The Tip of the Iceberg: Managing the Hidden Forces That Can Make or Break Your Organization by Gombert, Bobby, Hutchens, David (October 1, 2001) Paperback 1st

by David Hutchens

A group of enterprising penguins with a yen for juicy clams teams up with some walrus colleagues to harvest aseemingly endless supply for all. The good news attracts penguins and walruses from icebergs far and wide who join in the work and the delectation. But on the way to establishing a clam lovers' paradise, territorial skirmishes arise, clumsy walruses flatten penguins, and confusion reigns. Can the penguins discover the hidden connections that have turned spiraling success into frustration and social upheaval? Only when they learn to see what is invisible are they able to stop their paradise from unraveling and take steps to creat sustainable prosperity.The Tip of the Iceberg vividly illustrates how organizations can be trapped by systems when they fail to understand them. The story and discussion guide will help managers sort through the complexity of surface-level events and discover how to take effective actions that create the results they desire.

Genres: Management

Unknown Binding

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

David Hutchens is an author, business writer and learning designer who creates communication solutions for The Coca-Cola Company, Wal-Mart, IBM, GE, Nike, Bank of America, and others. He served as chairman of Storytelling in Organizations, a special interest group of the globally renowned National Storytelling Network.

He speaks to organizations and leadership teams all around the world on the topic of storytelling as an organizational capacity. His new book is “Circle of the 9 Muses: A Storytelling Field Guide for Innovators and Meaning Makers,” Wiley & Sons 2015

He is creator of the Learning Fables -- a book series that uses narrative and metaphor to illustrate principles of organizational learning. With titles that include "Outlearning the Wolves" and "Shadows of the Neanderthal," the popular business fables have have sold more than a quarter-million copies in over a dozen languages.

He is author of the book "A Slice of Trust: The Leadership Secret with the Hot & Fruity Filling,” which features a foreword by Stephen M.R. Covey.

In partnership with The Conference Board, he is creator and lead facilitator of The Team USA Leadership Experience, at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado springs; and he also facilitates The Apollo Leadership Experience at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

A nationally recognized developer of innovative learning products, David's work has been recognized with distinctions such as Training & Development's "Training Product of the Year" award; ASTD's prestigious "Excellence in Practice" award; Brandon Hall Gold award, and more.

David's newest product is "GO Team: Powering Teams to Perform," a just-in-time team training resource. GO Team's library of 18 team-related topics allows you to build your own learning agenda tailored to your team's needs.

Reviews

[Shamir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging and covers complex topics in a simple way

The simplicity of the story is engaging for the reader to understand the concepts and the reflection moments help the reader to get much deeper into the topic and consider how it can be practically used.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very entertaining..but not as witty as Outlearning the Wolves

[Allysa Diehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Effective metaphor for systems thinking.

[Ruben · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book on the basics of understanding systems. In this case an organization. It is written in a very simple and funny format. You can read it in less than an hour and use as a reference for years.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of along the same lines as Who Moved My Cheese. The short version: Look. Listen. Reflect. Take action.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic, but useful introduction to systems thinking