A review by diannamorganti
The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge
3.0
This book was written in 80s, and it makes lots of technology references that are humorous. (I’m on a weird kick of reading old classics in the field of productivity/leadership). Still, the framework holds up well. It was a short audiobook (4 hours maybe) that switched between the narrator and the author, which was a nice format.
The things I’ll continue learning about that were introduced:
1. The disciple of personal mastery, which is the first one. This concept of continuous learning making you a more open leader was interesting. This is a discipline of mine already, but I’d like to learn more about how Senge defines it.
2. Dialogue as defined by Senge. I don’t know anything about him as a person, but I like his thoughts about dialogue. He defines it as a conversation where participants “suspend” their assumptions, biases, prejudices, etc - and by “suspend” he means to acknowledge and hold it up in the conversation.
3. Creative tension - the space between your vision and reality is your creative tension. It exists alongside emotional tension but shouldn’t be confused with it. You need to get past your emotional tension and work within the space of creative tension.
The things I’ll continue learning about that were introduced:
1. The disciple of personal mastery, which is the first one. This concept of continuous learning making you a more open leader was interesting. This is a discipline of mine already, but I’d like to learn more about how Senge defines it.
2. Dialogue as defined by Senge. I don’t know anything about him as a person, but I like his thoughts about dialogue. He defines it as a conversation where participants “suspend” their assumptions, biases, prejudices, etc - and by “suspend” he means to acknowledge and hold it up in the conversation.
3. Creative tension - the space between your vision and reality is your creative tension. It exists alongside emotional tension but shouldn’t be confused with it. You need to get past your emotional tension and work within the space of creative tension.