Surfing the Edge of Chaos

by PASCALE, RICHARDMILLEMAN, MARK

• ISBN13: 9780609808832
• ISBN10: 0609808834
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2001-12-26
• Publisher: Crown Business

Summary

Surfing the Edge of Chaos provides a bold new way of approaching the strategic challenges of today's business world, by showing that business parallels nature -- it is a nonstop battle between forces of tradition and forces of transformation. And the bottom line is: change or die.

Pioneering case studies of organizations such as Sears Roebuck and the U.S. Army illustrate the radical principle that only evolution prevents extinction, and that a smart business plan must mirror the way living systems operate if it is to achieve and sustain.

Author Biography

Richard T. Pascale is the coauthor of The Art of Japanese Management and author of Managing on the Edge. He has also written for the Harvard Business Review.

Mark Millemann has extensive experience working with CEOs and executive teams of companies around the world, including Sears, Hughes Space and Communications, BP Oil, Borg Warner Automotive, and the Illinois Power Company.

Linda Gioja has consulted with CEOs and executives at such companies as Allstate, Sears, and Hughes Space and Communications.

Table of Contents

Management and the Scientific Renaissance	1	(18)
Part One
Equilibrium Is Death	19	(24)
Disturbing Equilibrium at Sears	43	(18)
Part Two
Surfing the Edge of Chaos	61	(16)
Monsanto: Walking on a Trampoline	77	(16)
Amplifiers, Dampers, and the Sweet Spot	93	(20)
Part Three
Self-Organization and Emergence	113	(16)
Self-Organization and the Corporation	129	(22)
Part Four
Disturbing Complexity	151	(20)
Herding Butterflies	171	(26)
Design for Emergence	197	(32)
The Extreme Sport of ``Discipline''	229	(34)
Reciprocity: Bringing Life to Organizations and Organizations to Life	263	(24)
Endnotes	287	(16)
Acknowledgments	303	(4)
Index	307