Reflections

Volume 14, Number 4

The SoL North America Journal
on Knowledge, Learning, and Change

FEATURE ARTICLES

Competencies Not
Credentials: Reimagining
Education in the U.S.

Tony Wagner and Janice Molloy

Commentary
Richard Owens

Teach, Lead, Change:
Educational Change That
Works for All
Andy Hargreaves andDeborah Wallace

Commentary
Pasi Sahlberg

Finding Connectivity:
Narrowing Gaps to Discover
New Possibilities
Charles Holmes andDeborah Wallace

Mapping as Engagement:
Systems Mapping for
Systemic Change
Joe Hsueh and Janice Molloy
BOOK EXCERPT

Leading with Shakti:
Leveraging Feminine and
Masculine Energies© 123RF/Sira Jantararangsan

Nilima Bhat and Raj Sisodia

Published by The Society for Organizational Learning North America
www.solonline.org
ISSN 1524-1734
A

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R E F L E C T I O N S | V O LU M E 14, N U M B E R 4

PUBLISHER’S NOTE 14.4

From the Editors

From the SoL NA Council

Reflections was launched in 1998 in response to a deep
desire within the SoL community for a forum where the threeconstituent communities of researchers, consultants, and practicing managers could engage in ongoing conversation. In hisnote in the first issue, founding editor Edgar Schein stated:

The Council of SoL North America
would like to recognize all those who havecontributed to Reflections over the years.
In particular, we would like to acknowledge
the dedication and exceptional work ofManaging Editor Janice Molloy, Contributing
Editor Deborah Wallace, and Graphic
Designer David Gerratt.

“We start with the assumption that each of these communities
has important insights into how organizations can be improved
and how our global environment can be better sustained, but
we are highly aware of how difficult it is to communicate acrossthe cultural boundaries that grow up in each of these communities. It is my hope that Reflections: The SoL Journal can contribute in a meaningful way to the creation of a genuine dialoguethat will stimulate the creation, dissemination, and utilizationof knowledge and skill in all of these communities.”
Over the course of 18 years, Reflections has built a knowledge
base of organizational learning theory and practice that spansfrom practical case studies from around the world to bold, newideas about the nature of organizations themselves. Throughthese pages, as members, you have not just shared your successstories but have openly and sometimes painfully reflected onwhere you have stumbled and why. Your refusal to fall prey tothe lure of complacency and your dedication to continuing toexperiment, challenge yourselves, and “fail forward” is a hallmarkof this community.
As you will read in the note from the SoL NA Council, it is with thisspirit of continual experimentation and evolution that the SoL NA
Council has decided to suspend the production of Reflections andexplore alternative ways to achieve its goals.
We would like to thank the many authors who have generously
shared your stories, work, and insights over the years. We also want
to extend our appreciation to Frank Schneider for his long-time
partnership. Finally, we are grateful to SoL members everywhere.
Your willingness to engage with today’s most challenging andintransigent problems gives us hope for healthier organizations
and a healthier planet.
— Janice Molloy and Deborah Wallace

For almost two decades, Reflections hasconnected readers around the world whoare aware that there is no power greaterthan a community acting together toimprove the areas they care about most.
Your stories have educated us, inspired us,
and at times, frustrated us, all in name ofchallenging us to be active learners by
examining what is possible now.
As our subscribers’ needs have changed
over time, so have the possibilities within
the publishing industry. The SoL North
America Council has made the difficult
decision that this is the right time todiscontinue publication of Reflections andto enter into our own reflection on how we
can best serve our members. In the coming
months, we will ask for your participationin this process by sharing your ideas andsuggestions on how to create a powerfulplatform for sharing relevant content.
We are confident that together we will
emerge with a strong, relevant publicationthat will support the aspirations of all
our subscribers.

EXECUTIVE DIGESTEXECUTIVE DIGEST 14.4

Competencies Not Credentials:
Reimagining Education in the U.S.
Tony Wagner and Janice Molloy
Much of the current educational reform movement
focuses on the role of schools in helping students
become “career-ready.” But according to author andeducator Tony Wagner, unless we overhaul schools’ mission and approach, we’ll continue to prepare students
for the jobs of the past rather than provide them withthe skills to succeed in the future. In this interview,
Tony discusses why he believes the ability to innovate
is today’s most essential workplace skill and how teachers and parents can support children in developing thecreative problem-solving abilities required by today’s
most forward-thinking employers.

Teach, Lead, Change: Educational
Change That Works for All
Andy Hargreaves and Deborah Wallace
From year to year, education reform remains at the
top of the U.S. political agenda. The recently passed
Every Student Succeeds Act is just the latest attempt
to improve educational outcomes. But according to
educational researcher and writer Andy Hargreaves,such interventions are bound to fall short of expectations unless they include a strong investment in theteaching profession, a concerted strategy to develop
local leadership, and effective collaboration thatspreads responsibility for all students’ success across
a community or region. In this interview, Andy discusses
his research on how educational reform can have thedesired impact.

Finding Connectivity: Narrowing
Gaps to Discover New Possibilities
Charles Holmes and Deborah Wallace
In this interview, convener, teacher, and consultant
Charles Holmes reflects on his lifelong work of connecting people with ideas and possibilities to help theminnovate, collaborate, and create. Charles fosters profound dialogue around desired futures, leading to deeplevels of engagement, connectivity, and mobilization
for small groups, organizations, and whole communities. His work has also taken him on a personal journeyof self-discovery, where he has learned which internalmechanisms allow him to be fully present and focusedon the group at hand and which ones keep him fromachieving that state.

Mapping as Engagement:
Systems Mapping for Systemic Change
Joe Hsueh and Janice Molloy
As one of the founders of the Academy for Systemic
Change, Joe Hsueh is on the leading edge of applying
system dynamics to enabling and sustaining large-scalechange processes. Reflections interviewed Joe to learn
about his evolution from public policy advisor to volunteer at a Buddhist monastery to MIT-trained system
dynamicist. The common thread that weaves together
Joe’s richly diverse career is a commitment to partnering with others to make progress on challenging issues,
ranging from personal health crises to global problems.
At the center of Joe’s approach is a sense of love andcompassion that allows stakeholders to bring their best
selves to the change processes they are involved in.
BOOK EXCERPT

Leading with Shakti: Leveraging Feminineand Masculine Energies
Nilima Bhat and Raj Sisodia
Given the prevalence of serious problems in the world,
the case can be made that today’s hierarchical and individualistic leadership models aren’t working the way weneed them to. In Shakti Leadership: Embracing Feminineand Masculine Power in Business (Berrett-Koehler, 2016),
Nilima Bhat and Raj Sisodia introduce what they call
“Shakti Leadership,” a way of leading that is generative,
cooperative, creative, inclusive, and empathetic. Whilethese are traditionally regarded as “feminine” qualities,
we all have them. In this chapter, Bhat and Sisodia introduce the three essential capacities of Shakti Leadership:
wholeness, flexibility, and congruence.

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F E AT U R E 14.4

Competencies Not Credentials
Reimagining Education in the U.S.
TO N Y WA G N E R A N D J A N I C E M O L LOY
Much of the current educational reform movement focuses on the role of schools in helping students become“career-ready.” But according to author and educator Tony Wagner, unless we overhaul schools’ mission andapproach, we’ll continue to prepare students for the jobs of the past rather than provide them with the skills
to succeed in the future. In this interview, Tony discusses why he believes the ability to innovate is today’s
most essential workplace skill and how teachers and parents can support children in developing the creative
problem-solving abilities required by today’s most forward-thinking employers.

JANICE MOLLOY: What drew you to become an educator?
TONY WAGNER: I hated school, very simply. I hated it notjust occasionally, but all the time, in every grade from a very
young age. I actually dropped out of college twice, firstto write the great American novel and then to work in
the civil rights and anti-war movement.
Tony Wagner

Janice Molloy

At a certain point, I began reading about education. I readPaul Goodman’s Growing Up Absurd and Summerhill by A.S. Neill, and I suddenly realized that I wasn’t
crazy, that there were other ways of thinking about education. This realization led me to seek out a small,experimental Quaker college and gave me a sense of what I wanted to explore.
I became a high school English teacher with the idea of trying to find adifferent approach to education and bring my own kind of 1960s ideals
to education. I was interested in thinking differently about both what
and how we teach.

Out-of-the-Box Teachers

I suddenly realized that I
wasn’t crazy, that there wereother ways of thinking about
education.

MOLLOY: Were there any teachers who supported you along the way?
WAGNER: Absolutely. I went to a kind of last-chance boarding school, because I’d been such a bad
student in high school. I was very interested in writing at the time, so I approached an English teacher
at the school, a lovely English gentleman who was not my regular teacher, and I said, “Will you teachme to write?” He said, “Oh, I’d be delighted.”He gave me an assignment to explore a different genre each week. So one week might be a childhood
reminiscence, another week might be a dialogue, and yet another week might be a movie or restaurant

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review. I’d meet with him, and he’d go throughwhat I had written and comment here and there
on things he thought were well done and thenmake one or two suggestions.
Here was a guy taking me seriously. That experience
profoundly influenced me, both as a writer andlater as a teacher of writing. When I became a highschool English teacher, I used the conferencing
method instead of the red pen method. I also used
the writers’ workshop approach in the classroom,
where kids read their work aloud and produced
work based on their experiences for real audiences.
Kids always produced extraordinary results. In fact,
one of the students whom I taught went on to bea highly successful, well-known poet, Elizabeth
Alexander. I can’t take any credit for her work,
but I do remember her vividly as a student.

In the 1980s, it became clearthat the economy was changing
profoundly. I began to wonder,“How do we think about preparing kids in different ways?”
A Radically Different Economy

does that mean for education? How do we think
about preparing kids in different ways?”
The real milestone for me was reading ThomasFriedman’s book The World Is Flat in 2005. That’s
when the lightbulb went off, and I suddenly
realized, “Oh, my gosh. We have a radically different economy. And we have a radically challenged
society, in terms of sustainability and humanrights and so on. How do we prepare kids forwork, for learning, and for citizenship in a 		flat world?”
That thought process led me to research andwrite The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our
Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills
Our Children Need—and What We Can Do About It(Basic Books, Updated Edition, 2014). I interviewed
a wide variety of employers and identified seven“survival skills” kids need to thrive in the new worldof work (see “Seven Survival Skills”). I juxtaposed
those skills with what I was seeing in classrooms
every day, which was essentially test prep.
I continued to talk to business leaders about this
topic and came to realize that we’re transitioning
from a knowledge economy to an innovation era.
Knowledge has become a commodity. It’s free.
It’s like air. It’s like water. It’s growing constantly,
exponentially. It’s available on any Internetconnected device.

MOLLOY: How did you become interested in
educational reform?
WAGNER: As a master’s student, I became interested in the interrelationship between the economy and education. I read some early Marx. I dida paper on the evolution of education, going fromblue-collar education to white-collar education
to what I then called “no-collar education.” I wrotethat paper in 1971, and in some sense, it laid out
the kind of domains that I still remain interested in.
In the 1980s, I read books like Winning the Brain
Race by David Kearns and Denis Doyle. It became
more and more clear to me that the economy waschanging profoundly. I began to wonder, “What				Seven Survival Skills
Critical thinking and problem solving
Collaboration
Agility
Initiative and entrepreneurship
Effective communication
Ability to access information
Curiosity and imagination

F E AT U R E | WA G N E R A N D M O L L O Y

There’s no longer a competitive
advantage in knowing more thanthe person next to you, becausethat person will just Google it.

© Thinkstock/chatchaisurakram

Knowledge used to be scarce, so if you wanted
it, the only place you could go was to a teacher ora school or a library. Now, we have a knowledge
glut. There’s no longer a competitive advantage
in knowing more than the person next to you,because that person will just Google it.

Two Kinds of Innovation
MOLLOY: What did you learn about nurturing
innovation in schools?
WAGNER: To learn more about the roots ofinnovation, I interviewed young people in their
twenties, all of whom were highly creative problem solvers, some in high tech, some in the arts,
some social entrepreneurs. I wanted to understand how they got that way and what the mostimportant influences in their lives were. (Fordetails of this work, see Creating Innovators:
The Making of Young People Who Will Change
The World, Scribner, 2012.)
I also interviewed their parents. The first thing I
discovered was that a number of them had gone
to prestigious schools like Harvard, Stanford, MIT,and Carnegie Mellon, but they all told me they’dbecome innovators in spite of their schooling not
because of it. They could also name at least one
teacher who had made a significant difference intheir lives, much like my English teacher friend.
I then interviewed those teachers and discoveredthat every one of them was an outlier. They taught
in ways that were fundamentally different fromtheir peers yet remarkably similar to one another.
I came to understand that, in fact, we can help
kids develop creative problem-solving skills,
which is one definition of innovation.
There are two kinds of innovation. There’s innovation that brings new possibilities to life. That’s
comparatively rare; it’s a matter of nature, time,
and talent coming together in a special mix.
I think Steve Jobs was in that category.
The second kind of innovation is the capacity
to solve problems creatively. We are born curious,
creative, and imaginative; that is in the humanDNA. And so, the question is, what happens tothat capability? It’s schooled or parented outof most of us at a pretty young age.
I tried to understand what teachers and parents
must do differently to not have that happen
and to support children in continuing to develop
those capabilities. What I ultimately found is that,whether from privilege or poverty, the young innovators I interviewed had one thing in common:
Their parents or teachers had encouraged intrinsic
motivation through play, passion, and purpose.
And so, in a sense, it came full circle for me, because
I always thought that learning ought to be active

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and engaging. Learning ought to have an elementof play. Learning ought to have an element ofbeing able to pursue your real interests.
In the end, I found validation for some of my viewson learning in the context of better preparing kids
to thrive in the innovation era. I’m not just talking
about high tech or STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math). We need creative problem
solvers in every domain, whether it’s for-profits,
nonprofits, startups, Third World, and so on. To me,
creative problem solving is the most importantquality and competitive advantage any young
person can have.
The thing that’s so exciting is that having a
sense of purpose leads to opportunities to makea difference. The young people I interviewed had areal sense of purpose and wanted to apply theircreative problem-solving capability to workthat needed doing.

A computer-scored test cannot
measure things like grit,
perseverance, tenacity, creative
problem solving, collaboration,and effective communication.
Need to Rethink Education
MOLLOY: Is there a way to institutionalize thiskind of process in our schools?
WAGNER: Our educational system was born atthe dawn of the industrial era. In 1893, the Committee of Ten, headed by then Harvard President
Charles Eliot, decreed what was to become ourhigh school curriculum. They invented the Carnegie
Units—the amount of time that teachers spend
teaching specific academic content in a school
year—and decided that kids would take thesequence of courses they still do today.
For the last 20-odd years, most of my other work
has been on change leadership in education.

