I agree with Peter - the self-limiting beliefs question is central and definitely a 'first beer' conversation. If you were going to have a second beer I would recommend recognising the natural, potent role that founders and their successors play in shaping an organisation or a field of thinking. In that I would recommend Tom Nixon's book "Working with Source" - it powerfully unpacks the influence of founders (both positive and negative). We often laud the benefits of founders/ thinkers intellect and rightly so - but how have their limits, their own world views, their backgrounds emphasised certain parts and left out other parts that might be important. These are less thought about but just as important. Exploring self-limiting beliefs is a productive way to think about this. Tom Nixon recommends the 'source' of business/thinking to reflect and examine their own histories and then re-audit their work to ensure these blind spots and biases are addressed. Hard work but productive

“We don’t need leadership we need mothership” Yes more of that in our world - nurture, intuition, reflective, collaboration, empathy, listening, committed and fierce love.

Peter's comments about habits reminder me of a powerful observation made by Gretchen Rubin in her book, Better Than Before. "Habit is a good servant, but a bad master." The significance of that quote cannot be overstated. It gets at the core of virtually every dysfunctional human experience. It also resonates with some of Peter's observations about the habits that do us the most harm. It's the ones that appear to work so well for us that we never challenge them to consider how they could be "better than before."

What an outstanding conversation! I recall reading The Fifth Discipline way back in first edition days in 1990. Peter's insights about Learning Organisations subsequently underpinned key elements of my life and career. It's great to hear current reflections and what has emerged with an additional 33 years of experience! Thanks very much to you all. Great questions, terrific answers and so much to think about. Thanks again!

Regarding Peter's comment about the need for tools to operationalize principles and practices, the great philosopher/engineer Buckminster Fuller said, "“If you want to teach people a new way of thinking, don't bother trying to teach them. Instead give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.”

Amazing conversation … love the thinking and updates on the future of organizations!

Absolutely loved this - so many insights about systemic change and great questions and insights drawn. thank you

This is Excellent, thank you Peter!!!

Yes it can happen quickly.

Can we please stop talking about front-lines and trenches? Organizations are not war zones. Decentralization means that the periphery runes the business. Period.