Spirited Leading and Learning: Process Wisdom for a New Age (Jossey Bass Business & Management Series)

For more than twenty-five years, Peter Vaill has been a leading voice in organizational development. The noted consultant and teacher coined the phrase "permanent white water" to describe the turbulent conditions of today's corporate world. His 1972 essay, "Toward a Behavioral Description of High Performing Systems," was the first contemporary picture of what has come to be called "organizational excellence." One of the earliest proponents of spirituality in the workplace, Vaill has consistently broken new ground in defining process wisdom-those critical (and often neglected) competencies that include leadership development, continuous learning, and organizational culture. \x09
Picked up and passed along by word of mouth, Vaill's influential ideas have given him an almost cult-like status in the field. Still, many of his insightful and gifted writings have not been widely available, published as they were in trade journals or delivered at professional gatherings. But now, for the first time, Spirited Leading and Learning brings together some of Vaill's best writings for the enjoyment of his fans and for presentation to a wider audience of executives and managers who have been touched by his ideas without ever having read his work.
The ten essays gathered here lay out Vaill's preeminent thinking on the most important process issues facing business today. Spirited Leading is a compilation comprised of both classic works and new material including "Spirituality in the New Age of the Leveraged Buyout," "Executive Development as Spiritual Development," and "Process Wisdom for a New Age," which predated Senge's well-known work on systems thinking by five years.
Vaill's uniqueperspective and thoughtful observations are as relevant today as when they were first delivered. Perhaps more so. Because never before have the ideas he offers been more important to the ongoing health of organizations and the vitality of their leadership.