I founded the Change Leadership Group at theHarvard School of Education and co-directed it fora decade. For many years, I have consulted widely
to school districts and foundations. One of thethings I discovered is that educators are often told
to change without any understanding of why. So
the first challenge in the change process is understanding the fundamental shifts in our society andeconomy, and the ways in which they demandthat we rethink education.
The change process needs to begin with communities, states, and our country having a conversation about how the world has changed and what
the most important outcomes we need from ourschools are. What do kids need to thrive today?
How is it different than what they needed 125
years ago?
Once we’ve established different outcomes, thenext step is for states to develop accountability
systems aligned with those outcomes. Right now,
we have systems that are 20th-century solutions
to 21st-century problems. We test things that forthe most part don’t really matter. The new tests
are a little better, but they’re still high stakes. They’resummative more than they are formative. They
are not testing many of the other qualities that weknow are important, because a computer-scoredtest cannot measure things like grit, perseverance,
tenacity, creative problem solving, collaboration,and effective communication. We need to bringcollective human judgment, informed by evidence, back into the accountability system.
As I outline in the book I wrote with Ted Dintersmith, Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids
for the Innovation Era (Scribner, 2015), we canbegin to rethink “educational R&D” by establishing model schools that are laboratories for new
approaches. These schools attract teachers whoare early adopters, who want to try different thingsin different kinds of school settings, which canthen become places where we train other teachers.
To me, that’s the sequence of the educationalchange process, and fortunately, there are several
networks that support this kind of educationalF E AT U R E | WA G N E R A N D M O L L O Y© Thinkstock/monkeybusinessimages

R&D, including the Hewlett Foundation-funded
Deeper Learning Network, Edleader 21, and, ofcourse, SoL.

of value, and 15 percent of their new hires don’t
have bachelor’s degrees at all. If you go to theGoogle job application website, the word “college”
doesn’t even appear.

Hopelessly Obsolete
MOLLOY: What are some of the impediments
to educational reform?
WAGNER: In education right now, we are only
assessing content knowledge and not even doingthat very well. We’re not assessing many of themost important skills, and we’re not assessing orteaching for motivation. Our industrial age education system is failing some kids, but the larger
problem is that it’s hopelessly obsolete. It doesn’t
need reforming. It doesn’t need incremental improvement. It needs reimagining and reinventing.
Once we do that, then we can begin to rethinkteacher education.
It fascinates me that Google used to only hire kidsfrom Ivy League schools. Come to discover thatthe indices they’ve long used for hiring are worthless, according Laszlo Bock, senior vice presidentof People Operations. What do they do now? Theyuse structured interviews in the hiring process.
They don’t ask for a college transcript, because
they don’t think the transcript tells them anything

The point is that Google has come to understandthat we have to move away from artificial credentials and toward assessment of genuine competencies. I’m thinking that as Google goes, so mustgo the world. In education, we need to understand that it’s not merely about acquiring andretaining knowledge; there are other things more
important than content knowledge. Here’s mylittle aphorism: Content knowledge matters. Skills
matter more. Motivation matters most. Because
if someone is intrinsically motivated, they’regoing to continuously acquire new content
knowledge and skills.

Google has come to understandthat we have to move away from
artificial credentials and toward
assessment of genuine
competencies.

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R E F L E C T I O N S | V O LU M E 14, N U M B E R 4© Thinkstock/Dmytro Loboda

Two Different Paths
MOLLOY: We tend to admire the countries thathave the highest test scores. Are any of those countries focusing on the skills required for innovation?
WAGNER: Well, it’s a fascinating story. Thirty-fiveyears ago, Finland was an under-performing, predominantly agrarian economy with a stunningly
mediocre education system. The nation’s leadersdeveloped a bipartisan consensus to completely
rethink their education system to prepare for the
new era, because their agrarian economy was
not sustainable. They were cutting down trees
as fast as they could.
To make a long story short, unlike the U.S.,
the first thing they did was focus on completely
restructuring the preparation of teachers. Theyclosed down 80 percent of their education schools
and left open only the eight that were associatedwith their best universities. They required every
teacher to earn a real master’s degree—not oneof those mail-order degrees that many of ourteachers seem to get—that included a year-longapprenticeship with a master teacher.

The Finns reviewed all of the best research on
what good teaching looks like and borrowedheavily from Americans like John Dewey. In thisway, they created a state-of-the-art educational
system that has been ranked among the best in
the world by international tests like the Programme
for International Student Assessment (PISA).
But here’s the thing that’s so fascinating: Finnish
students start school one year later. They have ashorter school day than American students. They
have a shorter school year. A third of their courses
in high school are electives. They take their firstexam, the National Matriculation Exam, as highschool seniors. They can take two, three, or four
years to prepare for it. If the results aren’t good,they take it over. And they have a choice of thesubjects in which they’re tested, except for thenative language, which is required.
Finally, the Finns have a system where students
choose between an academic track and a career
technical-vocational track, which are equallyrigorous. Both lead to post-secondary education,
which is free.

F E AT U R E | WA G N E R A N D M O L L O Y

Why is there a shorter school day? Because Finns
believe that much of the best learning goes on inclubs, whether it’s yearbook or newspaper or computing club or whatever. They deliberately have ashorter school day so the kids can be more activein clubs. There are no school-sponsored sports;
they’re sponsored by the municipalities. So, theFinns are very clear about what school is and isn’tfor. And they’re getting extraordinarily high testscores, because kids don’t just memorize material;
they really understand concepts. They’re able tothink and reason.
That’s one model. Now, contrast that system with
Asian powerhouses Singapore and South Korea
and Shanghai in China. These countries have allrecently outperformed Finland in terms of testscores, but you go to these places, and you discoverthat students live for only one thing: high-stakes
tests, which they are required to take every few
years and which determine their entire futures.
Kids in these countries are going to school 10hours a day, then they’re going to private tutorials
for another three to four hours a day. They’resleeping an average of five hours a night. They’remiserable. I did a focus group with some 18-yearold students in Taiwan, and they had no idea what
they were interested in. They had no clue, because
they’d never had an opportunity to explore aninterest. Everything was required.
So, there are two radically different paths tohigh performance, and the question is, which
one are we going to choose in the U.S.?

Five Contradictions
MOLLOY: What challenges do organizations facein getting the workforce they need right now?
WAGNER: Everywhere I go, business leaders ask
the same question: How do we help develop thecapacity for innovation? I go through what I callthe “Five Contradictions”—the contradictions between the current focus of schools and beaucratic
institutions versus the focus needed to create aculture of innovation (see “Five Contradictions”).

First, institutions and schools measure individual
achievement. The problem is that innovation isa team sport.
Second, schools and bureaucratic institutions
compartmentalize. What we know about innovation is that it happens at the boundaries ofdepartments and disciplines, and almost neverwithin them.

The Finns are getting extraordinarily high test scores,
because kids don’t just memorize
material; they’re able to think
and reason.
Third, schools and bureaucratic institutions favorobedience and hierarchical structures. Well, weknow that innovation is radically disruptive andthat you have to learn to question authority andunderstand that those at the top are not necessarily the ones who know the most. I interviewed
Brad Anderson, the former CEO of Best Buy, andasked what he saw as the biggest obstacle to innovation. He said, “My senior managers, because
they think they are senior managers because
they’re smarter than anybody else and so they
don’t listen. It’s actually the people at the bottom
who frequently have the information we needto innovate.”
The last two contradictions, I think, are the mostchallenging. The fourth contradiction is all about
TABLE 1Five Contradictions

Current Culture

Innovative Culture

Individual accomplishments

Teamwork

Specialists

Multiple-discipline perspective

Obedience and hierarchy

Radical disruption and questioningof authority

Risk aversion

Risk taking

Extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation

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the “F word”: failure. The fear of failure creates risk
aversion and a sense of compliance. That’s deathfor innovation, because innovation demands thatyou fail early, fail often, fail fast, fail forward, failcheap, but fail.
We’re really talking about iteration, which is my
new favorite word and the word I think should
replace the F word, certainly in schools. Innovation
and real learning demand trial and error. Over andover, I ask audiences, “How many of you learned
more from your mistakes than from your successes?”
Every hand goes up. So, in bureaucratic institutions
and schools, we have to rethink the F word andencourage responsible risk taking.
And finally, the fifth contradiction involves theissue of motivation. Bureaucratic institutions
and schools rely heavily on extrinsic incentives
to motivate: carrots and sticks, money, grades,
whatever. But what I’ve discovered among themillennials is that many of them are far, far more
intrinsically motivated. They want to make adifference more than they want to make a lot ofmoney; they want to do work in school because
it’s interesting and not just for the grade.
It’s not an accident that the contradictions I’ve
just described apply equally to conventional,
bureaucratic entities as well as to schools. We havecreated schools to prepare kids for those bureaucratic entities. If we want to change these institutions and schools, we have to change their cultures.

Business as a Driver of Reform
MOLLOY: Does business need to drive educational
reform?
WAGNER: People think that we got the firsttsunami of educational reform from policymakers,
but that’s not true. It actually came from businessleaders like David Kearns, who was head of Xerox
in the 1980s, and Lou Gerstner, who was headof IBM. In fact, in 1996, Lou Gerstner called for anational summit on education. Many CEOs came,and as a result, governors and policymakers had
to come. That kind of business leadership led to
the first wave of educational reform and to the© Thinkstock/Nico El Nino

F E AT U R E | WA G N E R A N D M O L L O Y

standards movement, which became the No
Child Left Behind movement.
I have the conviction that business leaders in
Silicon Valley and in other pockets of innovation
know that the education system is broken. It
would make a tremendous difference if some ofthose people, like Jeff Bezos or Sergy Brin andLarry Page, co-founders of Google, were to step
forward in some united fashion, for example,
by taking out a full-page ad in The New YorkTimes and The Wall Street Journal saying that our
schools are not merely failing, they’re obsolete.
We don’t need incrementally better schools. We
need fundamentally different schools. These guys
know this. Sal Khan started his own school oncompletely different principles, and all the Silicon
Valley folks are lining up to get their kids into thislittle school.
Interestingly, Jimmy Wales, who started Wikipedia,
Brin, Page, and Bezos all have one thing in com-

My urgent appeal is for businessleaders to start talking about theoutcomes that matter most for
our kids, for our economy, for
our future.
mon: They went to Montessori schools and credit
the Montessori experience for helping them
become independent, self-motivated learners.
My urgent appeal is for business leaders to starttalking about the outcomes that matter most for
our kids, for our economy, for our future. We needto get off this kick that a few charter schools andmore testing are going to solve our educational
problem. Both have been proven wrong. I’m not
opposed to charter schools, but they are not apanacea. In the education environment, the market
incentive does not work to make improvements. n

RESOURCES
Wagner, T. (2012). Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World. Scribner.
——. (2014). The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don’t Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children
Need—and What We Can Do About It. Basic Books, Updated Edition.
Wagner, T., & Dintersmith, T. (2015). Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the Innovation Era. Scribner.
Wagner, T, et al. (2005). Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools. Jossey-Bass.
Most Likely to Succeed Video

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Tony Wagner currently serves as an Expert in Residence at Harvard University’s Innovation Lab. For
more than a decade, he was the co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate
School of Education. A documentary based on Tony’s latest book, Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing
Our Kids for the Innovation Era (co-authored by Ted Dintersmith), had its world premiere at the 2015
Sundance Film Festival. For more information about Tony and his work, go to tonywagner.com.
Janice Molloy is managing editor of Reflections. janice@solonline.org

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CO M M E N TA R Y 14.4

Commentary
RICHARD OWENSWith our industrial-age approach to schooling outdated and often floundering amid
the rapid changes brought about by economic globalization, advancing technology, andcultural collision, many leaders acknowledge the need for a radical change. Strong support for a profound makeover comes from the business sector, with corporate CEOs seeing
the development of a workforce with a combination of technical, creative, and interculturalexpertise as the key to unlocking future innovation in their companies. In response tothese powerful calls, schools now face the complex task of supporting students in achieving strong outcomes in traditional discipline areas, while also developing the personal,
cognitive, and interpersonal skills that will help them adapt successfully to the challenges
Richard Owensof this century. Unfortunately, for many educators, the optimism associated with thisemerging vision is often swamped by an accompaning feelingof helplessness at the daunting scope of the systemic change
A simplistic belief in thethat is required.

power of market forces

In his interview, Tony Wagner provides deep insight into thealone will not bring about
current reality of our schools and school systems, highlighting
the seismic shifts that are
their common weaknesses and dissecting the fundamental
required for significant
failings of a contemporary obsession with high-stakes testing
and teacher accountability. Importantly, he also provides inspichange in our school systems.
ration for the process of reimagining our schools as innovativeenvironments where skillful collaboration is rewarded, agile
creativity is fostered, and experimental mindsets are nurtured. Part of the challenge for educators, however, is that
there is no quick fix. While business leaders can do more to become key partners in this change process, a simplistic
belief in the power of market forces alone will not bring about the seismic shifts that are required for significant
change in our school systems. So, how do we best set about developing teachers, leaders, schools, and school
systems for the future we want in education?

Education R&D
For educational leaders, the answer begins with starting locally and directing attention to the systems, structures,and processes that rest within their sphere of influence. Wagner draws attention to the many transformational
possibilities that exist for schools through the development of new pedagogies, the restructuring of organizationalroutines, the cultivation of team learning, and the embrace of continuing professional inquiry. These disciplines
offer teachers and school administrators both hope and a hands-on focus for their collective efforts.
So, what might this practical work of transforming education look like? From someone who has spent the last
decade leading “education R&D” across schools, regional networks, and the international sector, here are somepromising examples from the field.

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CO M M E N TA R Y 14.4

Adopting an Inquiry-Centered Approachto Professional Practice
One large K-12 school tackled the challenge of nurturing a radically disruptive culture by making ongoingcollaborative inquiry a core expectation of its staff. The
decision to embrace this experimental approach was
driven by a practical realization from administrators that
their dependence on hierarchical leadership structures,
fixed organizational routines, and executive decision
making was stifling change.
The key driver for innovation at the school is its Teacher
Inquiry Group (TIG) Program, a dynamic R&D projectfocused on professional and organizational learningthat is now entering its sixth year. Every teacher andadministrator in the school works in a Teacher Inquiry
Group over the course of a semester. Drawing upon
theory and methods from the field of action learning,
their collaboration is centered around cycles of planning, experimentation, data analysis, reflection, andadaptation. The school’s strong commitment to thisinitiative is evident in the way it includes the evaluationof performance in relation to innovation and collaboration within its staff appraisal system.
The main focus for collaborative inquiry at the schoolis the development of 21st-century competencies, witheducators investigating areas such as digital literacy,
knowledge building and sharing, problem solving,collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. An overarching interest in the program is the way adult andstudent learning in these areas is interwoven and interdependent, with the spirit of innovation that develops
in the classroom being reflected in the culture of thestaff room. Elements of choice are built into the program,with teachers able to shape their personal focus within
the broader direction of the school’s strategic plan.
Group leaders are drawn from a pool of volunteers who,
in return, receive extensive training in facilitation andaction research. Each year, one or more of the groups
conducts research into the efficacy and impact of the
program itself, with the school continually fine tuning
key elements as a result of its findings.

