The Living Company

by Arie De Geus

Book Overview

Most companies do not survive the upheavals of change and competition over the long haul. But there are a few remarkable firms that have withstood the test of several centuries. What hidden lessons do they hold for the rest of us? Arie de Geus, the man who introduced the revolutionary concept of the learning organization, reveals the key to managing for a long and prosperous organizational life. The Living Company speaks not just to aspiring...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578518202
• ISBN13: 9781578518203
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

The Organization as the Organism !

Arie de Gues is known to some management students as the person whose research spurred Peter Senge to do work on the "learning Organisation". In this book Arie talks about the evolving notion of the organization as a living being, instead of just an "economic entity" whose main purpose of existence is to survive, fulfill its potential, and to become great. Plain talking and cutting free from jargon, Arie illustrates this idea with examples from his career in Royal Dutch Shell and the studies Shell had carried out on long lasting and big organizations (they found only around 40 odd !!). This book needs to read by entreprenuers, business people and academicians to look at their organizations as some thing else apart from a money making machine ! Revolutionary!!

Brilliant insights to long lived companies

This has become a bible in my consulting practice especially the impacts of Economic vs Stewardship models in business. This book provide tremendous insight and motivation for getting beyond the burn out many of us experience in corporate life today. The stewardship approaches discussed and evidence supporting their viability demonstrate how any level of management can have an impact that will far out last their tenure with any firm.One key element that could be developed, is how to utilize the stewardship model within an Economic modeled organization.

See The Whole Instead Of Just Its Parts

This book really resonates with my philosophy that we can all accomplish a lot more by coordinating, communicating, sharing, and preparing together. Mr. de Geus frees each of us to be fully human, and to humanize the organizations we are part of. He successfully challenges the limits of the mechanical view of human interactions, and provides a great vision into what is possible. A good complement for this book is "The 2,000 Percent Solution" -- a book that shows each of us how to tap into our innate talents to create world-class solutions through asking and answering a better set of questions. I also recommend "The Pursuit of Prime." With these three books, you can accomplish anything!

This book is must reading for any leader or aspiring leader!

Arie de Geus is probably the most unique business thinker around. He combines the pragmatism of someone who had a very successful career at Shell with the curiosity of a talented academic. Behind this unique perspective is a deep appreciation for people. Most of us automatically relate to organizations like Newton related to the natural world, as one big physical mechanism. We casually talk about "aligning parts of the organization", "operating in organizational smokestacks or silos", and "fixing communications channels". Mr. de Geus helps us learn to think about organizations from the natural perspective, as living organisms, subject to many of the same limitations and forces as individual people are. When you read this book, you will become a much better and more effective person in all parts of your life. You will also feel better about yourself, and make those around you feel better about themselves. Read THE LIVING COMPANY today. This book is a wonderful gift to us all!