A Meeting of Minds Workshop on the Future of Work

The future of work is not a topic for logical thinking as much as it is one for revamping logical into complex, 'dialectical', thinking. The difference between the two is explained and exercised in a workshop in Brussels whose program can be downloaded here. If interested in this workshop, held on January 18, 2019, near Brussels, write to [email protected], my co-author of a book on collaborative intelligence of teams entitled "Dynamic Collaboration" (2018). In the downloadable attachment, the program is commented upon from a dialectical-thinking point of view by Otto Laske. Program Jan 18 2019 Brussels Read More...

International Leadership Review Interview with Robin Wood Slightly Edited by Otto Laske

In this wide-ranging interview, Robin W. helpfully challenges me to answer questions that arise regarding DTF, the Dialectical Thought Form Framework, and developmental consulting to indiviuals and teams based on a dialogical and constructivist viewpoint generally.  In rereading the interview, I have here and there slightly edited my answers to Robin's question. In addition, I have supplied an answer regarding his question about "power", which I see rooted in monological rather than dialogical thinking. My thanks once more to Robin Wood for his excellent questions. Interview with Otto Laske in ILR May 2018 AS Read More...

Updated Editions of Laske’s Research on Measuring Hidden Dimensions of Human Systems

Effective immediately, Laske’s research on developmental and dialectical thinking, found in two titles of ‘Measuring Hidden Dimensions’ called "volume 1" and "volume 2", is available in updated pdf form at . These titles can be purchased via Paypal, upon which they will be sent out by the Interdevelopmental Institute (IDM) within 48 hrs. of receiving notice of purchase. All English volumes were edited by Alan Snow, Sydney, Australia, for easier reading. Laske's 'social-emotional' research reported in volume 1 is available in several languages; his 'cognitive' research comprises volumes 6 and 7 below, where the Manual of Dialectical Thinking (no. 7) is now a stand-alone volume independent of volume 2 (no. 6), as seen below: MHD, Measuring Hidden Dimensions: The art and science of fully engaging adults, vol. 1, 3rd edition (English), US$50 MHD vol. 1, 2nd edition (French), US$95 MDH vol. 1, 1st edition (German), US$55 MHD vol. 1, 2nd edition (Spanish), US$75 MHD vol. 1, 2nd edition (Japanese), US$75 MHD vol. 2, Measuring Hidden Dimensions: Foundations of Requisite Organization, 2nd edition (English), US$75 DTFM (stand-alone Manual of Dialectical Thought Forms, formerly included in MHD vol. 2), 2nd edition, US$85. In the author's view, these 7 volumes present the most... Read More...

A Greatly Delayed Departure: Notions of Competence Are Finally Fading since They Are Seen as Pernicious in a Distributed-Leadership Environment

It is almost 20 years ago that, following Argyris' research on theory-in-use vs. espoused theory, I began to show that both of these personal 'theories' are rooted in adult development over the life span. I began to take these personal ideologies apart into their social-emotional and cognitive dimensions and showed that they are intrinsically related. Today, what Argyris was addressing is seen rather differently, namely as the core of what Jaques (1998) called Role vs. Self and what nearly 20 years later Kegan/Lahey (2016) called Job 1 vs. Job 2. In both cases, a person's organizational role and functioning is set against the person's integrity and developmental agenda. While Jaques saw Self (Job 2) as cognitive, Kegan/Lahey see it as social-emotional. And the two never met! I and my co-author, Jan De Visch, show in a recent book on teams (see ), that Job 1 and 2 are intrinsically intertwined. We shall further that wherever Job 2 -- the individual's or team's concern with their own integrity and safety -- overwhelms Job 1, distributed leadership, which is based on work in circles, breaks down. It never occurred to the worshipers of 'competence' that this concept is intrinsically linked to that... Read More...

Early Warnings that Competence Models Would Not Sustain Survival or Innovation

In these two articles of 2002/03, I warned that competence models provide a view of human resources that is too limited to make possible organizational survival, not to speak of innovation, in the digital economy. The two articles below remind us how long it took for this message to sink in. In coaching and mentoring, the message is still kept in abeyance, however neurolinguistically dressed up they now present themselves. 2002_Laske_Otto_Human_Resources_Beyond_Domain_Competence 2003_Laske_Otto_Capability: A_New_Data_Type Read More...

An Interview with Otto Laske by Robin Wood, Integral Leadership Review, May 2018

In this interview published in the Integral Leadership Review (May 2018), Otto Laske answers questions posed by Robin Wood regarding his social-science work. Special emphasis lies on Otto's book recently co-authored with Jan De Visch entitled "Dynamic Collaboration" (2018). The wide-ranging interview touches upon many issues of present day culture fostered by logical control schemes that pervade contemporary thinking. Among these issues is the lack of complex thinking in the integral movement whose constituency continues to ride what Laske calls the social-emotional triumphalism train anchored in Kegan's work (a term that has some of the original Roman connotations, such as annihilation of what does not fit in.). Universal lack of attention to cognitive development beyond binary logic, exacerbated by apps that suppress internal dialog, is seen as significantly contributing to the global crisis societies are presently experiencing. The interview advocates replacing a logical and monological mindset, now rampant in both research and practice, with a dialogical mindset in terms of which 'Mind' stops being bottled up in single individuals but is, instead, seen as intrinsically dialogical, thus as a distributed system linking body, self, and social reality. ILR Interview of Otto Laske by R. Wood May 2018 Read More...