If we wish to create dynamic andinnovative learning environments
for students, then we must create
the same types of workplaces forteachers and leaders.

At the center of the TIG approach is the simple but critically important recognition that teachers are the mostsignificant change agents in our efforts to reimagine
schools. The program acknowledges teachers as boththe subjects and objects of change, and commits to experimentation and growth as being essential for effective professional practice. Over time, senior leaders’ focus has also evolved, with administrators now adopting
new roles as facilitators, designers, and stewards within
their leadership work. As Wagner suggests, if we wish to
create dynamic and innovative learning environments
for students, then we must simulteanously create thesame types of workplaces for our teachers and leaders.

Building Capacity for Innovative Leadershipat a Regional Level
One large international school network has approached
the challenge of developing an innovative workforce
through an explicit focus on building leadership capacity
in relation to creative problem solving, team learning,change management, and systems thinking. The Leading Teacher Teams program is currently running in three
countries and helps mid-level leaders learn how tofacilitate powerful inquiry with their teams, while incorporating evidence-informed strategies for improvement.
The program emerged from a series of executive network meetings that examined the challenges facing
leadership teams in schools. Critically, the program
moves beyond simply recognizing the training gap that
commonly exists for teachers as they transition into
leadership roles, and begins to directly address thequestion of how we can support the next generationof educators to lead effective change.

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CO M M E N TA R Y 14.4

At the heart of the program is a research project thatasks participants to apply their learning by leading an
innovative initiative at their schools. The focus for theindividual projects evolves through a series of systems
thinking workshops, with attention directed to finding
leverage points for driving deep and sustainablechange, rather than simply addressing the highly visible
but symptomatic issues that can dominate everyday
work. The slow build of the research projects over thecourse of a year helps to broaden and deepen participants’ understanding of their work as leaders; to continually challenge their thinking and practice; and toprovide time for the development of team learning.
While the timeline for the impact of the projects is long,it reflects the realities of successfully leading change
in schools. Graduating cohorts have reported strong
outcomes from their efforts.
While embedded in the practical work of improving
school leadership, some of the wider aspirations for the
program are firmly focused on network development.
Its online forums and assignments work to transcend
geographical boundaries, helping participants build
their knowledge and support networks, while promoting the types of technical and global capabilities essential for regional leadership. Similarly, the professional

projects help to drive innovation in individual schools,
at the same time producing valuable case studies thatcan be examined in terms of how findings might betransferred and adapted to different contexts and settings. With the program now looking toward its thirdcohort, one of its most significant outcomes to date is
the development of a critical mass of current and emerging leaders with a shared vision, shared language, andtheoretical framework for leading innovation acrossthe region.

Developing Systems Thinkers in Schools
On a more intimate scale, one rural school has taken along view of society’s need to develop creative problem
solvers by crafting a future-focused curriculum, witha strong emphasis on the development of transdisciplinary skills. The school has a holistic outlook, with 		an explicit commitment to fostering not only academic
learning, but also personal development, service, responsibility, and international understanding. In thisway, it aims to nurture its students to become independent thinkers, with a desire to contribute to thecommunity and the ability to achieve success in a 		rapidly changing world. An interesting feature of theschool’s innovative curriculum is the way these outcomes are nurtured continually from preschool to high© Thinkstock/Ingram PublishingC O M M E N TA R Y | O W E N S

CO M M E N TA R Y 14.4

In undertaking the hard workof developing more innovative
schools, we need to avoid shortterm thinking and the endless,quixotic search for a quick fix.
school, with programs in areas such as environmental
education, intercultural awareness, and the developmentof effective learning dispositions clearly articulated
throughout.
Emblematic of the school’s approach is an extended
project undertaken by students at the culmination of
their elementary school learning. In their last unit ofwork prior to graduation, the students collaborate tocreate a video documentary that investigates the systems
that give life to a nearby city. In this multi-disciplinary
study, students draw deeply upon their knowledge,
skills, and understandings from a range of subject
areas. During the unit, students alternate their time
between individual inquiries into specific systems
operating in the city—such as transport, finance, andeducation—and documentary production by taking
on roles as directors, script writers, and artists. In thisway, their exploration of complex relationships andinterdependence in relation to the systems operatingin the city is reflected in, and made more immediateby, their ongoing collaboration during the production
process.

The project culminates in a family evening that openswith an exposition of the students’ learning journeys
during the production process and concludes with agala screening of the finished documentary. The inquirycentered nature of the unit continually opens fresh perspectives and new understandings, with students charting their own learning pathways by conducting interviews, online research, and practical investigation. Whileindividual accomplishment retains an important placein the project, there is a central and explicit focus on
the aspects of learning that Wagner sees as central toan innovative culture: teamwork, multi-disciplinary perspectives, a deep questioning of the status quo, and risktaking. In this way, the school provides a model for innovative education, while also undertaking the importantwork of developing students with the knowledge, skills,
and understanding to help guide our future transformation to a more collaborative and innovative society.

The Next Step
In undertaking the hard work of developing more innovative schools, we need to avoid short-term thinking andthe endless, quixotic search for a quick fix. The successesof the case studies referenced in this article highlight thepower of systems that align the learning of students,
teachers, administrators, and system leaders with thegoal of developing a wider culture of inquiry and innovation. While it is essential that the larger forces of government and business engage with the challenge ofreimagining education, it is also critical that we support
teachers, administrators, and communities in crafting
local learning environments that address their particularneeds. It is exploring the connections between the workof these different stakeholders that will help us define
the next steps in our efforts to reimagine education. n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Owens, PhD, is the Director of the Cognita Centre for Leadership and Learning and an educational
consultant. He specializes in the areas of professional learning, innovation, leadership development, school
improvement, and organizational learning. richard.owens@cognitaschools.sg

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F E AT U R E 14.4

Teach, Lead, Change

Educational Change That Works for All
A N DY H A R G R E AV E S A N D D E B O R A H WA L L A C E

From year to year, education reform remains at the top of the U.S. political agenda. The recently passed
Every Student Succeeds Act is just the latest attempt to improve educational outcomes. But according to
educational researcher and writer Andy Hargreaves, such interventions are bound to fall short of expectations unless they include a strong investment in the teaching profession, a concerted strategy to develop
local leadership, and effective collaboration that spreads responsibility for all students’ success across
a community or region. In this interview, Andy discusses his research on how educational reform canhave the desired impact.

DEBORAH WALLACE: You have been doing cutting-edge
work in educational reform for many years. Would you
give us a brief overview of your work?

Andy Hargreaves

Deborah Wallace

ANDY HARGREAVES: My work in the U.S. and globallycurrently focuses on understanding and influencing the
major change movements in education. I am trying to separate those that are desirable from those that are less desirable and to distinguish effective and ineffective strategies.

The other major area of my work centers on the importance of teacher professionalism and how to improve the quality of educational leadership. This aspect of my work is organized around three “big ideas”:
professional capital, uplifting leadership, and what I call the Fourth Way.

Three Big Ideas
WALLACE: Let’s look at each of these separately. What is professional capital and what role does it
play in educational reform?
HARGREAVES: I developed the idea of professional capital with Michael Fullan in response to federal
and state governments that support an individual human capital view of teaching. The human capital
view rests on the idea that the quality of teaching is raised by evaluating all teachers individually, removing those who are inadequate, and substituting them with often younger and lower-paid replacements.
However, our research demonstrates that social capital is more powerful than individual capital. Social
capital is when teachers work together across classrooms, grades, and subject matter to expand their

F E AT U R E | H A R G R E AV E S A N D WA L L A C E

ideas and strategies, offer mutual help, and takecollective responsibility for all students’ success.
You will not improve whole systems by having lotsof individuals running around evaluating otherindividuals. Improvement will come by creating
the expectations and conditions for professionals
to work together. Thus, professional capital is theresult of hiring highly qualified and well-trained
professionals who can work effectively together anddevelop their judgment and expertise over time.
WALLACE: Another one of your big ideas is
uplifting leadership. What are the underlying
principles there?
HARGREAVES: The basic idea of uplifting leadership is that we uplift the people we serve by uplifting the people who serve them. This seems
obvious, but many organizations try to boost
student achievement by beating down the adults
responsible for delivering the results. We inspire
employees to make a difference and not just makemoney. We uplift students’ opportunities andquality of life by lifting their spirits and inspiring
the working environment of the adults whoteach and support them.
In Uplifting Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2014), a book
I coauthored with Alan Boyle and Alma Harris,
we identify six key components of uplifting leadership that apply to different sectors, including
education:• Having a bold and relentlessly pursued dream• Sometimes doing the opposite of what others
expect• Collaborating with competitors• Pushing and pulling one’s peers into change• Combining good data with good judgment• Growing at a sustainable rate
Uplifting leadership, as expressed in these interlocking practices, produces unusually high performance in organizations that do a lot with a little
or, in the face of challenging circumstances, thatturn their performance around to be superior towhat it was or start something new and sustain
it beyond the initial phase.

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WALLACE: The concept of the Fourth Way isfoundational to your work. What is it?
HARGREAVES: The Fourth Way is derived fromanalyses of the world’s highest-performing systems.
It is not about a few innovations scattered in one
or two schools or about top-down reforms thatmeet narrow standards. It is not even about
investing our efforts and hopes in technology
and data systems. It is about:• Having a broad humanistic and creative educational orientation for students, taught by
high-quality teachers who work collectively• Reducing the amount of standardized testing• Developing leaders of all kinds who work
collaboratively with other schools and school
districts for the common good of all theirstudents

You will not improve wholesystems by having lots ofindividuals running aroundevaluating other individuals.
When our work first came out in 2009, there was a
lot of interest, but it was definitely seen as a bit far
ahead of the curve. Nobody was rushing out tosign up for some kind of Fourth Way cult. And that
was a good thing, because an important concept
The Four Ways of Change
The First Way of Innovation
and Inconsistency

Teachers are trusted to exercise individual initiative and autonomy

The Second Way of Markets
and Standardization

Schools and teachers are judged by how
they compete to comply with top-down
standards of tested accountability

The Third Way of Data andTechnology

Teachers’ judgments and interventions
are driven by numerical data or bypassedby digital technology

The Fourth Way ofCollective Responsibility

Teachers, parents, and communities work
together to take collective responsibility
for improving the learning and wellbeingof all students

The eras of reform that educational change has passed through overthe past 50 years in many countries.

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R E F L E C T I O N S | V O LU M E 14, N U M B E R 4of the Fourth Way is that each system and cultureneeds to respond in its own way based on a setof broad principles.

greater professional responsibility rather than
impose more bureaucratic accountability.

Students and Educational Reform

An important concept of the
Fourth Way is that each systemand culture needs to respond in
its own way based on a set ofbroad principles.
While people still disagree about the best directions to take educationally mainstream organizations like the National Center for Education andthe Economy and the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development are now advocating for broader educational goals for students, fora stronger teaching profession, and for standardized testing that is limited to two or three grades
rather than occurring every year. The Every Student
Succeeds Act is an example of a policy that is
now seeking to work with the education profession
rather than against it, and that is trying to encourage

WALLACE: How do you bring schools and students
more directly into your approach to educational
reform?
HARGREAVES: We need to pay attention to threeareas in particular: student engagement, student
wellbeing, and student identity. These are notseparate from the focus on teachers, because
to improve student engagement, you have to improve teacher engagement. To develop student
wellbeing, you have to develop teacher wellbeing.
And to consider and include different kinds ofstudent identity, you also have to consider andinclude different kinds of teacher identity.
WALLACE: How do student identity and teacher
identity figure into educational reform?
HARGREAVES: Think of everything that is involved in building a positive identity. A positive
identity is not just self-esteem but also self-© Thinkstock/Wavebreak MediaF E AT U R E | H A R G R E AV E S A N D WA L L A C E

confidence. Self-confidence in turn is groundedin acceptance and inclusion as well as in achievement and accomplishment. Building positive identity means recognizing and paying attention to
students from different sociocultural backgrounds,
families, communities, and language groups.
It means recognizing, valuing, and supporting
students with different abilities and disabilities.
Building positive identity requires educators to
pay attention to issues of gender identity and to
the prejudices that sometimes surround it. It calls
on us to address the bullying that is a problem inmany schools and cultures, and to acknowledge
that some of the highest-achieving societies are
not necessarily the ones where the students arehappiest with school.

people in the system to understand it. We werekeenly aware of the distinctiveness of Singapore’s
culture, evolution, and history.

Excellence and equity of student achievement
are recognized worldwide as fundamental goalsof reform, but there is less recognition that inclusion of disabilities and human rights are also
fundamental goals. Countries may have highachievement in some respects but poor trackrecords in relation to student inclusion or offering a curriculum that recognizes human rights.

We did not just helicopter inas outsiders but worked closelywith people in the system tounderstand it.

High-Performing Systems
WALLACE: Much of your research centers on
high-performing systems. What have you foundout about them?
HARGREAVES: Over the last few years, my colleagues and I have concentrated on high-performing and steadily improving educational systems.
Sometimes the system is a country, like Singapore.
Sometimes it’s a province, like Ontario or Alberta,
Canada. If we were working in the U.S., individualstates would be the systems.
I spent a month in Singapore with a colleague
from that country’s National Institute of Education,
writing a case study about their high-performing
schools. The study was based on on-site observations in schools and interviews with high-level
leaders in the Ministry of Education and from theirmain professional associations. We did not justhelicopter in as outsiders but worked closely withWe have also done similar work in Finland. I was
invited by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to work with asmall team to investigate the role of leadership in
the Finnish educational system, which at the time
was the best in the world, according to OECD’sachievement indicators. We visited schools andlocal municipalities and conducted policy andprofessional interviews. From the outset, as inSingapore, we made it a point to understand theFinnish culture and history.

