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Written by Dr. Michael O'Brien and Larry Shook
Peter Senge was a humble messenger. When he published "The
Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization"
in 1990 he said the ideas in the book were not his, that many of
them were a century old. Dr. Senge insisted that he was merely a
recording secretary.
Nevertheless, the modest professor from MIT struck a deep chord
with American business. There is agreement today that Senge was
onto something, that the learning organization isn't just another
pretty phrase, and that organizations composed of people who aren't
actively learning together probably won't be around long enough
to fret about it.
All of this has been received as profound truth. But it seems to
us it should go without saying, because whatever the alternative
is to a "learning organization," it can't have a very
flattering name. Still, such is the present economic condition of
the land that something about the subject needed saying, Dr. Senge
said it, and we're glad he did.
In the movie "Scent of a Woman" there is a scene that
subtly—to us poignantly—reflects on this aspect of our
times. The colonel and his young aide are getting out of a cab in
front of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, pinnacle, declares the colonel,
of all things civilized. Looming over the elegant tableau is the
Pan Am building. The proud name still blazes in the night, but alas
it's only the tombstone of a once-great company.
Learn or die. That is the message. We all know the grim statistics
on the life expectancy of U.S. corporations—few survive past
the age of 40. It's like an actuarial table from the Dark Ages,
and a sad commentary on the status of learning in the nation's workplace.
Even so, half a decade after Peter Senge added the learning organization
to America's business vocabulary, and while many business leaders
are working hard at making elements of the learning organization
a reality, nowhere that we know has an entire learning organization
gotten off the ground. Why?
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