From “The fifth discipline” by Peter M Senge.docVIP

“The fifth discipline” by Peter M Senge. Century Business 1992, 424 pages ISBN 0-7126-5687-1 Summarised by Andrew Gibbons Downloaded free from: www.andrewgibbons.co.uk The five disciplines: Systems thinking Personal mastery Mental models Building shared vision Team learning P 4 “The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage”. Arie De Geus, Royal Dutch/Shell. “Learning organisations are possible because, deep down, we are all learners. No one has to teach an infant how to learn. In fact, no one has to teach infants anything. They are intrinsically inquisitive, masterful learners who learn to walk, speak, and pretty much run their households all on their own”. P 6 The five disciplines: systems thinking; personal mastery; mental models; building shared visions, and team learning. P 11 “The more you learn, the more acutely aware you become of your ignorance”. P 12 “Systems thinking needs the disciplines of building shared vision, mental models, and personal mastery to realise its potential. Building shared vision fosters a commitment to the long term. Mental models focus on the openness needed to unearth shortcomings in our present ways of seeing the world. Team learning develops the skills of groups of people to look for the larger picture that lies beyond individual perspectives. And personal mastery fosters the personal motivation to continually learn how our actions affect our world. Lastly, systems thinking makes understandable the subtlest aspect of the learning organisation - the new way individuals perceive themselves and their world. At the heart of a learning organisation is a shift of mind - from seeing ourselves as separate from the world to connected to the world, from seeing problems as caused by someone or something ‘out there’ to seeing how our own actions create the problems we experience”. P 13 “Most people’s eyes glaze over if you talk to them about ‘lea