In all our work, we try not to make a quick inand-out raid but to work in collaboration withlocal people to really understand that culture
and system. On one level, these countries look likethey have absolutely nothing in common, but
once you engage first-hand with the culture, andwork with people who are a part of it, you begin tounderstand what these high-performing systems
have in common.
WALLACE: What characteristics do highperforming educational systems share?
HARGREAVES: Well, there are a few things.
One is that they all really value their teachers.
For example, in 2015, the outgoing Minister of
Education in Singapore gave a speech dedicatedto thanking and appreciating the country’s teachers. Singapore also recently announced a pay raise
for all its teachers. It’s clear that it values teachers
by ensuring their financial as well as emotional
and professional stability. It wants education to becompetitive with other market sectors so teachers

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don’t leave for more financially rewarding
occupations.
Ontario, Canada, where I am an education adviser
to the premier, also believes in a strong professional teaching force. As in other Canadian provinces and in Singapore, almost all of the public
is invested in the success of all of the province’s
public schools. The public system isn’t for otherpeople’s children—it’s for the children in yourfamily as well as the community. As in Singapore,
there is strong support for keeping and developing high-quality teachers and great respect for
the teaching profession.

Singapore wants education to
be competitive with other market
sectors so teachers don’t leave
for more financially rewarding
occupations.
WALLACE: In addition to placing such a highvalue on teacher professionalism, what othercharacteristics do high-performing schools
have in common?
HARGREAVES: They also devote a lot of resources
and attention to leadership development at the
local level. In England, for example, the London
boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Hackney, thecity of Birmingham, and the Greater Manchester
region have all concentrated on building local
leadership capital. Hackney, for instance, stopped
importing school leaders and district staff fromoutside and instead identified young teacher leaders internally and gave them intensive supportand mentoring. All leaders within a local school
district work together to assist any school that is
struggling. As a result, all of Hackney’s schools
have improved, and the borough now performs
well above the national average. Manchester wenta step further when 10 neighboring local authorities collaborated to raise the achievement levelin the whole region.

© Thinkstock/Ingram Publishing

To summarize, high-performing educational
systems include strong investment in the teachingprofession, a concerted strategy to develop local
leadership, and effective collaboration that spreads
responsibility for all students’ success across awhole community or region. This approach looks
very different from the United States, where sometimes it seems that in the face of charter schools
and private takeovers, public school districts areunderperforming and withering away.

The Role of Culture
WALLACE: You talked about the role of culture
in your research. Why is it so important?
HARGREAVES: The culture of a country is very
important. The Minister of Education in Singapore
told us that educators from other countries coming to study its success tend to focus on only one
or two aspects of the Singapore system that they
think they can integrate into their own systems.
An example of something that has failed is theattempt to import multitrack career ladders forteachers. People see that practice and think, “Oh,career ladders must be the answer for us, too,”and then go back to their own school systems andtry unsuccessfully to implement career ladders.

F E AT U R E | H A R G R E AV E S A N D WA L L A C E

But it doesn’t work that way. As the Singapore
Minister of Education said, “What people don’t
understand is that so much of what we do in our
education system is embedded in our culture.”
Another prime example of a cultural trait that
doesn’t translate easily from one country to anotheris Singapore’s high-intensity parental involvementin children’s learning and achievement.

Learning Not Test Scores
WALLACE: Interest in educational reform seems
to be gaining traction. Why do you think it is?
HARGREAVES: I think people in the U.S. are beginning to see that existing solutions have been
exhausted, even the ones that have contributed
to progress. The No Child Left Behind Act is one
example. It has become manifestly clear to everyone that schools have continued to fail even after
its implementation. The overhaul of that strategy
in the Every Student Succeeds Act is an effort
to rectify the problem.
If you’re a teacher and one of your students is
failing, then it’s probably a problem with the child.
But if you’re a teacher and all of your students are
failing, it probably has something to do with you.
The same is true with policy. If every school is failing, it’s probably not a problem with the teachers
but rather with the policy.
Americans are becoming more aware of theenormous problems we face as a country and asa world. They worry about their children’s future.
More affluent parents worry that their kids will still
be living in their basements until they’re 38 years
old. Working parents worry about their kids getting a proper job at all. They’re also seeing thatwork is no longer a single job but a few jobs cobbled together, which means individuals somehow
have to assemble a working life from different
bits and pieces. Parents know that education,
not higher scores on standardized tests, is vitalfor helping people think through the problems
in their own communities and arriving at better
answers.

WALLACE: These are huge challenges. What is it
going to take to develop a more effective system?
HARGREAVES: Three things, I think. One is that
we need more flexibility. Some people believe theway to get that is through a free market that lets
in new ideas and approaches. But many of theseapproaches work independently of each other.
The problem is that when schools or school districts operate independently, they risk losing what
Peter Senge talks about so much—the capacity
to learn from each other.

When schools or school districts
operate independently, they risk
losing what Peter Senge talks
about so much—the capacity
to learn from each other.
The second thing we need to understand is that
improving performance is a collective responsibility and requires not just more collaboration but
more robust collaboration. Robust collaboration
is not only the sharing and networking of ideas;
it’s people taking collective responsibility for the
success of the whole community, including neighboring schools that may be struggling. This is oneof the massive, moral responsibilities of our age.
It is also one of our areas of greatest leverage.
The third requirement is acknowledging thatsocial and emotional learning is connected to andas important as cognitive learning. A recent study
ranked the countries where children in school are
the happiest and where they are the unhappiest.
The country where the children are unhappiest
is South Korea because of the enormous pressure
for a particular kind of tested achievement. The
second unhappiest country is, surprisingly, England. England, like the U.S., has some of the greatest inequalities among the developed countries in
the world, and we know that great inequalities
lead to bad outcomes.

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The third challenge is whether leaders can stayin a particular institution long enough to see thisprocess through, rather than moving on to something else every two or three years. Can they leave
a legacy and some kind of succession plan that
identifies other excellent leaders who can continue to carry the vision forward? New leaders
often want to make their mark, but it’s importantthat they do so not for their own sake but alsowith consideration of what their predecessors
have achieved and what the community needs.
All three of these challenges are timeless, but whenpublic education is under such a massive threat,
we need to focus on them now more than ever.
© Thinkstock/Ryan McVay

We are now starting to think more
explicitly about the skills andknowledge that are needed fora 21st-century economy.
Challenges for Next Generation Leaders
WALLACE: What will be the toughest challenges
for the next generation of education leaders,
and what will they need to succeed?
HARGREAVES: There are three main challenges.
One is the sustainability of educational leadership.
Susan Moore Johnson’s book, Achieving Coherence(Harvard Educational Publishing Group, 2015),
looks at five unusually high-performing urban
districts. One thing that characterizes all of themis leadership stability, where high-level leaders havebeen able to commit to changes and see themthrough over a long period. So, the first challenge
for the next generation of leaders is to be committed to something of compelling moral importancethat they are prepared to give much of their life to.
A related challenge is sharing that moral commitment with others, because without shared commitment, leaders will end up becoming martyrs fortheir cause.

The biggest priority is not that leaders should
know everything about science or everything
about second language acquisition. The biggest
challenge is to know which things are most important, to find the people who know most about
them, and to be able to get those people to work
together in a committed and collaborative way
for the benefit of all their students.
WALLACE: What are the most essential conditions
for achieving educational improvement?
HARGREAVES: First, all stakeholders need a clear
view of learning and human development. In thepast decade, this agenda has been driven by afocus on student achievement on standardized
tests. We are now starting to think more explicitly
about the skills and knowledge that are needed
for a 21st-century economy. Consideration of how
students can become better engaged in a diverse
society and global community is an importantelement. This is the direction public debate needs
to be moving in and where our next cycle of workneeds to focus.
Second, we need a strategy for developing astrong teaching profession that can help students
develop in ways that are important to them and tosociety. Our global work on teachers’ professional
capital characterizes this kind of teaching force as
one that is:F E AT U R E | H A R G R E AV E S A N D WA L L A C E• Thoroughly prepared• Challenged and stretched over many years
of practice and growth throughout a career• Highly collaborative within and across schools• Well organized collectively
Third, we need leaders who uplift students’achievements and opportunities by uplifting andinspiring the adults who serve them. Not all of thisleadership should come from the top—the principal or the superintendent. Given the inequities
between schools and school districts, we needmore leadership from the middle—schools working with schools and districts with districts, notonly sharing practices and ideas but also taking
collective responsibility for mutual success.
Last, we need a theory and strategy of change,
one that is based on:• Trust and responsibility not on threat andaccountability• Collaboration more than competition• The building of capacity from within rather
than the importing of solutions from outside• The coherence of a system where diverse
solutions fit rather than on the alignmentof a system where everybody complies• The importance of learning rather than anobsession with testing

We need more leadership fromthe middle—schools working withschools and districts with districts.
If we are to achieve fundamental reform in our
education system, we must commit to re-examining it with an open mind and with a united effort
to engage all key stakeholders—students, parents,
teachers, administrators, schools, social programs,
and government. n

RESOURCES
Andy Hargreaves at TEDxUnisinos. (2013). “Uplifting Your Performance, Your People, and Yourself.” http://tedxtalks.ted.
com/video/Uplifting-your-performance-yourHargreaves, A., Boyle, A., & Harris, A. (2014). Uplifting Leadership: How Organizations, Teams and Communities Raise
Performance. Wiley.
Hargreaves, A., & Shirley, D. (2009). The Fourth Way: The Inspiring Future for Educational Change, 4th Edition. Ontario’s
Principals’ Council and the National Staff Development Council.
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing Teachers, Changing Times. Teachers’ College Press.
Johnson, S. M., et al. (2015). Achieving Coherence in District Improvement: Managing the Relationship Between theCentral Office and Schools. Harvard Education Publishing Group.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). (2012). Triennial International Survey. Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Andy Hargreaves is the Thomas More Brennan Chair at the Lynch School of Education and Professor
at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. He also serves as adviser in education to thePremier of Ontario and is President Elect of the International Congress for School Effectiveness andImprovement. Andy’s books include The Global Fourth Way (with Dennis Shirley), Professional Capital:
Transforming Teaching in Every School (with Michael Fullan), and Uplifting Leadership (with Alan
Boyle and Alma Harris). andrew.hargreaves@bc.edu
Deborah Wallace is contributing editor to Reflections. dwallace@brinkpointconsulting.com

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CO M M E N TA R Y 14.4

Commentary
PA S I S A H L B E R G
Seymour Sarason, a former psychology professor at Yale University, often said that those
who dedicate their lives to changing schools deserve “God’s blessing.” Among other things,
Sarason was known for highlighting the need to take school culture into account whenintroducing change initiatives. His book, The Culture of the School and the Problem of
Change, first published in 1971 by Allyn and Bacon, altered the way we understand how
schools change—or why they don’t. His other books, including You Are Thinking of Teaching?
(Wiley, 1993) and Letters to a Serious Education President (Corwin, 2006), are frequently
mentioned as masterpieces of scholarly thinking and writing. Sarason influenced thethinking of many education reform
Pasi Sahlberg
scholars around the world, including
Many people call themselves
my own, and in many ways is the father of the contemporary
educational change community of scholars.
educators, which is one

reason the literature about

Like Sarason, Andy Hargreaves has played a key part in undereducation reform is so vast
standing and influencing the major global change movements
in education. What distinguishes him from many other educaand diverse.
tional reformers is his dedication and commitment to working
on the ground with students, teachers, politicians, and otherchange makers to bring about intended improvements. The interview in this issue of Reflections offers a vivid
example of his versatile philosophy and theory of educational change, both of which have had a strong impact
on school reform around the world.

The Complexity of Educational Reform
Educational reform is a complex field of academic knowledge, research, and praxis. Many people call themselves
educators, which is one reason the literature about education reform is so vast and diverse. Points of view range
from deeply thoughtful academic discourse to political rhetoric. Unfortunately, such writings are rarely helpful inunderstanding—and managing—the complexity of education reform.
Andy is one of those few individuals who, like Sarason, sculpts his ideas from a sophisticated blend of philosophies,
cultures, arts, and even sports. Because of the depth and breadth of his knowledge, his perspective on educational
improvement speaks to an international community, including interested parties in English-speaking countries,
Scandinavia, Latin America, the Middle East, and East Asia.
Also like Sarason, Andy has been ahead of his time throughout his career. In his 1994 book, Changing Teachers,
Changing Times: Teachers’ Work and Culture in the Postmodern Age (Teachers’ College Press, Columbia University),
he introduced modernity and post-modernity as perspectives in understanding education systems and how theychange. Modernity refers to certain sets of attitudes and social norms originating in the Age of Enlightenment,

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CO M M E N TA R Y 14.4

including determinism, linearity, and an obsession withevidence and data. Post-modernity is the social condition
that followed modernity. It represented social systems
as complex, non-linear, organic entities that don’tnecessarily obey deterministic rules or laws.
At the time that Andy wrote Changing Teachers, Changing Times, not many educational scholars dared to thinkoutside the box of modernity in seeking answers to theincreasingly complex world of educational reform. As
I see it, that book was a seminal work in the teachingprofession. Andy further developed these concepts in
his award-winning book, Professional Capital, writtenwith Michael Fullan, which introduced the ideas ofcollaboration (or social capital), teachers’ work (orprofessionalism), and the process of change (orleadership) in the context of educational change.

Global Educational Reform
Over the decades, Andy has documented trends ineducational reform efforts around the world. In Learning
to Change: Teaching Beyond Subjects and Standards, published in 2001, he presented evidence-based criticism of
the standards-based reform movements of the 1990s. In
the process, Andy documented the need for emotional
and intellectual aspects of change in order for reform
efforts to succeed.
In 2010, Andy and some colleagues published a landmark book, the Second Handbook of Educational Change(Springer International Handbooks of Education), in
which they demonstrated the global shift toward standardization, student testing, teacher evaluation, school
accountability, technology-led teaching, and measured
proficiencies in basic competencies (i.e., reading, mathematical and scientific literacy) as common priorities in
education reforms. What became known as the Global
Educational Reform Movement (GERM) can be traced
back to the so–called “Second Way” of education reform
thinking of the 1980s that promoted the replacement ofteachers’ professional autonomy with market competition and educational standardization based on the ideals
of efficiency, productivity, and rapid “service delivery.”If we wish to create dynamic andinnovative learning environments
for students, then we must create
the same types of workplaces forteachers and leaders.
This approach enforced consistency through testing,standardization, and accountability, and introduced
competition through school choice. Since then, it has
increasingly become adopted throughout the world,
including in the United States, England, many provincesof Canada, Germany, and in the transition countries
and developing world.
GERM is also embedded into the “Third Way” of change
which, according to Andy and his coauthor Dennis Shirley in The Fourth Way: The Inspiring Future of Educational
Change (Ontario’s Principals’ Council and the National
Staff Development Council, 2009), added data-driven
decision making to teachers’ toolkits, but also skewed
attention toward performance metrics and away fromthe people and learning that the numbers are meant
to represent. Today, GERM is promoted around theworld through the education strategies and interestsof international development agencies, global education
corporations, the media, consulting firms, and private
donors. Venture philanthropy, especially in the UnitedStates, injects billions of dollars into public education
systems and often borrows concepts and ideas from
corporate management.

