The Quantum Leader: A Revolution in Business Thinking and Practice

Description

Drawing inspiration from quantum physics, innovative management thinker Danah Zohar offers a powerful new model for business thinking and practice. "Quantum leaders," she says, like the systems they have to manage, are poised at "the edge of chaos." They thrive on the potential latent in uncertainty and are adept at unleashing the creativity of self-organization. More important, they are vision- and value-led; they adapt quickly, are unafraid to play with the boundaries and reinvent the rules, and celebrate diversity. Zohar points out that the existing, business-as-usual paradigm owes a great deal to the outdated thinking, assumptions, and values of Newtonian science, which gave rise to the Industrial Revolution. Newtonian thinking assumes that corporations and markets are like machines--predictable, stable, and controllable; they are best managed in a way that eliminates risk and assures equilibrium. Unfortunately, as the global financial collapse of 2008 demonstrated, this way of thinking is as obsolete as the steam engine. Further developing ideas she introduced in her acclaimed Rewiring the Corporate Brain and Spiritual Capital, Zohar has written an inspirational book that will motivate leaders to tap the full potential of their employees, their businesses, and the customers they serve.

Danah Zohar is a management thought leader and the author of nine previous books. Her most recent books include Spiritual Capital- Wealth We Can Live By; SQ - Spiritual Intelligence, The Ultimate Intelligence, which constitute ground-breaking work on SQ, spiritual intelligence, and spiritual capital; ReWiring the Corporate Brain; The Quantum Society; and The Quantum Self. These latter three works extend the language and principles of quantum physics into a new understanding of human consciousness, psychology and social organization, particularly the organization of companies. Zohar studied physics and philosophy at MIT, and did her postgraduate work in philosophy, religion, and psychology at Harvard University. She regularly speaks at leadership forums and works with corporate leadership teams worldwide. Her clients have included Volvo, Coca Cola, McKinsey, Astra Pharmaceutical, Marks & Spencer, Motorola, and many other firms. She lectures widely throughout the world at conferences organized by UNESCO, The European Cultural Foundation, The Davos World Economic Forum, and many other national and international organizations.

""A groundbreaking book. The people who will be the best business leaders and the companies that will prosper in this new century will be those that have the capacities Danah Zohar describes so compellingly in this book." --Joseph Jaworski, chairman, The Centre for Generative Leadership, and author of Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership and Source: The Inner Path of Knowledge Creation "Zohar has elegantly deepened the discourse and practice of leadership and leadership development by exploring the confluence of art and science and applying it to leading an organization. She has made her work practical and accessible to leaders at all levels so that they can make sense of and effectively lead through the turbulent times. Our world is characterized by change that is rapid, unpredictable, paradoxical, and tangled. The change is never-ending. Zohar provides leaders with practices and tools that will enable them to succeed in this environment and to succeed at all levels whether it is to transform their organizations to become more competitive or whether it is to help them or their organizations advance society in some way." --David Magellan Horth, senior fellow, Center for Creative Leadership, coauthor of The Leader's Edge: Six Creative Competencies for Navigating Complex Challenges "The quantum approach that Danah Zohar introduces is extremely interesting. The possibility of achieving new and unique abilities from a group of people by creating a system of competencies--teams within teams--is thrilling. It was a great inspiration during implementation of new working methods within our company." --Anna Nilsson-Ehle, former vice president, change management, Volvo "Zohar's quantum approach to leadership is breathtaking!" --Member, Shell USA Leadership Council "In The Quantum Leader, Danah Zohar asks nothing less than that we forget everything we thought we knew about business. The book's persuasive argument for a new quantum approach puts leadership in the wider context of things that matter to us as human beings, and addresses the challenges and opportunities of human and global interconnectivity." --Devan Naicker, director and head of executive education, Wits University Business School, South Africa "Zohar's work on quantum management, powerfully presented here in The Quantum Leader, played an important role in my thinking about Haier's transformation process and in our efforts to turn Haier into a successful quantum company." --Zhang Ruimin, CEO, Haier Group, China