The Fifth Discipline

The Fifth Discipline - The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization

by Peter J. Senge

Alas... I was not able to finish this book. Thankfully there are great summaries and texts available on the internet, as Senge's writing is truly invaluable.

I'll note one flag that does a wonderful job in explaining 'systems thinking':

pg 68 Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static "snapshots". ..... I call systems thinking the fifth discipline because it is the conceptual cornerstone that underlies all of the five learning disciplines of this book. All are concerned with a shift of mind from seeing parts to seeing wholes, from seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing them as active participants in shaping their reality, from reacting to the present to creating the future. Without systems thinking, there is neither the incentive nor the means to integrate the learning disciplines once they have come into practice. As the fifth discipline, systems thinking is the cornerstone of how learning organizations think about their world.