The Leaning Tower of PISAIn response to these trends, Andy and I both became
concerned with how international student assessments,
especially PISA (Programme for International Student
Assessment), coordinated by the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), areincreasingly misused as a method to determine thequality of education systems. We published an op-ed
titled “The Tower of PISA Is Badly Leaning” (Washington

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CO M M E N TA R Y 14.4

Post, March 24, 2015), in which we articulated our 		reaction to the global debate about PISA. We supported
the need for international measurements about performance of education systems, arguing that withoutthem, we would never have learned what really drives
successful educational change in Canada, Singapore,and Finland, for example. But we also pointed out thatthese measurements must be reliable and trustworthy.
Whether the tower of PISA will stand tall as a helpful
beacon for policy makers or whether it will fall over, wewrote, depends on how much governments and theglobal education community regard PISA as a valid instrument that is immune to commercial and ideologicalinterests. Since the introduction of PISA in 2000, OECD
has placed its trust in the hands of an international consortium of professional organizations to control how
the tests are designed, how data are collected and used,and how results are analyzed. With data from more thanhalf a million children accessible to education corporations for their business purposes, teachers’ trust in theseinternational assessments and surveys may deteriorate,with many teachers losing confidence in the ethics of
Big Data altogether.

A View of the Whole
During the past decade and half, I have worked with
Andy both in research and in practice. He has mentored
me to think deeply and boldly about educational change.
We agree on many things and disagree on others. Butthat is fine. What I admire more than anything else is his
ability to understand how other people think, why they
think the way they do, and how to build his own learning on other people’s perspectives.

With data from more than half amillion children accessible toeducation corporations for theirbusiness purposes, teachers’ trustin these international assessments
and surveys may deteriorate.
When I was first introduced to Andy’s work, I was immediately fascinated by the way he organized his theories
of educational change. His approach—grounded in theview of the system as a whole—was a perfect complement to my own work, which was missing that element.
It has been an interesting journey to first learn fromand later be part of generating theories with Andy.
In all his writing, Andy returns to Sarason’s themes ofchange but in different ways. This is how it should be.
I recall someone asking Peter Senge why he repeats
the same ideas about learning organizations time andagain. He replied that he would continue to do so until
things change. The same can be said of Andy’s work.
In the opening of his book The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform: Can We Change the Course Before It’s Too
Late? (Jossey-Bass, 1990), Seymour Sarason wrote, “Thisbook is not likely to win me friends, indeed, I may lose
some.” Andy could have expressed that same concern atthe beginning of some of his books. But to me, scholars
like Andy represent courageous thinkers, visionary opinion leaders, and fearless activists who make the worldof educational change more optimistic than it would be
without them. They certainly deserve “God’s blessing.” n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pasi Sahlberg, PhD, is a Finnish educator, author, and scholar. He has worked as a school teacher, teacher educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland, and has studied education systems and reforms around the world.
Pasi is a former Director General of Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture and is currently a visiting
Professor of Practice at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education in Cambridge. Twitter: @pasi_sahlberg

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F E AT U R E 14.4

Finding Connectivity

Narrowing Gaps to Discover New Possibilities
C H A R L E S H O L M E S A N D D E B O R A H WA L L A C E
In this interview, convener, teacher, and consultant Charles Holmes reflects on his lifelong work of connecting
people with ideas and possibilities to help them innovate, collaborate, and create. Charles fosters profounddialogue around desired futures, leading to deep levels of engagement, connectivity, and mobilization forsmall groups, organizations, and whole communities. His work has also taken him on a personal journeyof self-discovery, where he has learned which internal mechanisms allow him to be fully present and focusedon the group at hand and which ones keep him from achieving that state.

DEBORAH WALLACE: For our readers who may not befamiliar with your work, please give us a brief summaryof its core principles and also name a few clients you’ve
worked closely with.
CHARLES HOLMES: I work with a wide range of clients,
including Unilever, Pepsi, SC Johnson, and other corporations. I also work with NGOs, including the Salvation
Charles Holmes
Deborah Wallace
Army and the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education,
and with a range of municipal and federal government agencies. The creating process, as describedby Robert Fritz and Peter Senge, is foundational in all of my work. Helping groups and individuals toestablish structural or generative tension is the most powerful means I have discovered to achieve
results. Five fundamental questions are at the heart of this work:• What do we want to create?
• Why?
• What is our current reality?
• Are we truly committed to holding generative tension over time?
• What actions are we going to take to build momentum?
In the context of this framework, I bring a range of different tools, skills, and capacities. Perhaps themost important is the capacity to listen and synthesize, in service of building shared understanding(see “Principles for Creating Generative Conversations,” p. 26).

Part of the System
WALLACE: Your work is about helping people engage, connect, and mobilize to define the future
they want and to develop the capacities and culture they need to succeed. Has it also been a journey
for you in terms of your own development?

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		Principles for Creating Generative Conversations
MICHAEL JONESIn 2009, Jaya Kumar, then CEO
of Quaker Foods North America,
asked Charles Holmes and laterme and other colleagues todesign a conference around thetheme of “Connecting for Our
Future.” As Jaya explained, “Toooften the language we use reMichael Jones
duces the scale of what we wantto accomplish. As a result, we apply tactical solutions andexpect transformational results. I want to engage ourculture in a series of conversations . . . that can transform how we think, how we feel, and how we act.”
The invitation that Jaya sent to conference attendees
included a powerful message: “Our greatest challenge
is to define our future in a way that is aligned with our
deepest goals and aspirations. We must ask, what is thedestiny we see for our company that we would be mostproud of? And how can our esteemed past inform our
future? Our forefathers have created something thathas endured the passage of time. How can we learn fromthese roots? And what is our gift? Imagine the powerof an organization that not only understood the gift we
individually brought but figured out how to unleash
its power . . . Our journey begins today, not with meetings or schedules, but with the dignity found in every
conversation.”
Based on our belief and experience that leaders want
to be part of a collective human emotion that encourages shared tolerance, openness, diversity, and care,
we designed the conference in the context of Jaya’s 		
challenge based on the following learning principles:• Focus questions on the big picture and on articulating
the destiny and deeper purpose of the enterprise overthe long term rather than in the short term.
• Encourage leaders to reach for the impossible andnot limit themselves to what they already know 		
how to do.

• Create opportunities for “conceptual blending” todiscover how individual ideas, points of view, andcultural perspectives can coexist and lead to new
possibilities and connections.
• Focus on creating an environment that will invitea spirit of collaboration and bonding.
• Use music to create a welcoming and natural environment that encourages relaxed and unfocused
generative conversation.
• Include music, story, and art to create an animatedenvironment that leads to conversations that are
more than simply exchanges of information but that
invite a range of possibilities for establishing new
and creative options for action.
• Be willing to forgo a formal plan and follow whateveris happening in the moment.

“Our greatest challenge is to define
our future in a way that is alignedwith our deepest goals andaspirations.”
In these ways, we helped Quaker Oats unleash thepower of its unique gifts and destiny and ensured that
there would be dignity in every conversation.
Michael Jones is a leadership educator, speaker, dialogue
facilitator, writer, and Juno-nominated pianist/composer.
He is the author of The Soul of Place: Reimagining Leadership Through Nature, Art and Community and a columnist
with Management Issues, a UK-based global businessand leadership publication. www.pianoscapes.com
www.thesoulofplace.com

F E AT U R E | H O L M E S A N D WA L L A C E© Thinkstock/Wavebreak MediaHOLMES: When I reflect on developing my own
practice, I realize that being able to be present,
centered, focused on the desired results, and fully
aware of the dynamics of a group process in any
given meeting has been a continual journey. I canthink of many times that I have slipped into what
Robert Fritz calls “first-person orientation,” thinking to myself, “How am I doing? Am I really making
a difference here? Am I the right person for thistask?” In those moments, my focus is clearly on me
and not on what the group is striving to create.
Daily practices—specifically meditation, breathing, and centering exercises, which help me staypresent and grounded—have been crucial to myown growth and development.
WALLACE: You are necessarily part of every
system you work in. How do you look at yourself ina system and understand how you’re influencing it?
HOLMES: As a cultural anthropologist, I am highly
aware that my presence influences the system I
am engaged with. Staying curious and open towhat’s happening in a room, being able to makenecessary adjustments as things shift and moods
change, and being conscious of my own role inthe dynamic are key. A significant part of my task
is to help others examine how their thinking, theiractions, their language, and their beliefs impact
their ability to create results.

“What’s my contribution to thething I complain the most about?”— Peter BlockPeter Block has a lovely question related to thisprocess: “What’s my contribution to the thing I
complain the most about?” It’s about bringing alevel of awareness to the situation and the courage to own up to your own vulnerabilities. It’s easy
to alienate people by projecting a persona of overconfidence—that, as the facilitator, you have all
the answers. Block warns, “Don’t get seduced bypeople’s dependency on you as an expert.”

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The Importance of Connection
WALLACE: Why do you think you’ve been referred
to as a “social alchemist”? What does that mean in
the context of your work?
HOLMES: I will never forget a conversation I had
with the author Jim Collins. He asked me to describe what I do. He listened intently and responded
by saying, “So you are a social alchemist.” Thepractice of bringing together elements, in mycase people and ideas, and connecting them todiscover powerful new possibilities is somethingthat has deep resonance for me. This is how
I define social alchemy and I think it is what
Jim meant.

The practice of bringing together
people and ideas and connecting
them to discover powerful new
possibilities is how I define “social
alchemy.”There are few things I love more than connecting
people who might not otherwise meet, because I
see possibility for great things to be created as aresult of their discovering each other. For me, it ismore than simply introducing people who I thinkmight enjoy meeting each other. It is connecting
people to create change that may otherwise notoccur. I am thrilled to be able to point to collaborative projects in countries around the world thathave emerged from these connections.

Next-Generation Alchemists
WALLACE: What do you think will be the priorities
and challenges of the next generation of alchemists?
HOLMES: For the past five years, I have been partof a group that has been meeting regularly to explore what we are learning about how to broaden
the impact of significant systems change efforts
that are occurring around world. Our initial gathering convened a group of about 12 master practitioners, or examplars, who had been working
in different parts of the world in diverse andchallenging contexts to create significant changes.

© Thinkstock/darios44

F E AT U R E | H O L M E S A N D WA L L A C E

The intention of this gathering of exemplars was
to share and reflect on what we were learning
about our work in the world.
The formation of the Academy for Systemic
Change was a result of these meetings. It became
clear to us that there was no shortage of people
creating impactful change around the world. The
question we pondered was, “What can we do to
spread and share the practical know-how of those
who are doing significant systems change workaround the world?” We realized that although
there are similarities in how people are leadingawareness-based systemic change efforts, notmuch is being done to capture, share, build, anddisseminate the practical know-how that exists.
Supporting the growth of this field of knowledge
became our focus, and from this came the creationof the Next Generation Leaders program at the
Academy for Systemic Change. We have just completed the first prototype year, bringing together
20 young leaders who are already achieving
remarkable results and who are committed toadvancing the overall field. A challenge and apriority for all of us is building the field and sharing and disseminating what we know and what
we are learning about creating change.
WALLACE: How is the Academy building
the field?
HOLMES: One way is through the Next Generation Leaders program itself. The prototype has
involved three week-long, face-to-face meetings,
online case clinics, one-on-one coaching, and online learning modules that we call “learning hives.”
In addition, we have been inspired by the Bauhaus
Movement, which greatly influenced the field ofdesign in the early 20th century. As a result, wehave organized what we call The Social Bauhaus
Compendium of Tools for Systemic Change. The
compendium consists of over 150 tools that wehave organized in five broad areas: theories andmodels of change, developing self, leading inteams and networks, leading in systemic change,
and managing systemic change processes.

WALLACE: What do you see as the greatest
possibilities and areas of impact for the Academy?
HOLMES: There are many. One thing that is most
exciting for me is seeing the connections that are
occurring among the Next Generation Leaders.
Many are now collaborating with each other inways that we could never have imagined. The
larger possibility that we are all working toward
is the growth of the field as a whole.

Although there are similarities in
how people are leading awarenessbased systemic change efforts, notmuch is being done to capture,share, build, and disseminate thepractical know-how that exists.
A Learning Place and Model
WALLACE: When people talk about you and yourwork 30 years from now, what do you want themto say?
HOLMES: That’s a timely question, as I recently
turned 50 and have been thinking, all right, what
has this life been and what do I want it to be?
What have I done thus far? Has it been significant,sufficient? I can comfortably say, yes. I have been
blessed with incredible opportunities and feel
grateful that I have had the chance to impact the
lives of so many people.
So, what do I want the next 30 years to look like?
I want to continue to create opportunities forpeople to discover their gifts and to connect
people. I once framed my work as micro andmacro facilitation. Micro is about designing andcreating powerful spaces for people to learn andcreate results. Macro is about connecting people
so they can discover intersections for collaborationand possibility that they otherwise may never haveseen. This is the work that I will continue to do.

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Over the years, I have been discovering the importance and power of vulnerability—that by taking
the risk to share some of the challenges I havegrappled with on my own journey, I can openothers to conversations and learning opportunities that are profound and powerful.

© 123RF/marekuliasz

A certain kind of courage andauthenticity is required to say,here are the challenges and here's
how I'm drawing from those asa learning opportunity to sharewith others.
WALLACE: Are there other things that you wantpeople to associate with you and your work?
HOLMES: Yes. There’s a piece around using mypersonal journey as a means to support learning.
A certain kind of courage and authenticity is required to say, here are the challenges and evensome traumatic events that I’ve experienced, andhere’s how I’m drawing from those as a learning
opportunity to share with others.

