The Necessary Revolution:
How Individuals and Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World.
In his new book, Peter Senge discusses the environmental woes facing business
and some steps that may lead to a more sustainable world
from BusinessWeek, Design Thinking June 11, 2008
Imagine a world in which the excess energy from one business would be used to heat another. Where buildings need less and less energy, and where “regenerative” commercial buildings – ones that create more energy than they use – are being designed. A world in which environmentally sound products and processes would be more cost-effective than wasteful ones. A world in which corporations are forming partnerships with environmental and social justice organizations to ensure better stewardship of the earth and better livelihoods in the developing world. Now, stop imagining – that world is already emerging.
In The Necessary Revolution, Senge applies thinking to a system bigger and more complex than the organization: global society. The book is a call to arms, an argument to business leaders that they must rethink their approach to the environment or, as one executive told Senge, "we won't have businesses worth being in in 20 years." The authors don't linger on the problems, focusing instead on the stories and insights of successful innovators, on creative solutions, and on practical approaches to meeting these challenges.
… real change occurs when people make choices. We're not going to get out of the predicament that we're in by a lot of teeny incremental things. It's going to take bold ideas… Not a political revolution because this absolutely has to be a nonpartisan issue. The future doesn't belong to one party or another.
In The Necessary Revolution, (he) profiles people, working independently or within companies or organizations, who are trying to bring about a more sustainable world. What patterns emerged?
The first is obvious: People have to be passionate. These are innovators in a fundamental sense, and innovators innovate because there is something that they are passionate about. Second, they all in different ways were able to step back and see a bigger picture. This is a huge challenge for people in companies, because so many companies are dominated by short-term perspective and because lots of people in key positions simply aren't very good or don't care very much about the bigger picture. Watch how the decisions are made.
The other two things we focused on are the ability to connect with lots of people, and collaborate across boundaries - you could call it high levels of relational intelligence.
The book is tough-minded in its clarity of the types of changes it will take to address the current situation and bring about positive and lasting change in which a sustainable world can be created. Here are a few of the major points:
* We live in a complex system in which we impact each other and the whole world.
* Small acts can join together with other small acts and cause profound change.
* Things are not always what they appear to be, and therefore, we must change our vantage point
to be able to understand causal relationships.
* Nothing short of a major shift in the ways people think can lead to sustainability.
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必要之變革：
個人與組織如何共同創造一個穩定且永續發展的世界
在他的新書裡，彼得聖吉討論到企業面臨的如災難般的大環境和可能走向更能永續經營的步驟。
取自2008六月11日的商業周刊 , 設計思維
想像一下，來自某一企業多餘的能源將被用來替另一企業加溫的世界！
建築物將需要越來越少的能源，還有「再生」商業大樓 – 製造出的能源比本身消耗量還高 – 也被設計出來了！一個符合環保的產品與製程將比不節能的更加符合成本效益的世界！合作關係是基於環保與社會公義的基礎，以確保開發中國家更理想的地球公民職責與生活品質的世界！現在，可以停止想像了 – 那個想像中的世界已經在形成中！
在必要之變革書中，聖吉將思維放到比組織系統更大、更複雜的：全球社會。本書內容引起了爭論，引起企業領導人必須重新思考他們對自然環境的態度，否則，就如一位高階主管告訴聖吉：「在未來20年，沒有其他值得我們投入的事業了。」作者們不在問題上打轉，而是著重於成功創新者、創意的解決方案和迎合這些挑戰的務實做法的相關故事和新洞見。
…真正的改變發生於人們做選擇之時。我們無法跳脫由眾多由小而大的事情累積而來的困境。需要的是真正大膽創新的想法…不是政治變革，因為這必須是跳脫黨派的議題。未來不屬於某一特定黨派團體。
在必要之變革書中，他描繪到人們，獨立工作者或是組織內之工作者，都嚐試著要引領出一個更加穩定並能永續經營的的世界。那麼哪些模式會因此而生呢？
第一個是最顯而易見的：人們必須展現出熱情。這是創新者最基本的態度，而且創新者就是因為他們對於某些事情充滿熱情所以創新。其次，他們用各種不同的方式，都能往後靠一步，看到大局。這對組織內的人們將是一大挑戰，因為許多組織是由短程的觀點在主導，因為許多在重要職務上的人這方面並不擅長或不太關心大局。看看決策是怎麼做的！
另外兩樣我們著重的是連結人群和跨疆界合作的能力，你可將其稱為高層次的人際智能。
這本書很務實，將面對當下處境所需改變的種類做了清楚的說明，也指出能建立永續經營世界所需的正面與長期的改變：
* 我們處於複雜的體制中，因此我們彼此互相影響，也影響了全世界。
* 小動作可以跟其他的小動作結合引發深層的變革
* 事情並非永遠像眼睛所見一樣，因此，我們必須改變我們的有利位置，才能深入了解因果關係。
* 人們的思維若少了重大的轉變，是無法帶我們走向真正的長遠穩定性。
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