of manifestation whether done consciously or unconsciously." The Living Organization presents the foundation of a new business model that provides a more detailed map to navigate the complex business world of this century. This evolutionary perspective is afresh way to understand how organizations develop, grow and evolve. It will challenge the way you think and interact. The guiding principles and theories can direct the largest of corporations or the entrepreneurial startup in getting the results they want. Deeply personal, brimming with compelling stories from real-life challenges, and packed with powerful insights, tools, and practices, this book is a potent resource for aspiring, emerging, and seasoned business leaders alike. Or anyone interested in creating the results they desire.