I also want people to associate me with narrowing the gap between the internal voice andperception of self and the external presentationof self. Narrowing the gap between perceived
differences among and between people is something else I want to be associated with. This actually connects to something I said earlier, that
one of the things I love most is connecting people
who might otherwise never meet and helping
them discover intersections of possibility they
never knew were there.
Narrowing the gap between people and connecting people across cultures is kind of themeta level of how I want people to think about
my work. At the organizational level, it’s how I
have contributed to supporting people and theirefforts to learn about themselves, their work in
the world, and their organizations by narrowing
the gap between the espoused values and thoseactually lived. At the more micro and deeply
personal level, it’s narrowing the gap between
my own internal voice and how I “show up” in theworld. As Bill O’Brien, the former CEO of HanoverInsurance, said, “The success of an intervention
depends on the interior condition of the intervener.” It all starts there. n

ABOUT THE AUTHORSCharles Holmes is a facilitator and educator who, for 25 years, has been driven by a passion for
creating meaningful dialogue and the achievement of desired outcomes among diverse groups.
He has worked with multinational corporations throughout North America, South America, Mexico,
Asia, Europe, and Saudi Arabia. Charles is also a co-founder of the Academy for Systemic Change,a collaboration of global thought leaders committed to advancing the capacity for awarenessbased systemic change. charles@ceholmesconsulting.com
Deborah Wallace is contributing editor to Reflections. dwallace@brinkpointconsulting.com

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F E AT U R E 14.4

Mapping as Engagement

Systems Mapping for Systemic Change
J O E H S U E H A N D J A N I C E M O L LOY
As one of the founders of the Academy for Systemic Change, Joe Hsueh is on the leading edge of applying
system dynamics to enabling and sustaining large-scale change processes. Reflections interviewed Joe to learn
about his evolution from public policy advisor to volunteer at a Buddhist monastery to MIT-trained system
dynamicist. The common thread that weaves together Joe’s richly diverse career is a commitment to partnering with others to make progress on challenging issues, ranging from personal health crises to global
problems. At the center of Joe’s approach is a sense of love and compassion that allows stakeholders tobring their best selves to the change processes they are involved in.

JANICE MOLLOY: Tell us about your background.
JOE HSUEH: When I was 13, my passion was about transforming Taiwan’s democracy. Taiwan just ended 38 yearsof martial law, and my heroes were political dissidents who
risked their lives for democracy. I felt a vitality, drive, andenergy from those who were fighting for social justice.
Joe Hsueh

Janice Molloy

With the goal of one day bringing a new perspective backto Taiwan, I left Taiwan at 15 and later studied economics at McGill University in Canada. I liked the rigor
in the economic way of thinking and the use of models to help you
formulate your thoughts. What I didn’t like was the assumption that
The idea of maximizing
the field made about human nature. It is true that we have selfish parts,
but the idea of maximizing self-interest as a dominant drive in our
self-interest as a dominantdecision-making did not fit with my experience as a human being.

drive in our decision-making
did not fit with my experience
as a human being.

In the meantime, Taiwan went through democratization. I put myheart into Canada by getting involved in public policy. After completing my first master’s in Economics at Queen’s University, I worked
at the Canadian Ministry of Finance. While I enjoyed the work environment, I didn’t feel I was fully alive. Something was missing. I was later accepted to the Master’s programin Public Administration/International Development at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, but
I deferred my entrance so I could find out what I really wanted to create in this life.

I traveled around trying different things. I ended up volunteering at a Buddhist monastery and charity
organization in Taiwan called Tzu Chi. Originally, I intended to stay for a week; after three days, I wanted
to stay for the whole summer. After a month, I decided to stay for a whole year.

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R E F L E C T I O N S | V O LU M E 14, N U M B E R 4This monastery is a unique place in that it’s about
Buddhism in action. Yes, we do meditate, but mostof the work is out in the world, for example, spending time with terminally ill cancer patients in
Taiwan, or serving AIDS patients in Thailand, or
providing disaster relief in El Salvador after anearthquake, or doing small-scale community
service and development work in South Africa.

You can create the most sophisticated model, but what is it for?
What’s the purpose? Who are
the humans behind it?
Through those experiences, I learned that thegreatest source of happiness is giving and receiving
love. Through volunteer work, I receive love bygiving love. My little act of giving enabled me to
be in touch with my human nature by connecting
me and strangers as human beings. Yes, we have aselfish side, but we also have a compassionate andloving side. This experience allowed me to re-accessthe very core of me and of what makes me happy.
The enabling environment that this monasterycreates reinforces the good nature in each of us
and allows it to grow in a virtuous cycle. I began
to ponder, How can we create a similar environment in our modern workplace? Do we all have to
behave selfishly, like neo-classical economics assumes, or does the underlying systemic structure
induce how we behave? Can we create a compassionate workplace much like what Tzu Chi createdin a community?

Before being accepted into the PhD program insystem dynamics, I worked with John Sterman as avisiting scholar for a year, developing the Industry
Evolution Management Flight Simulator. John
Sterman and Peter Senge eventually became mythesis advisors. I am grateful to both John andPeter, because they allowed me to learn the twosides of systems work. John taught me rigor—
robust modeling and a focus on the core systemic
dynamics using simulation tools. With Peter, I
learned that you can create the most sophisticatedmodel, but what is it for? What’s the purpose?
Who are the humans behind it? I strive to bring
the two sides of the field—rigor and purpose,science and art—together as much as I can.

Shared Understanding, Shared Ownership
MOLLOY: How do you apply system dynamics
to real-world challenges?
HSUEH: Over the past five years, I have been
applying the tools I learned at MIT to help facilitate
stakeholder dialogues to create, catalyze, andsustain systemic change, mainly in the fields ofenvironmental, social, and economic sustainability.
My colleagues at the Academy for Systemic Change
and SecondMuse and I interview stakeholders
and make their theory of change explicit byco-creating systems maps with them.
Mapping is a tool to bring large, complex systems
into the room. It focuses on achieving three goals:• Shared understanding of the complex system
we are embedded in• Shared vision of where we want to go andwhat we want to create• Leverage points for collective action

Tools for Seeing the WorldMOLLOY: How did you come to study system
dynamics?
HSUEH: I stumbled onto system dynamics during
my second year at Harvard. In my program, I could
take any class at MIT. I sat in on a system dynamics
class and was blown away by this integrated wayof thinking that offers tools, language, and methods
to analyze and help people see the world.

One big project I did last year involved the idea ofa cancer-free economy. It looked at how we might
create an economy that accounts for the root
causes of environmentally induced diseases suchas cancer. A lot of our public and private dollars go
to cancer treatment. But what if we look upstream
at the root causes? Where did cancer come from?
Where are carcinogens coming from? You cantrace back and see that they come from certain

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toxic chemicals in the products we use, the food
we eat, and the environment we are exposed to.
And then you can trace back through the supply
chain to find where the toxic chemicals go
through the economy. You also look at solutions
and at how healthy products and processes canbe generated.
This project involved creating a space for funders,
activists working on different parts of the system,
and businesses to come together to see theselarger systems. We had people from different partsof the system—people working on green chemistry, toxic control, cancer research, consumer education, impact investing, policy, even on fossil-fueldivestment and climate change—talking to eachother and collaborating. Because all of these elements are interconnected, we needed to find ways
for them to collaborate and work together toward
common goals instead of competing for funding.
In this case, we ended up creating a huge spaghetti
map and then used it to guide our collective action.
The participants are now in the strategic planningphase, based on the leverage points identified.

The “Right” Client
MOLLOY: What are the biggest challenges when
you work with large multistakeholder groups?
HSUEH: Finding the “right” clients, ones witha learning orientation, is critical. It’s important
for them to come into this process with an open
mind, to say, “I have my worldview, I have mymental model, but I’m curious to venture into theunknown of seeing the larger system together
with other stakeholders.” If someone comes withthe mindset of “I am superior and because I havethe financial resources, I get to dictate where toallocate them,” you don’t have that curiosity andgenuine interest to learn and be vulnerable
enough to say “I don’t know.”
Having stakeholders who say, “I know my part ofthe system well; I just don’t know the other partsand I want to learn” facilitates what we call “systems
awareness.” We use collective dialogue to support

people’s curiosity about the other sides’ perspectives, especially the sides that they disagreewith and have some conflict with (see “Collective
Dialogue”). An example would be an NGO working
to understand businesses or big polluters.
Creating the space for people to be open andcurious and listening to each other is one of thebiggest challenges but also the biggest promise.
When we see each other as human beings, a lot
can be shifted. We no longer operate at just thesurface level but deep down, with what Otto
Scharmer would call open heart and will.

When we see each other as humanbeings, a lot can be shifted.
The Complexity Curve
MOLLOY: How do you introduce the tools of systems thinking and system dynamics to groups?
HSUEH: There is an art to introducing systems
mapping. If you as an expert modeler create thisbig, complicated spaghetti map and just throw it
at people, you scare them away. It’s too overwhelming. There was an article in the New York				

Collective Dialogue
Seeing SELF
• What is my work and where is it on the map? If not shown,
where would I put it?
• What is my theory of change?
Seeing YOU and ME• How does my success depend on your success?
• Does my work have unintended consequences to others?
Seeing WE and WHOLE• Who is missing in the room?
• What is our shared vision? What are key indicators of success?
• What are high-leverage points for realizing our shared vision?

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R E F L E C T I O N S | V O LU M E 14, N U M B E R 4Times several years ago about a big strategy mapthat made fun of the work a little bit. It is true, if
you just showed me a map like that, I would beparalyzed.

If you create this big, complicatedspaghetti map and just throw it atpeople, you scare them away.
The art is to slowly build that map together withthe stakeholder, loop by loop, to bring people up
to speed on how to understand the language ofsystem dynamics. I always create a map in mymind, but I don’t share it like that. First, I draw the
backbone of the system, the physical structure—for example, how a toxic chemical flows throughthe economy. Then I draw a loop of the causes of
those dynamics, asking people, “What do you
think? What else is missing?” In this way, you start
to expand the model in real time. Using this process, you gradually create the map with stakeholders without overwhelming them.

Complexity Curve

I always show them what I call the “complexity
curve” (see “Complexity Curve”). As we build amap, there will be a point in the middle of theprocess where it overwhelms people’s mental
capacity to hold the complexity. Typically when
we hit that point, the group will say, “Let’s go backto where we’re comfortable, our usual way of doing things. We have done this systems work andit’s not getting us anywhere; it’s just too messy.”
Unfortunately, this brings the group back to silo
thinking and action. The challenge then is creatinga learning environment that allows people tostretch beyond their comfort level. If you leavethem high on the complexity curve for too long,
you create analysis paralysis, and people will say,
“I tried it and it’s all process but no action.” So you
want to go beyond conventional thinking but also
bring them down to their comfort level.
The final part of the process is for stakeholders to
see the larger system but also be able to distill thecore feedback loops. The ideal is for stakeholders
to be able to explain the core dynamics in two or
three minutes—not all of the details but the coreessence, the central dynamics, and the core levers
for change. Then, if they need to look at the details
in different parts, they can go to the completemap (see “Regenerative Rainforest Economy
System Map,” p. 38).

From Map to Action
MOLLOY: How do you help participants movefrom the map to concrete action?
HSUEH: For me, this is not a systems mapping
process; it’s a systemic change process. Mappingis just one of many tools to support that change
process. Typically, my colleagues and I work witheither funders or decision makers who have longterm goals; they want to see concrete, collective
action coming out the other side. So who you
work with, what their vision is, and how you
design the project are key.
In building a map, there is a point in the middle of the process where
people’s mental capacity to hold the complexity is overwhelmed. Group
members tend to return to silo thinking and action. The challenge is creating a learning environment that allows people to stretch beyond their
comfort level to achieve strategic clarity.

I use the U Process as a guide to design thechange process and to facilitate dialogue. It fitswell. I see systems mapping as a way of goingF E AT U R E | H S U E H A N D M O L L O Y

Theory U
Downloading
past patterns

Performing by
operating from the wholesuspending

embodying

Open
Mind

Seeingwith fresh eyes

Prototyping the new bylinking head, heart, handredirecting

enacting

Open
Heart

Sensingfrom the field

Crystallizing
vision and intention

Open
Will

letting goletting come

Presencing

connecting to Source

Who is my Self? What is my Work?
Theory U states that to create a new reality, we first need to open our minds, hearts, and wills. The bottom of the
U represents a threshold where we let go of things that no longer work and move toward an emerging future.
Presencing Institute—Otto Scharmer—www.presencing.com/permissions

down the U. Going up as well, because you startcreating prototypes (see “Theory U”).

Sustained Momentum
MOLLOY: A lot of the challenges you’re working
on are large scale and long term. How do you support change agents in sustaining momentum overtime?
HSUEH: To sustain the change process, it’s important to create a collaborative network of systems
leaders and then build their capacity. So the work
is not just about the work, it’s also about people
and their capacity. What do you learn from thesuccess and failure of the work? How do you create
the learning infrastructure to support change
agents on the ground to continue to learn andgrow with each other? A big part of it is peer
learning, so team members can learn from each

The best outcome is that I, asa change facilitator, put myself
out of a job.

other as they launch new projects. They then doaction research and bring their learning back to
the network.
Developing a network is often overlooked, but it’s
critical for developing the people who are sustaining the change. Our intention is to identify local
leaders, develop their capacity, and then support
them in kicking off, for example, the systems mapping work and furthering the iteration of the map.
The best outcome is that I, as a change facilitator,
put myself out of a job.

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R E F L E C T I O N S | V O LU M E 14, N U M B E R 4				

Systemic Change Process
The Systemic Change Process involves five main steps(see “Systemic Change Process Map,” p. 37):
1. Quiet Convening Process: Once a systemic change opportunity is identified, the facilitators interview stakeholders andmap out the system. The goal is to raise stakeholders’ awareness of the larger system and their desire to collaborate
across boundaries. It is called “quiet” convening because it isSystemic Change Process
better done quietly, to sense the system by listening deeply
to stakeholders without expectations.

The Systemic Change Process involves five

2. Self-Convening
Process:
Stakeholders
conveneto form
main steps (see“Systemic
ChangeProcessa shared understanding of current reality, co-create a sharedMap”):
vision, identify leverage points for change, and prototype
projects. It is called “self-convening” because by this stage,
1. Quiet Convening Process: Once a sysstakeholders have developed systems awareness and are
temicchangeopportunity
is identified,tothe
curious
to be
in a roomwith other stakeholders
see thelargersystemtogether.
facilitators interview stakeholders and map

out the system. Program:
The goalTheis toraise ofstakehold3. Capacity-Building
process
acting on
and ers’learningfromprojects
andofevaluating
systemicawareness of the larger system and theirchange
outcomes helps build systems leadership distributed acrossdesire to collaborate across boundaries. It is
the system. Peer coaching, action research, and action
called“quiet”
conveningis betterlearning
reinforcesystemsleaders’because
collectiveitcapacitytodone quietly,
to sensecollaborative
the systemprojects.
by listening
self-conveneand prototype
The longtermdeeply
goal is toa networkwithoutof systems
leaders who havetocreatestakeholders
expectations.
the capacity to sustain the change process on their own.
2. Self-Convening
Process: projects
Stakeholders
4. Scaling
Process: As the prototype
mature andconveneto forma sharedunderstandingof
networks
of systems
leaders
develop,
new ways of being,
thinking,
andreality,
acting become
the normand vision,
serve as models
current
co-createa sharedfor others to replicate and scale up elsewhere in the system.

identify leverage points for change, and pro5. Systems
funding
focuses on thetotype Funding:
projects.Traditional
It is called“self-convening”
link from prototype projects to systemic change outcomes by
because by this stage, stakeholders havetargeting high-potential prototype projects. Systems-based
developed
systems
awareness
and arecuriousfunding
focuses on
the processof catalyzing
self-sustaining
systemic
by funding
the quiet-convening
to bechange
in a roomwith otherstakeholders process,to seeprototype projects, and capacity-building program. The aim
is to strengthen the self-convening reinforcing loop until itreaches the tipping point for systemic change.

