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Episode 14: Jennifer Garvey-Berger on Simple Habits for Complex Times [The Amiel Show]

Episode 14: Jennifer Garvey-Berger on Simple Habits for Complex Times [The Amiel Show]

by amiel · Mar 16, 2015

What do you get when one of the world’s experts in adult development, an aspiring novelist, writes a practical guide for organizations on leading through complexity?

Simple Habits for Complex Times, the new book by Jennifer Garvey-Berger (co-authored with Keith Johnston). What I love about it: not only does it entice the reader to see organizational life through a powerful new lens, it’s a great read!

The book is built around two stories, both with leaders in over their heads in complexity yet willing to stretch their minds and habits to rise to the challenge.

After the great response (nearly 2,000 downloads) to my earlier interview with Jennifer, I just had to interview her about the new book. Fortunately, she was game.

Jennifer-Garvey-Berger

In Episode 14 of The Amiel Show, Jennifer and I discuss (times are approximate):
  • 5:00 How complex systems differ from simple and complicated systems
  • 10:00 Our hunger for cause-and-effect
  • 12:40 The “rich picture of now” brainstorm—and the importance of not being aspirational
  • 17:00 The purpose of safe-to-fail experiments
  • 23:00 Why pilot experiments piss people off
  • 27:30 How job surveys don’t just measure a system. They shape it
  • 33:00 How people create phantom rules that everybody hates
  • 38:00 How complexity principles work at every stage of adult development
  • 40:00 Looking for the attractors that contribute to compliance-based behaviors
  • 44:30 What we miss by assuming we are emotion-less Vulcans rather than human beings
  • 48:30 “We hire the smartest people” and other well-meaning habits that can block learning
  • 53:00 Creating more complex ways to think about performance at work

Listen to the Podcast

http://traffic.libsyn.com/amielhandelsman/TAS_014_Jennifer_Garvey_Berger.mp3

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Tweet a Quote

“A safe-to-fail experiment always works if you have a way to harness the learning.” 

–Jennifer Garvey-Berger  Tweet this quote

Explore Additional Resources

  • Jennifer Garvey Berger and Cultivating Leadership
  • Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders by Jennifer Garvey Berger & Keith Johnston
  • David Snowden and Cognitive Edge
  • Chris Argyris’s HBR article, “Teaching Smart People How to Learn”

Ask A Question to Knockman the Magnificent

My good friend, Knockman The Magnificent (named after the Jewish Mystic, Nachman of Breslow, but with a 21st century pragmatic orientation), will soon be answering questions on the show. Two easy ways to leave your question:

  • Leave me a written comment below
  • Leave a short voice message (directly through your computer) here with your question.

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Filed Under: Adult development, Complexity, Emotions, Leadership development, Podcast Tagged With: adult development, complexity, experiments, innovation, Jennifer Garvey-Berger, Leadership

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