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rbogue's review
4.0
Somewhere around the seventh grade I read a short story by Kurt Vonnegut titled “Harrison Burgeron“ from his book Welcome to the Monkey House. The story is a fictional account of a future world where everyone must have the same intelligence, physical ability, and beauty. The title character is blessed with many strengths and is burdened by governmental attempts to reduce his abilities to the norm. The story is a glimpse into what happens when making everyone fall to the least common denominator. Sometimes it feels like we’re all being held back to the lowest common denominator.
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nickmiller's review
4.0
When I first started reading this book, it was one of those books that I really wanted to like. I understood that there were important lessons to learn, but they weren't coming in clearly to me. I started to get the hang of it towards the middle and end of the book, but the writing is definitely dense enough to warrant another read through, both to pick up more of the content but also to slowly ponder how to apply some of these to my own work organization. The content deserves 5 stars, however I feel like Peter M. Senge could have done a better job and write more clearly and concisely in order to get through to more people.
coralrose's review
3.0
Pedantic and preachy. Overly complicated language to describe some valuable concepts.
bookbeetle270's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
A mentor suggested I read this book, and it's what turned me on to business strategy and collaborative problem solving in business. I'm never had the pleasure to work anywhere that is leveraging the strategies in the book fully, but the systems thinking approach has been very helpful to me in work, and I find the case studies very inspiring. If you want to know what systems thinking is, this is a great introduction; Introduction to General Systems Thinking by Gerald Weinstein is a great 201-level follow up.
ahnmur's review
3.0
I appreciated the idea of systems thinking, and gained some insight on the need to scale the scope of my consideration in regards to corporate organization (but also, in general). The need for personal and shared vision is nothing new, and in many ways this book is indeed dated, but it was fascinating to see some of these ideas at their roots. I particularly liked the explanation of creative tension (the difference between your vision and your current reality, and how being cognizant of both fuels the drive to lessen the gap between them).
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