Successful negotiation: It’s not just about expanding the pie, it’s about regeneration
A few weeks ago, I spent a very pleasant and interesting day in the company of a group of international relations students at John Hopkins University, guiding them to discover the topic of negotiation. The introduction to the topic took place through a game based on the famous ‘prisoner’s dilemma’: as is often the case, […]
Is this really about me? Storytelling and survivor bias
Let us begin this post by telling you a story, to talk about a bias that relates precisely to storytelling, but also to talk about how the risk of a mechanical view of reality can lead us astray. During the Second World War, a group of researchers in Britain was faced with the problem of […]
Mental models, subtle racism and chocolate: a breakthrough
The context is an international and multi-ethnic meeting with some 20 participants, with the aim of reconnecting with the organisational purpose, in order to then be able to set the activities for the coming months and to appoint suitable leadership to accompany the emerging future. The official language of the meeting is French: it was […]
Ethnic differences: the case of a sensitive conversation
Conversation about ethnic differences is never easy within a group. On the other hand, after the #blacklivesmatter movement, having these kinds of conversations and acting on them has become a necessity and a starting point for creating organisational environments in which fairness and belonging can acquire concrete meaning, beyond declarations of intent and hashtags on […]
Owning our part: from denial-based business to a regenerative economy – Part 3
Denial is being challenged In her wonderful paper, the renowned systems-thinker Donella Meadows (1999) explains how, on a housing estate in the US, where houses were more or less identical, the electricity consumption was 30% lower in a particular block, compared to the surrounding blocks. Whilst insulation, number of appliances, cost of electricity, etc., were […]
Owning our part: from denial-based business to a regenerative economy – Part 2
Purpose as a way of working through this splitting Figure 1, adapted from the work of the Grubb Institute1, can help us understand what is at work in Michael’s experience. In that framework, Michael (a Person) works in a pharmaceuticals organisation (a System) that has an impact in the world (the Context). Through his […]
Owning our part: from denial-based business to a regenerative economy
Article published on “Organizational and Social Dynamics” Abstract In this article, we explore a core set of organisational and social dynamics at work in the business world: the denial and disowning of the part we play in co-creating the world we live in; and the splitting needed to protect us from the guilt and shame […]
About Overview Effect, Bateson levels and learning for the future
As a child, one of my dreams was to go into space. I imagined myself inside a space capsule watching the Earth slowly recede through the porthole and the Moon and planets gradually become more visible. Reading ‘Lucky Star and the Moons of Jupiter’ helped to make this dream even more detailed. My dream has […]
Fast-track U process
Otto Scharmer’s U process will soon be celebrating its 20th Birthday, and needless to say what an amazing, transformational impact it has had on so many people and organisations. Here at Nexus we have been using it as the background to our work for the last 15 years; often to design 1-day, or 3-day […]
Feedback? No thanks!
Antonio, marketing director of a multinational company, is a firm believer in the practice of ‘continuous feedback’ that has recently been introduced in the performance management cycle. Antonio thinks that, precisely through feedback, it is possible to develop the soft skills of his employees, not only their technical skills. That is why he never misses […]
