What a ride!

Un update on the last few months

“Reinventing Organizations” came out half a year ago, and I want to share with you a bit of the wonderful and unexpected journey it has been. The book got a furious reception! So much so that I have been overwhelmed and have failed almost completely in keeping the blog and the facebook page alive.

Here is an update, in random order, of the many wonderful things that have been unfolding. This post is also meant as an invitation if you want to participate and contribute in one way or another.

A word-of-mouth phenomenon

Soon, the book we hit the mark of 10,000 books sold. That's a very rare mark to achieve for any book, let alone a self-published book that isn't stocked in any book store and was launched with no PR and no marketing budget. It's all thanks to so many of you talking enthusiastically about the book with friends and colleagues. This just fills me with joy and gratitude. I've received many emails from readers telling me  they resonated so deeply with the book that they bug everyone to read it :-) Some have bought 10, 20 or more books to offer them as gifts.

The book is starting to change organizations

The book is starting to transform organizations, and that really thrills me of course. I’ve been contacted by organizations ranging from 2 to… 60,000 people who are inspired to go “Teal”. In the mix are the most wonderful organizations, from established businesses to tech startups, from art venues to retreat centers, from men’s groups to hospitals… More people seem to be ready to embrace this change at the top of organizations than I thought a few months ago  

Testimonials

If you, too, have started implementing some of this in your organization (or helped to do it as a coach or consultant), would you be willing to write something about it? 

I plan to create a section on the book’s website for such testimonials, that I feel could stimulate others and give them the courage to follow their heart and build more soulful organizations. 

Video

I’ve been invited to give many talks. One was filmed and beautifully edited and is now online: 

Perhaps you have friends or colleagues who you’d like to share the ideas of the book with, but who might not want to read a book about it. The video can be a great way for them to hear about the main ideas of this work.  

Readers taking it into their own hands

What I totally love is that quite a few readers have started to give talks about the book too! If you feel like giving a talk yourself, you can find here some of the slides they put together (as well as the ones I used in the video above). We can create a bit of an open-source community here where we exchange and build upon each other’s presentation materials. 

And it’s not just talks. 

• Many consultants and coaches use insights from the book it in their consulting offer. 
  
• University professors have integrated this material into their courses (most notably Robert Kegan who made some chapters assigned reading at the Harvard School of Education). 
  
• One person has created an online seminar about the book
  
• Other readers have created book clubs to get more deeply into the book. 
  

Translations

The book will be published in Danish, German and French in the Spring of 2015, and probably in Dutch too. Thank you to the many readers who have spontaneously reached out to editors to make this happen! (and who are currently scheming for translation into Mandarin, Polish, Hungarian, Italian, Brazilian, Spanish…)

A few wonderful projects on their way

A few wonderful projects are on their way to build on the book’s content. Several of these projects have been initiated by readers, rather than me, which is just great. 

• A wiki to expand on the research.  
  
• A 3-day immersive simulation for students of business schools. 
  
• An illustrated, introductory version of the book. 
  
• An online seminar for organizational leaders and consultants. 
  
• A learning gathering for Teal organizations
  

These projects are pretty exciting, but I’ll hold back and wait until we are further along to share more. (Do subscribe to updates if you want to be informed)

And in all this, there’s been much learning for me

On a personal note, the last few months have been quite a journey. I’ve been humbled and overjoyed to witness how much the book resonates with readers. For me, the research that lead to the book helped me shift my inner dialogue from what is broken with management today to what is possible. It seems the book has helped many readers make the same hopeful shift.  

I also learnt that I was right in follow my heart in the way I published and marketed this work. Early on I decided I would self-publish the book, rather than seek the endorsement of a big name in the publishing industry. I also read quite a lot of material on how you should market books, and quickly decided these marketing practices didn’t feel right. I thought about doing the whole Twitter and Facebook thing, and found this wasn’t for me. So I basically decided I would just listen to what feels right, and that brought me to take a contrarian approach to  pretty much all the accepted practices in publishing and marketing a book. That the book is turning into somewhat of a phenomenon despite all this can only be explained as either a mystery, or the vindication that we should follow our hearts in whatever we do.

There has also been a more painful learning. I’m learning to say “no”, something I know I needed to learn for a long time J. The number of emails I now receive, and the number of invitations to connect or to give talks simply exceeds what I can offer, and there no longer is a way for me to say “yes” when I shouldn’t. Boy, I’ll be happy when I’ll have mastered that skill, and more generally when I’ll have learned to maintain and appreciate a very simply life in the midst of what now feels like overwhelm.

In the last few months, I’ve become really interested by the concept and the practice of the gift economy. You may know that the book is available in “Pay-What-Feels-Right” mode. With some clients that asked me to help them in their organization’s journey to Teal, I’m also now working based on this principle. I’ve written a blog post about the topic, and I know I’m just at the beginning here. The more I reflect about the gift economy, the more I feel this is how I want to work in the future.

An open invitation

If you want to incorporate the ideas of the book in some of your work or some form of project, go for it! Give talks about it, create a webinar, include it in your consulting work. I think we need more soulful businesses, nonprofits, schools and hospitals, so whatever you do, I’ll be really grateful.

I don’t want to mess with trademarking concepts from the book and then licensing this work. Of course I put energy and some skills (I hope) in formalizing these ideas, but they really are not mine. They come from the extraordinary organizations I researched. And I would claim that they come from a deeper source, that is releasing these ideas into our consciousness at this moment in time. 

This being said, if you make explicit reference to the book or to me in the marketing of your offer, and make sure it doesn't sound like I would vouch for your offer. I want to avoid any confusion with clients who might assume otherwise when the see the reference to the book. 

And if the content of the book helps you earn revenues, you can ask yourself, in line with the principles of the gift economy, if you feel it would be right to gift something back to me. There is no obligation to give anything. Just listen to you heart, and see if it wants to give something back. 

I'm grateful and curious

I’m very grateful for all that is unfolding, and curious what comes next. Feel free to share with me how the book or this blog post is resonating with you. I will read what you send me, and thank you in my heart for it. If I do no answer, don't be mad, I’m learning to manage overwhelm ;-)