This is an excellent book, but I would call it a business memoir of sorts as it follows the personal path of the author. If the last name is familiar to you, it's because the author's dad was Leon Jaworski, the special prosecutor during Watergate. There are some fabulous books to read and you can find those in the notes at the end of the book. I've already ordered a bunch.
Synchronicity is a meaningful coincidence of two or more events, where something other than the probability of chance is involved.
We start off with Watergate, 1973, Houston, where the author is from. His dad is from a big law firm and they're well to do. The author follows in his dad's footsteps, becomes a trial lawyer, owns some businesses, his marriage dissolves, and he travels to find himself. He's pretty aggressive and works his way into the Grand Prix, among other things. During his journey he reads seminal books from the likes of Robert Greenleaf, David Bohm, Richard Bach, Eric Fromm, Joseph Campbell, and John Gardner (see end notes for titles). From the elements of love to oneness and connecting with the universe we move to servant leadership. The idea is born to create the American Leadership Forum (ALF), which is the author's goal and dream, which he eventually leaves the practice of law for.
Part 2 takes us from the law firm to meeting with David Bohm, a huge influence. Now the author is open to all sorts of events in his life and he meets his future wife. Part 3 takes us into the hero's journey and how connections matter and how they happen. All sorts of doors open for Joseph and we're talking big names, influential people in society. He travels a great deal, relocates to London for a few years, and incorporates outward bound/wilderness training into his program. It's about 1981, and he is able to get top dogs to be on the board of ALF, no easy task.
Some of the principles in the book or at ALF include: dialogue, collective thinking, being in the flow, the power of commitment, generative order, and implicate order (Bohm). The author ran into traps of course, but he pressed on. Part 4 is the gift and moving forth again. He goes to work with the Shell Group, gets into scenario planning, runs into barricades, develops new frontiers, creating the future, predictable miracles. We need to be open and shift in how we see the world. Be intuitive.
Part 5 continues the journey. There are excerpts from letters about the book. Very good stuff. Then there's a chapter on shifting the prevailing belief system. The U Theory, open and emergent, the universe is a domain of undivided wholeness, etc., eastern philosophy takes over here, meditation, mindfulness, and being present. Humans can learn to draw from the infinite potential of the Source by choosing to follow a disciplined path toward self-realization and love, the most powerful energy in the universe. We close with "Invoked or not, God is present." Carl Jung.
As I said, there are at least 10 books to read from here. We're dealing with out of the box thinking, global service, how to be the best leader, a servant leader. For regular folks, it may be tough finding connections like the author. It's nice to be in the 1%. However, there are some great concepts here and if you're in a leadership role, I highly recommend this book to you and your team. Your CEO needs to read it too.