Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders

This book brought together many insights from other books I have been reading about complexity and those from conversational intelligence (Judith E. Glaser's work)-my current reading list noticeable in the bibliography. I liked the story woven throughout that anchored the insights to a reality i recognized. Highly recommended for executive teams trying to stay sane in the current chaos in the US and the new normal that is far from stable (and normal)

I use parts of this book in a class I teach on leadership to urban planning students, and our favourite parts are the chapters on the 'quirks of the mind'. The authors have put together this super readable, concise summary of why we shouldn't trust our intuition! Their suggestions for what to do instead sound almost trivial, but the articulation of the problem is so clear that it is useful in itself. My students often comment that reading the chapters makes them far more aware of the traps they fall into in their day-to-day interactions with the world.

As much as I hate the term VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) it's here to stay and it serves wonderfully here. In 1995 John Kotter laid out a concise roadmap for achieving complicated change; here Jennifer and Keith have staked out boundaries for engaging complex 21st century change we have come to call VUCA. The book weaves together a neat storyline that in which a struggling social services agency faces a crisis and comes to apply this VUCA approach; this is a wonderfully engaging case/story that nicely breaks up the more conceptual material. That material is wonderfully presented both through introducing the tools, sharing supportive research and then illustrating the thinking and application of all of this through descriptions of Keith and Jennifer's consulting engagements. Clever, rich and delightful!

The ideas in it beautifully express many of the things me and some other colleagues have been thinking and trying to practice for a while. Furthermore, it offers practical wisdom and action for readers to experiment with.I started a book club in my workplace around the book. We have members ranging from senior management leading our response to Brexit - to first time managers in call-centers - to learning and OD professionals - who have joined. We read a chapter each month applying and reflecting on the ideas in the book and the outcomes of our little experiments. The membership has found the language accessible and compelling, and the invitations into different practices timely and powerful given the forces of change we're experiencing.I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Complexity is at the heart of modern life and "Simple Habits" helped me understand how to better deal with it. I used it with my management team to discuss how we might improve our approach to issues in the workplace. I think it is common in our society to seek simple answers and not understand the underlying complexity. My team loved it.

I've been a NGO CEO/ED in complex environments for the last 25 years and have just finished the book. Simply put - it is brilliant, the BEST tool I have ever had in leadership. Full stop. When reading a chapter, the ideas and questions I formed in response, were picked up and explored in the next chapter. When I questioned how this would play out in practice (a common lament for practicing CEOs) the stories helped me see it both work and evolve further than the previous text had described. I've been consciously amending my habits and challenging my mind-set and am having this weird experience as a result. As I realise I am needing to learn more, there’s a question I need to ask, or a set of perspectives I haven’t heard …… miraculously the perspectives/answers from others are falling into my lap just at the time I needed them most – magic! I know, not really, but changing my habits with the guidance of the book is sure letting the light shine in.

Clearly a five-star. Garvey-Berger and Johnston have taken important topics for leading in today's globalized world--the Cynefin Framework, the need for leaders to practice habits of mind that are "deliberately developmental" and grow "head space," polarities thinking, action learning, adult developmental theory and more and woven these important topics together in a clear, lucid way. The book is an easy read. A great case is presented throughout as an illustrative example of how these important topics are applied.

I finished this book and immediately began to read it over again. Not because it wasn't clear, but because the simple habits are anything but simple to understand AND compellingly critical to implement. This book is a must read for anyone contemplating anything in the 21st century. The authors follow the stories of leaders from two different sectors trying to move their organizations through what they term "swamp" issues, now more typical than not in these murky complex times. Their interpretations are easy to follow, yet caused me to consider so often "how (indeed) I could be wrong."

This book is a delight and an essential read for people in business navigating our turbulent times! It takes us through the transition in awareness and thinking we need to make as we face a now very complex world and an emerging unknowable future.Garvey Becker gently introduces abstract concepts and the hard realities of navigating business in a fast changing and emerging world through a diverse group of characters that we can easily identify with and remember. The new habits and shifts we ourselves need if we wish to lead in these changing and complex times are explored as the characters discuss and question them as the book unfolds.I have followed the unique perspective that Garvey Becker offers into being human in the context of complex systems for a few decades and am still delighting and learning from her.

I think this is a great book as it introduces the Cynefin framework and explores it implications for management today. The issue I have is that it doesn’t go far enough – where they talk of a directional vision statement it is keeping the idea of a vision which has no agency in a complex environment. The term ‘guard rails’ is used in preference to context free constraints which is fine but there is no mention of context sensitive constraints and the implications of these. This means that they provide half of the answer but it is incomplete and doesn’t really touch on innovation. I can’t assess from the material if this is an oversight on their part or a lack of understanding of the underlying theory of complexity. With these reservations I still think it is worth reading.

I talk about this book and the concepts and practices within with all my Coaching clients. Great, accessible and most importantly implementable. I also appreciate the different case studies within the book. Strongly recommended

Fascinating and insightful 👏

Über das Thema Komplexität in der Führung wurde schon viel geschrieben, aber selten so kurzweilig und pragmatisch.Der Stil ist erfrischend: zwei verwobene Geschichten dienen abwechselnd mit dem Lehrtext als Anschauung für das in der Lektion behandelte Thema.Ich würde behaupten, dass es nicht von grosser theoretischer Tiefe ist. Die Ratschläge sind eher simpel: komplexe Probleme erfordern eine andere Herangehensweise als komplizierte Problem; man sollte sich bemühen das Problem aus verschiedenen Perspektiven zu betrachten, bereit sein die eigenen Gewissheiten in Frage zu stellen, und einfach mal Dinge auszuprobieren um festzustellen, ob sie sich bewähren. Aber es gibt jede Menge gute Tips, wie man das sinnvoll angeht und worauf man dabei achten sollte. So sollten Experimente "safe to fail" sein: die Rahmenbedingungen müssen so gewählt sein, dass es keine grösseren Probleme verursacht wenn ein Experiment katastrophal scheitert.Es gibt auch einiges zu kritisieren an dem Buch: so gibt es keine Übungen, keine Kapitelzusammenfassungen oder ein klares, systematisches Konzept. Man könnte sagen, das Buch ist ein bisschen chaotisch. Aber das mag ich den Autoren verzeihen, da es leicht zu lesen ist und voller guter Tips.Deshalb kann ich die Lektüre klar empfehlen. Wer möglichst viel daraus lernen will, der sollte sich selbst Notizen machen und sich an einer systematischen Darstellung des Inhalts versuchen.