Systems Investing
MOLLOY: What new directions do you see foryour work?
HSEUH: Oh, there are many. One is about content. This touches on my current work. I am reallyinterested in the idea of systems financing or
systems investing, that is, how do we financethe transformation of a system? Because in muchof my work, we identify levers for change but
there is a lack of resources to fund and catalyze
those levers.
In the coming decades, there will be a huge
wealth transfer to millennials and women, manyof whom have a social and environmental consciousness and want to do good with their wealth.
They may not necessarily know how. And then in
the field of systemic change, there are people whohave been working on facilitating change but may
not have resources. So I want to bring the two
together, using a systems approach.
Currently, impact investing—investment with
the intention of generating a beneficial social
or environmental impact alongside a financial
return—is still quite siloed, in the sense that you
fund a particular project or a particular social
enterprise; you’re not looking at the whole system.
The problem is that silo thinking and action leads
to silo solutions, which lead to more problems in
the future. Peter Senge says, “Today’s problem
comes from yesterday’s solution.” So silo investingleads to silo impact. But systems investing createssystems change and systems return.
To do this, you first go through the systemic change
process using systems mapping, like I mentioned
earlier. You convene stakeholders, and together
you identify levers for change. Then you think
together about what kinds of financial instruments
you can use to catalyze the change, whether they
are philanthropic dollars, microloans, impact
investing, angel investing, and so on.
My colleagues and I currently have a project in
the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, which has 2.5%

F E AT U R E | H S U E H A N D M O L L O Y

37

Systemic Change Process Map
Collective
Systems
Mapping

Systems Aspiration Collaborative
Potentials& Stuckness
Systems MappingChampions
Identification
Learning Journey

Relationship
Building

Stakeholder
Map & Interview
Change Process
DesignCritical System

Systems
Awareness

Quiet
Convening

Isolated Successes

Leverage Point
Identification
Shared Strategy

Self
Convening

Prototyping

R0
Quiet Convening

After Action Review
Opportunity
Identification

U ProcessCo-presencing

Shared Vision

Tipping
Point

Sensing the field
Wicked Problem

Stakeholder
Dialogue &Facilitation

Learning Infrastructure
Personal Mastery

Systems
Leadership
Network

Rapid Results Method

R1

Collaborative Network

Self-convening

Reinforcing Activities
Process Coaching

Prototype
Projects

Scaling
R3

Backbone Organization

Scaling

Potential Backbone
Organization

Investment & Funding
Peer
Coaching

Capacity
Building
Program

Systemic
ChangeOutcomes

R2

SharedMeasurement
Developmental
Evaluation

Capacity
Building

ActionResearch
ActionLearning
DesignCommunication
Outreach

Revenue
Generation

HybridOrganization
DesignR4
Systems Funding

Systems
Funding

The loops signify stages in the change process. The variables in red are possible interventions for each stage.
Source: Dr. Joe Hsueh, Academy for Systemic Changeof the world’s biodiversity. We have gone throughthe process of mapping the system with stakeholders (see “Regenerative Rainforest Economy
Systems Map,” p. 38), and we are now in the processof identifying impact investors who are interested
in financing the transformation of a regenerative
rainforest economy in a systemic way (see “Systems
Financing Map,” p. 39).

Personal Sustainability
MOLLOY: How do you, as a facilitator and leaderof these processes, maintain your own momentum
and energy?

HSUEH: I am a part of a firm called SecondMuse.
Our intention is to scale up this kind of systemicchange work. I was involved in many different
large-scale projects at once. Some I advised on,
and many I was actually the one doing the
mapping and facilitation.
I ignored my own sustainability, though. At theend of the year, I got burned out. It made me realize that I didn’t set boundaries for myself. If something sounded interesting, I said, “I’ll do this, I’ll
do that, too.” I took on more and more.

R E F L E C T I O N S | V O LU M E 14, N U M B E R 4

38

Regenerative Rainforest Economy Systems Map
Media & PublicCampaign
Systems
Understanding,Shared Vision,
Leverage Points

Systems Mapping,
Dialogue &Trust-building

Lack of Regional
Funding
Lack ofTransparency

Funder

Systems
Leadership
Network

Capacity
Building

Lack of LocalNational Policy
Integration

Mistrust Among
Stakeholders

Whole-System
Collective
ActionOsa Territory &Potential Canton

Funder & NGO
Coordination for
Systemic Funding

Infrastructure
Tourism

B6

SocialImpact
Bond

LimitedLand-use
Regulation

Savings ofGovernment
Expenditure
Local Jobs,
Tax, Votes

Pure
Conservation

Micro-enterprise
Development

Entrepeneurship
Training

C ivic P a rticipa tion

Awareness of Limits
to Pure Conservation

Aggregated
Value

R8
S ys tems
S a ving

Eco
Eco-tourism Certification
Training
Squattor &Eco, Agri &TrailsIndigenous
Cultural Tourism
Opposition
Indigenous
CultureSustainable
Preservation
Indigenous
Enterprises
High School

Damage to
Ecosystem

Limited Local
Employment

R2

P ure C ons erva tion
E nforcement

P ure C ons erva tion
V icious C ycle

Grants.

Sustainable
Fisheries &Aquaculture
Medicinal Plant
Business

Illegal Market
MassTourism
Potential
MarinaProfits to
ResortInvestors
ResortInvestor

R4

Tax Revenue to
National andMunicipal Gov't

Robbery,
Prostitution,
Drug Trafficking

R9
E co Not Ma s s
T ouris m

Potential Int'l
AirportWinners of Ma s s
T ouris m

Biodiversity

Lobbying &Corruption

PublicFinancing

Gov't Permits for
Mass Tourism

Access to
Health Care

Diversified
Farming

Palm Oil
Price

Palm Oil
DemandInt'l Palm
Oil Supply

Palm Oil
SupplyProfitable
Crop
Unsustainable
Oil Palm, Rice
Field & Cattle

Local Oil Palm
Expansion
PO Setup Cost
Assistance &Long-term Contract

Biological Corridor
Blockage

NatureFertilizer Pollution
Potential Dam
Ecosystem
Stewardship

Carbon Bond

Land
Preservation

Protected Land
Enforcement

Public & Private
Protected Land

Food
Security

Water
Management
Quality of
Education

Teacher &Student Dropout

Sustainable Palm
Oil Certification

Tacotal Logging

Conservation
Projects
Youth, Women& Community
Empowerment

Community

Limited Tax fromMicro-enterprises

Conserva
tion NGO

Conservation
Land Trust

Access to
Ecosystem
Information

Sacred Site
Recognition

Applied Academic
Research

GrantsLack ofAttention
to OsaSustainable Palm Oil
Demand & Buyers

Agriculture

Mono-culture
ThreatEnvironmental
Education

Community
Security

Palm Oil Industry
Engagement

Land
Leasing &Loans

Healthy
Forest
Healthy
Ocean

Thriving
Community(Social)Migration &Brain Drain

Land Selling to
Resort Investors

Sustainable
Oil Palm

HealthyLand

Healthy
Ecosystem(Environmental)

Local Employment &Sustainable Income
Local Culture

L os ers of
Ma s s T ouris m

Poaching, Illegal
Logging, Mining

Local Food
MarketG reen E conomy
V irtuous C ycle

Conservation
Enforcement

R3

Coop
Network

Sustainable
Forestry

Ecosystem
Service Payments
Green / Blue
EconomyR5(Economic)

Poverty

ESG
Screening

Sustainable
Agriculture

Spiritual
Stewardship

B1

Sustainable PO
Investment Fund

ImpactInvestingMarketAccessConsumer
Sustainable
Agri Policy

Microloan
Screening

Gov't
Administrative
Microloan Efficiency
Project
Implementation
Capacity
Seed
Capital Business
Sustainable
Incubators
Marketing

Zoning &L a nd-us e R eform

Sustainable
Region Branding& Recognition

National
Gov't
ImpactInvestor

Sustainable
Municipal
ZoningLand Title &Settlement
National Forest
Land-use Reform

Civic Participation
for Green EconomyNGO

Municipal
Gov't

Development
Bank Loan

Mindset Shift fromPure Conservation
to Green Economy

R7
Demonstrated
Results

Lack of Gov't
Accountability
Corruption

Effective
Governance(Political)

Police Training& Prestige

Fragmentation &Short-termism

Lack of Regional
Identity

Municipal
Engagement

L E G E ND
VisionKey
BarrierPotential
Lever

BarrierIntervention
Financing
Outcome

Solid (Dotted) Arrow =Positive (Negative)
Causality

Stakeholder

AcademiaR

R einforcing
L oop

B

B a la ncing
L oop

This is the map created by stakeholders in the Osa Peninsula project.

So since last year, I made a conscious choice to be
more selective and not take on whatever comes
my way. Instead, I’m focusing on work that I see as
critically important because it involves a systemthat can have huge impact. It also has to have as
many of the right conditions as possible—a clientwith a learning orientation and so forth.
MOLLOY: It seems that part of the downsideof finding your passion is that it can be allencompassing.

HSUEH: That’s right. I’m also learning that bybeing selective and focusing on a few key things,
I can go deeper. What I experienced in the past
was very helpful, because it allowed me to touchon many different systems issues. Going forward,
I’d like to go much deeper. To create systemicchange, one needs to go wide and deep at thesame time. n

F E AT U R E | H S U E H A N D M O L L O Y

Systems Financing Map

This systems financing map shows a simplified regenerative rainforest economy systems map with various
financing instruments linked to places where they could have the most impact.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Joe Hsueh is an expert in systems change and systems mapping. He has worked on sustainablefisheries, sustainable apparels, and disaster resilience with clients such as the Walton Family Foundation, Sustainable Apparel Coalition, and the World Bank. Joe co-founded the Academy for Systemic
Change and works with SecondMuse. joehsueh@gmail.com
Janice Molloy is managing editor of Reflections. janice@solonline.org

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R E F L E C T I O N S | V O LU M E 14, N U M B E R 4

BOOK EXCERPT 14.4

Leading with Shakti
Leveraging Feminine and Masculine Energies
N I L I M A B H AT A N D R A J S I S O D I AGiven the prevalence of serious problems in the world, the case can be made that today’s hierarchical and individualistic
leadership models aren’t working the way we need them to. In Shakti Leadership: Embracing Feminine and Masculine
Power in Business (Berrett-Koehler, 2016), Nilima Bhat and Raj Sisodia introduce what they call “Shakti Leadership,”
a way of leading that is generative, cooperative, creative, inclusive, and empathetic. While these are traditionallyregarded as “feminine” qualities, we all have them. In this chapter, Bhat and Sisodia introduce the three essential
capacities of Shakti Leadership: wholeness, flexibility, and congruence.

For life to generate and flourish, you need both the seed
and the soil. Put the best
possible seed into toxic or
depleted soil and it will not
grow. On the other hand, evenwith the most fertile, nurturingsoil, a damaged or flawed seed
Nilima Bhat
will not develop into anythingof lasting value or impact.
Both seed and soil need tobe addressed to bring about
positive transformation in theworld. This book is about helping you develop yourself, as
the seed, and also as a leader
who has the capacity to imRaj Sisodia
prove the quality of the soil—
the context in which you lead—over time.
Shakti Leadership is a powerful and practical leadership model that consciously leverages masculine andfeminine energies to heal, restore balance, and evolve
the planet. It represents a synthesis of some of theworld’s best personal mastery practices and paths. It
focuses on developing long-ignored innate feminine

Adapted and reprinted
with permission
from Berrett-Koehler
Publishers, Inc. from
Shakti Leadership:
Embracing Feminineand Masculine Powerin Business Nilima Bhat
and Raj Sisodia
Copyright © 2016 by Nilima Bhat
and Raj Sisodia All Rights Reserved.

capacities and balancing and integrating them withtraditionally masculine resources.
Before we introduce the framework, let’s look at how
leadership has evolved over the course of human history.

The Roots of Modern Leadership
The roots of modern leadership lie in conflict, territorialism, and the brutal exercise of power. The innate
masculine appetite for hunting, conquering, owning,and subjugating appears as a bloody thread runningB O O K E X C E R P T | B H AT A N D S I S O D I A

through most expressions of leadership throughout
history. Think of Alexander the Great and his dream toconquer the world; Julius Caesar and the empire of Rome;Henry VIII and his impact on English history. They wereconsidered the great leaders of their time, and naturally
they were all men. They are invariably depicted in portraits as very severe, aggressive, unhappy, and serious.

Shakti Leadership is a leadershipmodel that consciously leverages
masculine and feminine energies
to heal, restore balance, andevolve the planet.
Even in most indigenous cultures and tribes, the mantleof leadership was awarded based on a person’s (usuallya male’s) ability to win wars and protect their people
from aggressors. India’s grand mythological teaching
epic, the Mahabharata, is the story of a great war between two sets of male cousins. The cousins look forleadership lessons on how to rule over their subjects
from Bhishma, the venerated patriarch who lies (anddies) on his bed of arrows on a colossal battlefield—abattlefield that wrought such destruction that it
brought to an end an entire yuga (epoch).
The discourse he gave is still venerated as a “how-to”
manual for kingship in peacetime, as is The Art of War by
Sun Tzu, an ancient military treatise used even today bymany leaders. The war has moved from the killing fields
to business boardrooms and political chambers.
Of course, there have been leaders in history who did
not operate from a dominantly masculine orientation.
The leaders who have truly transformed and brought
lasting positive change to the world embodied a blendof masculine and feminine virtues and capacities. Thinkof beloved leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma				What Is Shakti?
India’s ancient adepts intuited and experienced
the existence of a source of infinite creative
power and loving intelligence. This same power
and intelligence has created everything aroundus and within us. It is what enables our fingernails to grow and our minds to contemplate thedeepest mysteries of the universe. They calledthat source Shakti: the generative, fiercely loving
power that fuels all creation and animates consciousness. All of reality is intelligent; it is conscious. It is evolved by its own innate power—
which creates, preserves, and transforms itself
endlessly.
Think of an exquisite car that’s been designed
and built to perfection. Without the right fuel,the car is useless. Similarly, consciousness byitself is sterile, still, and inert. Shiva—the embodiment of consciousness in yogic traditions—is shava (corpse) without Shakti. Shakti is thepower that fuels everything.

Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela.
Each had a transformative effect on the world thatexisted in his time, and each blended tremendous
strength with a great capacity for love and care. Lincoln
blended masculine traits such as strength of purpose
and tenacity with feminine ones such as empathy,
openness, and the willingness to nurture others; thiscapacity was seen as “central to his practice of great
leadership.”1 As Leigh Buchanan wrote, “Lincoln’s humility and inclusiveness made possible the ‘team of rivals’
described by Doris Kearns Goodwin in the popularbook of that title. Generous and empathic, he madetime for people of all stations who approached him
with their troubles.”2

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R E F L E C T I O N S | V O LU M E 14, N U M B E R 4

The leaders who have truly
transformed and brought lasting
positive change to the world
embodied a blend of masculine andfeminine virtues and capacities.
Contrast the legacies of these leaders with those ofdespotic twentieth-century leaders such as Hitler,
Stalin, Mao, Mussolini, Pol Pot, and others. They represented the worst instances of unbridled masculine
energy run amok, and nearly destroying humancivilization in the process.

Traditional Leadership Models
The traditional leadership model was designed forcombat and competition, with a focus on survival, conquest, and defeating the enemy. Traditional leadershipis hierarchical; rank determines power and authority.
Decisions are made top-down and follow standard
procedures, and drill, discipline, and unquestioned
compliance are seen as key to achieving goals. A willingness to sacrifice is seen as key to winning, while
ends are believed to justify the means. By some measures, this very masculine leadership model has beensuccessful; it has certainly endured for a long time. The
positives associated with masculine leadership include
discipline, focus, and extraordinary achievements under duress—but, far too often, it comes at a painfully
steep human cost.
Today, the context has changed dramatically and with
it our expectations of leadership. Leadership was aboutmaintaining order; today, it’s about knowing how tonavigate ambiguity. In the past, many things were
centrally controlled; today, we operate with peer-topeer networks. We used to have very limited access to
information; now, we have universal and instant accessto massive amounts of information, to the point of

information overload. Power was closely held and is
now distributed; we’re moving from ranked hierarchies
to unranked “heterarchies.” The leader was the unquestioned boss, powerful and controlling; now, the leader
needs to be a catalyst, empowering and inspiring.
Most current leadership models are essentially behavioral (telling us how to behave as leaders), and thus
operate from the outside in. They require us to develop
certain competencies as a leader. Some of them alsoemphasize values and beliefs, which goes one level
deeper—but still not deep enough.

Today, the context has changed
dramatically and with it our
expectations of leadership.
Getting at the Source
To manifest leadership based on true power, you needto start with the source. You need to understand whatthat source is, how to get in touch with it, how to harness it, and how to uniquely manifest it in the world.
This is a three-step process: step in, step up, and stepout. In the process, you source Shakti, embody Shakti,and, finally, manifest Shakti.
• Step in is about stepping into your Shakti, awakening to your deeper being: the source within. It is
about connecting to your deeper self, and, throughthat, to the infinite power of the universe.
• Step up is about doing: polishing your life andleadership skills, and embodying a natural balance ofmasculine and feminine qualities to become a flexible,
comfortable leader anchored in personal power.
• Step out is about being sensitive to the needs of thecontext and choosing where and how to best serve inB O O K E X C E R P T | B H AT A N D S I S O D I A

the world. It is about fully manifesting and deploying
the Shakti that you’ve found by asking: What is myunique purpose? What am I here to give life to?

Shakti Leadership

When you are not present, you operate with conditioned
knee-jerk responses, making unconscious, default choices.
When you are fully present, you’re able to see and sensethings about the situation clearly, act accordingly, andbe fully attuned to all its possibilities.
From a state of presence anchored in consciousness,
you can readily access and develop the three essential
capacities of leadership: wholeness, flexibility, and congruence. These are the critical capacities from whichflow all the qualities and behaviors you need to be aneffective leader.

© Thinkstock/Eti Ammos

Shakti Leadership is an adaptation of the conscious
leadership model developed by a group of facilitatorsand coaches in India called ChittaSangha (Consciousness Collaborative).3 The conscious leadership model isabout leading with depth, starting from the inside out.
It is an approach to leadership that originates from consciousness, the ultimate source of everything. By tapping into that source, we can cultivate a state of beingfrom which comes what we call presence—a state inwhich you’re not preoccupied with the past or future
but are completely at home in the moment.

Only leadership that originates fromthe fertile ground of your consciousness can sustainably generate theoutcomes that your organizationand people need.
Without that, it is like planting cut flowers and expecting them to grow.

Once you develop these three capacities as a leader, all
the behaviors and competencies you need to cultivate
will be anchored on solid ground. Without such anchoring, no amount of training in “what good leaders do”
can have lasting impact.

Capacity for Wholeness

It matters whether people manifest behaviors from theconditioned ego self or the deeper, true “ground of being.” Only leadership that originates from the fertile
ground of your consciousness can sustainably generate
the outcomes that your organization and people need.

We think of ourselves as just one person, but we eachcarry multiple selves within us. Women have a motherself, a daughter-self, and also an inner man within. Likewise, men have a father-self, a son-self, and an inner
woman within them. We are all human beings and we

Wholeness is the ability to balance, integrate, and unite
all the divided and fragmented parts of oneself. Wholeness is emphasized in all major wisdom traditions. It is
about healing the many splits that are within all of us.

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are also divine beings; this split, too, has not beenreconciled for most of us. To become whole, we needto bring about a kind of “holy family reunion” within ourbeings. In a sense, it’s about becoming your own motheror father as well as your own beloved. We need to learn
how to access and express all these selves within us asappropriate.

Chinese or Taoist wisdom focuses on ecological wholeness: balancing complementary energies, the yin andthe yang. Chinese medicine is about understandingthat your energies need to be balanced with the energies of your ecosystem, which creates a state of health.
Likewise, every organ in your body is in a yin-yangenergy balance with another.

The Western view of wholeness is psychological, reflectedin Carl Jung’s insight that we have an ego-self and ashadow-self. To become psychologically whole, we needto integrate the two. Jung famously said that this was
the apprentice piece in the journey to individuation;
the “masterpiece” is to integrate the anima and animus—
your masculine and feminine dimensions. When you canhold all those pieces together in a coherent way, youhave achieved psychological wholeness.

Becoming a whole person requires us to reclaim ourlost parts. The three traditions have worked out piecesof the puzzle; now we can reach for a grand integration.
When you become whole, it creates a great sense of joy
and releases extraordinary energy—the positive energyof Shakti. The positive and negative poles of a battery
are of no use without each other; they need to be connected for energy to flow. Likewise, we are disempowered when we are internally fragmented. Shakti is theenergy locked in those poles which can now be released.

The masculine tendency is to be more self-oriented,
while the feminine tendency is to be more other-oriented.
When unconscious, the masculine nature can be selfish;
when made conscious, this drive leads to individuation.
When unconscious, the feminine nature can be submissive; when made conscious, this drive leads to selftranscendence. Individuation and self-transcendence
are two sides of the same coin: the mark of a fullblown presence.

Individuation and self-transcendence
are two sides of the same coin: themark of a full-blown presence.
From the yogic tradition comes the idea of spiritualwholeness—you have to unite the human or ego self
and the divine or higher self. It recognizes that you are
not only the ego, but also the soul, the atma. Ultimately,even the soul has to unite with the supreme soul,paramatma.

Shakti flows and grows from wholeness. Far from beinga static, resting state, wholeness is a state of powerful
dynamism. When we become whole, Shakti is awakened and active and available in its full power.

Capacity for Flexibility
The second essential leadership capacity is flexibility.
Shakti Leaders need to know how to flex between
masculine and feminine energy as the situation or context requires. Most of us tend to get stuck in one modeand don’t how to cycle to the other. That’s the habitualnature of the mind. Yoga and Chinese martial arts andtechniques such as Tai Chi and Qi-gong can be quite
beneficial to help overcome this; when you make thebody flexible, the mind becomes flexible as well.
The bamboo tree is a great symbol of flexibility. It isable to bend and sway as conditions demand, but does
not break, no matter how harsh the wind. The bamboo
has become central to many sacred traditions for goodreason, as it embodies uprightness and tenacity,
elegance and simplicity.

B O O K E X C E R P T | B H AT A N D S I S O D I A

45© Thinkstock/Art Wolfe

When you make the body flexible,
the mind becomes flexible as well.
Being flexible when you are not operating from presence
can be disempowering and come across as being weak,indecisive, or lacking personal conviction as a leader. But
if you are in presence and holding your center, you can
exercise needed flexibility without any loss of power.

Capacity for Congruence
The third leadership capacity is congruence. When weare congruent, everything is lined up: we are centered,authentic, and aligned. Everything comes together andis moving in harmony with one’s swadharma (a Sanskrit
word for the concept of a personal higher purpose, what

one is here to live and be and do). Leaders who arecongruent are not pulled in multiple directions. They
are aligned with their purpose internally (how theyfeel) as well as externally (how they act). If you cultivate
inner congruence, you will exemplify it on the outside
as a highly effective and engaging leader and humanbeing. When a person is congruent, they manifest great
integrity; you see them living the truth of who they are,not pretending to be anything else. Congruent people
are inspiring to be around; they are powerful beings
whose energy comes together into a concentrated
force of nature.

Manifesting Love at WorkLove is a word that is finally emerging from the corporate closet. For too long, business has been run purely
on self-interest, leaving aside the equally powerful

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human need to care. Bringing caring or love into theworkplace is an inevitable by-product of embracing
Shakti Leadership. In fact, it is already happening at conscious companies—and not just because it seems like a
nice thing to do. Ron Shaich, founder and CEO of Panera
Bread, believes that “Love is a competitive advantage.
When you can give voice to and capture love, you canactivate all kinds of things in people which is way different than the model which says they should show up
and we will pay you $X per hour. You don’t have to
make a business case for love.”4

For many leaders, “love” seems like something soft—
somehow at odds with the steely chill we associate withhardened businessmen. Stakeholder theory pioneer andDarden School professor Ed Freeman is blunt on thesubject: “In the academic literature, business is aboutmacho crap. Business theorists are embarrassed to hearpeople talk about love and care and that kind of stuff.”5What many leaders fail to recognize is that there is greatstrength in love. Love is not the sentimental, pink-hearted
cartoon that many envision; it brings people together
in a real way. For John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of
Whole Foods Market, “Love is the most powerful energy
in the world. When you have that, you’re not weaker;
you’re actually a lot stronger. That’s the narrative that’s
missing out there and needs to be told.”6
There is nothing incompatible between love and capitalism. Fred Kofman, author of Conscious Business: How to
Build Value Through Values and now vice president at© Thinkstock/Jon Feingersh

Love is a word that is finally
emerging from the corporate closet.
What many leaders fail to recognize
is that there is a great strength inlove.
LinkedIn, has said, “Because love is a competitive
advantage in a free market, the companies that best
embody love and that best support the well-being anddevelopment of all stakeholders will win. They will accumulate wealth and power and size. Freedom privileges
those who are willing to offer the most while drawing
the least resources from society. It allows loving people
to win over those who are less conscious.”7

Leading from Shakti
Shakti Leadership is not about using people for yourobjectives, but about serving them and being a goodsteward of their lives. It’s a very different way of looking
at leadership. Shakti Leaders don’t try to “manage”
people; they attract followers because people knowthat the leader is aligned with a force for good andtruly cares about them as human beings.
Why lead with Shakti if you are a conscious person andleader already? Being conscious would imply that theB O O K E X C E R P T | B H AT A N D S I S O D I A

Shiva consciousness is awakened to a fair degree in you.
You are more self-aware and have the ability to deeply
reflect on your choices and the impact they have in theworld. However, if you wish to bring about real and lasting positive change, you’re going to need the agencyof Shakti, the power that fuels such change. In yoga, thispower is deeply respected, sought, and brought to bear
upon situations, for it alone fashions the transformations
necessary. We can be highly conscious leaders, but without Shakti we will not be able to achieve the change
and transformations needed at these critical times. Thistranspersonal and higher power alone can bring about
the paradigm shifts needed.

As the expression goes, with great power indeed comes
great responsibility. Conscious leaders exercise powerwith great care. Their integrity and intention are tested
often; Shakti is theirs only as long as they have selfmastery over their ego and are in selfless service to 		the greater good.
Shakti Leadership requires that you cultivate deep 		
and consistent presence as a leader. From that placeof presence you connect to the Shakti within and 		are empowered by it. From this Shakti you’re able todevelop the three essential capacities: wholeness,flexibility, and congruence. n

ENDNOTES
1 Frank J. Williams, “The Women in Lincoln’s Life,” in The Lincoln Forum: Rediscovering Abraham Lincoln, ed. John Y. Simonand Harold Holzer (Bronx, NY: Fordham University Press, 2002), 25.
2 Leigh Buchanan, “Between Venus and Mars: 7 Traits of True Leaders,” Inc. magazine, June 2013, http://www.inc.com/
magazine/201306/leigh-buchanan/traits-of-true-leaders.html (accessed December 2015).
3 We would like to acknowledge the contributions of Vinit Taneja, Vijay Bhat, Arjun Shekhar, Gagan Adlakha, Arul Dev,
and Kiran Gulrajani to the development of this unpublished model.
4 Ron Shaich, panel discussion at Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit, Austin, TX, October 12, 2011.
5 R. Edward Freeman, panel discussion at Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit, Austin, TX, October 12, 2011.
6 John Mackey, panel discussion at Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit, Austin, TX, October 12, 2011.
7 Fred Kofman, panel discussion at Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit, Austin, TX, October 12, 2011.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nilima Bhat is a facilitator of personal transformation, coaching individuals and organizations in their quest forconscious evolution. She is an international speaker and trainer in organizational culture, conscious business,
women in leadership, and self-awareness for work-life balance, as well as Indian wisdom and wellness traditions.
Raj Sisodia is a globally recognized business academic who has done pioneering work in marketing and businessstrategy, marketing ethics and productivity, stakeholder management, and leadership. He is the FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business and Whole Foods Market Research Scholar in Conscious Capitalism at
Babson College. He is also co-founder and co-chairman of Conscious Capitalism Inc.

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Reflections

The SoL North America Journal
on Knowledge, Learning, and Change

Volume 14, Number 4

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