Piloting Through Chaos - Overview
Piloting Through Chaos:
Wise Leadership * Effective Negotiation for the 21st Century
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Are you ready to meet the challenges of the
next century? What will be your guide in realizing your noblest and most life-fulfilling
dreams? Piloting Through Chaos: Wise Leadership * Effective Negotiation for the 21st
Century offers a practical method of navigation, known as The Five Rings(tm),
by which you can instantly assess:
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The "magnetic pole" of the Five Rings(tm) is a single word - Integrity - in which the author has uncovered a new, mysterious and dynamic power. Integrity is the capacity of all living things to maintain their sense of connectedness, coherence, wholeness and creative vitality. By developing this fundamental life-skill, you will possess the Pilot's Compass.
Elegantly written and illustrated with an unusually diverse range of classical and business examples from many cultures, Piloting Through Chaos advances a startlingly original conception of professional and personal effectiveness in the world, which should have broad appeal to two large groups of readers. The first are people in business who seek to become more effective, but who understand that one key is learning how to find greater joy, meaning and satisfaction in the work itself. This broad group includes senior and middle managers, lawyers, physicians, architects, designers, teachers and other professionals, and tradespeople of all kinds. It includes environmentalists, political and social activists and other reformers who are looking for a more practical means to move their cause robustly forward; and also new leaders at the national and local levels who today are searching for a fresh outlook, new vocabulary, and a better way to solve the country's problems.
The second group encompasses other persons not in business who have chosen a spiritual path or an artistic one, who have in some sense removed themselves from the world of affairs, but who still want to make a useful contribution and don't quite know how; and also all those who lack a practical method to maneuver when their feet are in the fire.
Julian Gresser is the author of Partners in Prosperity - Strategic Industries for the United States and Japan, a forward-looking book of win-win strategies for major high-investment, technological innovation via two-country (Japan and the United States) and four-party public and private sectors (in both countries), joint ventures and other forms of negotiated cooperation. Now [in his new book Piloting Through Chaos] he carries forward his thinking in a wider-ranging comprehensive analysis of what makes things work well in many contexts of modern economic, and indeed political and social, life. The emphasis throughout is on negotiation, but the analysis and wisdom go well beyond that now available in the literature. This volume is a breakthrough in the use of words, thought processes, and managing human behavior responsibly.
Oliver Oldman - Learned Hand Professor (Emeritus), Harvard Law School
Julian Gresser assesses some of the fundamental aspects of human behavior. Any negotiator, however experienced, will find new insights in this book.
Peter Price - Honorary Member of the European Parliament
Julian Gresser's work shows with insight, style and imagination how integrity, that most fundamental of human virtues, continues to be vital to success, and even survival, in the ongoing negotiation of life in our rapidly changing world. The added value in Piloting Through Chaos is the author's suggestions on how integrity can be cultivated by conscious thought and action, and on how core integrity can affect outcomes in a variety of contexts.
Peter L. Murray - Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
We are all trying to survive during this time of uncertainty and instability. Piloting Through Chaos elucidates the path. Julian Gresser's brilliant blending of Eastern philosophy and Western intellect, classic stories and personal experiences is masterful! His insightful process enables us to remember who we are, most importantly, but then to determine where we are and what we want. So whether we are negotiating with our teenage son about his curfew or with a multinational about a merger, the basic steps, The Five Rings, will show us the way. The market is flooded with books and tapes about negotiating . . . but no one, until now, offers insight into the underlying essence of our interpersonal abilities. This fresh approach, if followed, can be transformative for us as individuals, and as a nation.
Claudine Schneider - Former U.S. Congresswoman
Julian Gresser's book reminds me of the title of a book by the Danish philosopher Søren Kirkegaard,"Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing." Our usual state is to will different things with different parts of ourselves--typified by the conflict between "desire" and "conscience." Gresser has made a powerful case for the development of integrated will, of "integrity" as a sense of connectedness, coherence, wholeness and vitality. His familiarity with Oriental culture makes this book an extremely penetrating and valuable tool. It is delightful to read, and full of deep wisdom.
Willis Harman - President, Institute of Noetic Sciences
Piloting Through
Chaos: Wise Leadership ~ Effective Negotiation for the 21st Century
By Julian Gresser
Published by Five Rings Press, 1995. ISBN 1-888278-00-5. $19.95
Imagine that you are involved in a sensitive negotiation. The stakes are high, but you seem to be ahead of the game and moving toward a desirable outcome . . . until suddenly nothing is as it seems. You might as well be on another planet, for the rules have changed and you are in confusion. Welcome to the world of chaos. Now is the perfect time to read Julian Gresser's new book, Piloting Through Chaos.
