The Chaordic Organization

This title contains two excerpts from a book by the same author Birth of the Chaordic Age. It describes the essentials of chaordic philosophy and outlines the first steps any organization can take to begin the journey towards developing a more flexible, self-governing organization.

Supplying a clear vision of how to build high-performance teams, Leadership in Chaordic Organizations presents methods for improving operations through the application of complex systems engineering principles and psychological counseling techniques. Ideal for systems engineers, organizational managers, coaches, and psychologists, it addresses the

Written by its founder, the inside story of VISA International and the "chaordic" organization that has made it the largest and one of the most innovative businesses in the world. Excerpted in "Fast Company" and "Wired."

Few even well-informed business leaders seem to recognize Visa as the largest business organization in the world, despite a turnover that is some 10 times that of Wal-Mart and a market value that is, conservatively speaking, more than double that of General Electric. I have often wondered why this is so. How could the world's largest business also be one of the business world's best kept secrets? It is certainly not that its product is little known, nor that it is the leader of an obscure industry. There are few companies that could claim that one-sixth of the world's people were its customers last year! Yet, over the past decade, there have been well over a thousand feature articles in Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes on Microsoft, over 350 on GE, and about 35 on Visa.

Revised edition of Hock's award-winning Birth of the Chaordic Age, updated throughout and featuring two new chapters • The only first-person account of the rise of VISA, the world's largest business enterprise--in 2004, VISA’s products were used by more than a billion people at 20 million locations in more than 150 countries • Hock, VISA’s founder, details the revolutionary "chaordic" organizational philosophy that was instrumental in VISA’s success Hock skillfully weaves together the story of VISA with his own remarkable life story and elaborates the visionary philosophy that allowed VISA to thrive. Hock calls his approach "chaordic"--simultaneously chaotic and orderly. Hock makes a compelling argument that this organizational philosophy is a more supple, responsive and creative alternative to mechanistic Industrial Age models, one more in tune with what we see in nature. One from Many--revised throughout from its original hardcover publication as The Birth of the Chaordic Age--includes two new chapters in which Hock reflects on his post-VISA experiences as an advocate for chaordic principles, and details some examples of chaordic principles in action: the Internet, World Weather Watch, Alcoholics Anonymous, and others. Lyrical, playful, philosophical, and straight from the heart, One From Many challenges us to change forever the way we think about money, organizations, leadership, management, the human spirit, and our relationship to the natural world.

The first book to bring together both leadership and change theories, concepts, and processes, Leading Change in Multiple Contexts uses a consistent framework and the latest research to help readers understand and apply the concepts and practices of leading change. Key Features Brings together leadership and change concepts and practices in five distinct contexts—organizational, community, political, social change, and global Draws from a wide range of classic and recent scholarship from multiple disciplines Includes the perspectives of change and leadership experts Offers real-life vignettes that provide examples of leading change in every context Provides readers with application and reflection exercises that allow them to apply leadership and change concepts to their experiences Leading Change in Multiple Contexts is designed for undergraduate and graduate courses in Change Management, Leadership, Organizational Behavior, Organizational Development, and Leadership and Change offered in departments of business, education, communication, and public administration, as well as programs focusing on leadership, public policy, community activism, and social change.

Volume 1 Autobiography of a Restless Mind is a fascinating, exceptionally diverse collection of observations and reflections written over the past twenty-five years by one of the most innovative thinkers, writers, and leaders of the past half century. Witty and wise, playful and profound, prophetic and immensely quotable, it is a companion no thinking, caring person should be without. Written in an unforgettable style reminiscent of Aurelius, Montaigne, Lao-Tse, and Bacon, it is a classic that will be read with pleasure and profit for generations to come.

Research consistently shows how through the years more of our time gets spent using media, how multitasking our media has become a regular feature of everyday life, and that consuming media for most people increasingly takes place alongside producing media. Media Life is a primer on how we may think of our lives as lived in rather than with media. The book uses the way media function today as a prism to understand key issues in contemporary society, where reality is open source, identities are - like websites - always under construction, and where private life is lived in public forever more. Ultimately, media are to us as water is to fish. The question is: how can we live a good life in media like fish in water? Media Life offers a compass for the way ahead.