Leading Systems: Lessons from the Power Lab

Barry Oshry's book about the Power Lab is the next best thing to being there. The Power Lab is a thirty something year old educational institution that has attracted men and women from all different walks of life. It has been a "laboratory" for Oshry, who has derived a set of truly fascinating insights about the dynamics of social systems by a constant focus upon a microworld of his own creation. As described in Seeing Systems, participants are born into the Power Lab as either members of the Elite (who own everything), the Immigrants (who own nothing), or the Middles (who own a little). There is a rich texturing of the simulation, provided in detail via a number of vignettes in the book, which help us get a sense of what life is like in these differing positions in the system. And, it turns out that life presents some daunting leadership challenges no matter where one is in the Power Lab.Through the Power Lab, and his reflections on it, Oshry has accomplished what so many experiential educators long for: He has generalized from a set of macro insights from his observations regarding the particulars of specific events. I believe that he has achieved the ideals for laboratory education that the founders of organizational development as a discipline, such as Kurt Lewin, had hoped for. Therefore, Leading Systems (and its companion volume, Seeing Systems, also published by Berrett-Koehler) occupy a very special place in the field of experiential education theory and practice, quite equivalent to the product of authors such as Argyris and his school.By using the Power Lab's imitation of life, Oshry offers some profound insights on the dynamics of power at the level of the world stage, and I would recommend these to anyone who wants the possibility of global peace to be anything other than lofty rhetoric. In a simple, but compelling way, he shows the reader how "systems make choices" that, then, affect the thoughts, feelings, and actions of everyone who is a member of the system. So, for example, Americans living in a system that chooses "individuation" are, predictably, going to misunderstand and criticize the Chinese, who live in a system which values "integration." When the driving principles of systems differ, it is very easy, and human, for the members of contrasting systems to begin to express contempt for the other system in general and for the people who are "stupid, gutless, corrupt, etc..." enough to live in it. Combine mutual contempt with eqivalent access to armaments and a contest over scarce resources, and you've got a near perfect breeding ground for war. There are a lot of big ideas in this little book, and that's a real relief from a variety of books with a completely opposite construction. In addition to the book's stimulus to the mind, there are many nice touches that make the book easy to use: the author's crisp and cartoon-like illustrations, the structured reflection exercises s

Really useful books about complex system issues are hard to find. Many offer ideas that are either too hard to imagine implementing or are too familiar, but claimed as original. Then there are some that actually suggest that we can overcome or even manage things that feel like they are just so unmanageable. Imagine being told to manage something like chaose! I'd embrace it first! For those of us who work with other human beings - though at times, who knows - Oshry's two books make the issues about living and working with those other people readable and useable. I shared my copy of "Seeing Systems" with a colleage professor friend of mine. After reading a few chapters he told me that there was "nothing new here". The very next day he called again and said that not only had he read the entire book, but he arose having actually remembered what he read, and saw lots of opportunities to use the ideas in his university peer relations and consulting practice."Leading Systems", like Oshry's earlier book, makes it easier to grasp what is so complicated in system life. The stories about the "Power Lab" are in the realm of archetypes for system thinkers. Rather than telling us just how to do it - do we really need another title about leadership tips from historical figures - Oshry paints pictures filled with the feelings, confusions and revelations that many of us can relate to.If you are looking for some erudite, academic tome, or the latest "rah-rah do it this way", or someone telling you that you just need to make it a bit more complicated, then don't read these two books. If however, you want a more simple but deep set of primers that will fill you with good ideas about your organizational context and your options - and your responsibility for what you create - read these books.

I have followed the work of Barry Oshry for many years. "Leading Systems" is an illuminating read ! In my role as Organization Development Consultant in a Fortune 500 High Tech company, I have found Oshry's work most helpful to my business clients in helping them reduce their "organization blindness". "Leading Systmes" provides practical frameworks and concrete lessons to common pain points that we encounter in our daily lives in REAL workplaces. So many of the other "leadership guru" books borrow from each other and simply re-scramble the words.....the result? Nothing new. Oshry has a way of speaking from the heart, but with an anthropologists lense that provides real clarity amidst the chaos we live in every day. I have given this book, recently, to 5 different executives in my organization, each has thanked me for opening their eyes. Now let's see if their reading of Oshry will translate to business results....stay tuned for my next installment !

This is system dynamics come alive! Oshry shows the power possibilities and power pitfalls at all levels of human interaction, whether in a hi-tech company or a family. The book is written from a hands-on perspective, uncodes the dynamics of people around us in concrete situations.

I was introduced to Barry Oshry's work when I bought Seeing Systems. I can't recommend Seeing Systems too highly. Reading Leading Systems second was appropriate as it detailed what participants experience in one of Oshry's workshops (a simulation not described in detail in Seeing Systems). Often the book reads like a novel as Oshry describes the behaviors of key players or the behaviors of one of the groups as they struggle with issues in the community setting of the workshop. Oshry shares how he was thinking when he had a chance to be a participant in his own workshop and in settings in which he was personally involved. He believes a leader can do much to influence outcomes and he creatively struggles to find ways to perturb the situation toward a better life for all in the setting. This is best done with a knowledge of systems. Near the end of the book, Oshry shares an experience of being shafted by an organization and his response to it. Most of us, being members of organizations, can relate. I read an excerpt of this incident to a group of downtrodden teachers and I heard a number of them catch their breath at the power of his thoughts and words. His creative, yet peaceful and constructive response was an example of how we can be with each other and, for me, was worth the price of the book. If we can "see" systems, we can understand behaviors of others and ourselves and be influential in the co-creation of something better for all. --Jack Bender, author of Disregarded: Transforming the School and Workplace through Deep Respect and Courage