The hallmark of the 1990's can be expressed by the term "Global Village." Our horizons are expanding by leaps and bounds, and we are becoming aware not only of our oneness as planetary citizens, but also of our diversity. The very possibilities of interacting on a daily basis with those of different cultures, philosophies and religions has created both enormous opportunities and immense challenges. Gresser has seized this invitation and used it to create a whole new way of achieving success in this sometimes chaotic atmosphere of rapid change.
Offered as a navigational tool to assist the reader in achieving greater joy and satisfaction from daily work, Piloting Through Chaos provides a fascinating look at the inner processes of personal and corporate interactions. The book is set apart from other "how to" manuals by its literary style. The format is that of a dialogue between the author and a curious friend whose timely questions generate lively interaction. With the liberal addition of examples, stories, quotes and diagrams, the content is conveyed in a manner which is witty and enjoyable, while still maintaining its clarity.
Gresser's overall theme, and his reason for writing the book, is the need for greater focus upon and awareness of the continuing, creative interplay between the inner and outer life. The outer circumstances which provided the stimulus for developing his unique process were the frustration and confusion which he and many of his clients experienced in international business negotiations, primarily with Japanese clients. His efforts to understand and to "navigate" the chaos often created by the very different style of the Japanese led Gresser to challenge beliefs and tactics commonly used by Westerners in their practice of negotiating.
Central to the system elucidated in Piloting Through Chaos is the concept of Integrity, defined as "a sense of connectedness, coherence, wholeness and vitality," which can be maintained even in the face of uncertainty and challenge. The desire to maintain integrity leads the practitioner/negotiator to be in constant contact with his or her inner process, resulting in actions which are consistent with purpose and which result in outcomes which satisfy and enhance all relevant elements in any negotiating process. In practical terms, this means being able to know who we are, where we are, and what we want, at all times.
To facilitate the deepening of Integrity, Gresser has developed a system called The Five Rings, based on five core values. Each "ring" represents a position in any on-going process. Within each ring is a list of questions and exercises designed to help the navigators determine where they are, where they want to be, how to adjust to unexpected changes, and where to go next. The premise held throughout this fascinating book is that by staying clear and in constant communication with oneself, almost any situation can be negotiated with greater effectiveness and personal power. Differing from the premises of win-win and other conflict resolution systems, the practice of Integrity and the system of Five Rings emphasizes process rather than product, the development of character rather than strategy, and a fearless, energetic embracing of life's ambiguities.
An entire chapter of Piloting Through Chaos is devoted to questions regarding the practice and application of the system, and a helpful glossary of terms is appended to the book. The emphasis on practicality makes this book far more valuable to readers than the merely philosophical presentation of a worthy idea, underscoring the value of the author's years of cross-cultural negotiating experience.
Piloting Through Chaos should be required reading for anyone who uses negotiation in the pursuit of business, career, profession or study. In addition, its processes can be of great value to those involved in negotiation on the interpersonal level, especially in those instances where the parties are having difficulty in understanding one another. Such areas might include issues between parents and teenage children, settling marital disputes, etc. The book, in summary, is of great value to all who seek more powerful ways to express their service to the world through negotiating processes based on Integrity, and who are reaching for practical tools which will enable them to do so more effectively. It is for all who would create value and meaning in and through the ordinary processes of "daily transactions, meetings, confrontations and accords."
Even beyond the personal and corporate use of such interactions, Julian Gresser envisions that by linking up globally and learning to act with Integrity as we negotiate for what we want--particularly with groups and individuals whose ways are not entirely familiar or known to us--we can create a "conspiracy of good" which may change the world. For this purpose he has created a world-wide Logos Network. As he so clearly states in the preface to Piloting Through Chaos, ". . . the process of navigation - precisely because it is so focused, practical and engaged - is itself the vehicle of transformation."
In addition to this book, Gresser has also developed a software system called The Artful Navigator, which utilizes the computer to coach individuals who are wishing to access the advice of the masters and sages of history and who desire to learn in a very precise manner the techniques and processes described in the book. The software is reviewed separately on this web site.
To order Piloting Through Chaos or The Artful Navigator, or for further information on seminars and other on-line products and services, contact Logos Networks Corporation: Fax (510/527-7970), Telephone (510/527-7970), On-line (Sales@LogosNet.com), or Mail (Logos Networks Corporation, P.O. Box 720, Sausalito, CA 94965). Payments can be made by check or credit card.
Mary & David
Dohrmann, 1996
http://www.waking.com
See also the Artful Navigator review by the Dohrmanns
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To ask questions or order products, please contact us by sending E-Mail to Integrity@LogosNet.com |
| Five Rings Press P.O. Box 720 Sausalito, CA 94965 |