Praise for The Age of Heretics The Age of Heretics “A remarkable job of showing how revolutionary change in management originated. WHEN THE FIRST EDITION OF The Age of Heretics These are no mere ‘currents of change,’ but rather a thundering waterfall of was published to wide critical acclaim in 1996, it was intellectual and moral forces reshaping business.” considered the defi nitive account of the revolution in —PETER SENGE, author, The Fifth Discipline and coauthor, The Necessary Revolution management from the 1940s to the current time. “Any twenty-fi rst-century leader interested in creating the organizations of the In this second edition of his bestselling book, future will fi nd this book compelling. Art Kleiner lays out the evolution of the most author Art Kleiner explores the nature of effective signifi cant management tools, theories, and concepts in a very accessible manner.” leadership in times of change and defi nes its —RAM CHARAN, advisor to CEOs and author, Leaders at All Levels and The Game importance to the corporation of the future. He Changer describes a heretic as a visionary who creates change in large-scale companies, balancing the “The extensively revised and updated edition of The Age of Heretics is long overdue. contrary truths they can’t deny against their loyalty Kleiner offers a brilliant synthesis of business history, thought leadership, and to their organizations. The Age of Heretics reveals power politics.” how managers can get stuck in counterproductive —ROBERT MORRIS, management consultant and business book reviewer for ways of doing things and shows why it takes a Amazon, Borders, and others heretical point of view to get past the deadlock and move forward. “Art Kleiner has uncovered a kind of secret history that links the medieval monastic THE AUTHOR orders, the counterculture of the sixties, and the key agents of corporate change This engrossing history lesson for business change ART KLEINER is the editor-in-chief of the quarterly in the modern world. I think it’s a landmark for people inside and outside the most agents and reformers is fi lled with groundbreaking infl uential institution of the modern age—the corporation.” management thought and compelling stories of magazine strategy+business (http://www.strategy- business.com). He is the author or coauthor of several —HOWARD RHEINGOLD, author, Virtual Reality, Virtual Communities, and the heretics of our time. Some of the fi gures, such Tools for Thought as W. Edwards Deming, Kurt Lewin, Amory Lovins, acclaimed business books, and is a faculty member at and Saul Alinsky, are familiar to many, while others New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications “Corporate change continues to accelerate these days unaware of its own history. may be less widely known but infl uential behind the Program. His articles have been published in a variety Art Kleiner’s lucid account shows how the revolution began in the ideas and scenes. While these heretics were underappreciated of places, including Wired, Fast Company, Harvard passions of a handful of revolutionaries.” in their time—and often demoted for their radical Business Review, and The New York Times Magazine. —STEWART BRAND, founder, Whole Earth Catalog and Long Now Foundation ideas—the ideals they fought for live on in the everchanging American corporation. “The Age of Heretics is a primer of great interest, one that will move people within organizations to widen their sense of the possible.” For today’s leaders, The Age of Heretics reveals —DOUG CARLSTON, founder of Broderbund Software and chairman, how to make transformative strategic changes Public Radio International while simultaneously running a company. This A History of new edition explores the roots of today’s most MANAGEMENT the Radical prevalent management ideas: lean production, Thinkers Who U.S. $29.95 | Canada $32.99 organization development, the balanced scorecard, Jacket design by The Design Works Group Reinvented and reengineering, as well as other key areas of Corporate change such as group dynamics, scenario planning, Management www.josseybass.com shareholder activism, sociotechnical systems, and corporate environmentalism. This is the guidebook for progressive thinkers who want to transform their corporations and the entire business landscape. PHOTOGRAPHER: PORTER HOVEY More Praise for The Age of Heretics “Art Kleiner has written a book that is both brilliant pop culture history and bible for business radicals. The perfect book for managerial martyrs who are prepared to be burned at the stake—but would prefer not to be.” —Michael Schrage, author, Serious Play “I know of no other book that deals so completely and so effectively with the topic of recent corporate history in America. It is alive with fascinat- ing information. The introductions to each chapter are absolute gems.” —Myron Stolaroff, author, Thanatos to Eros and The Secret Chief “It took persistence on Art Kleiner’s part to fl ush out the histories of the people at National Training Laboratories, SRI International, and the Shell planning group. And he has a wonderful way of explaining what they did, and why and how they did it. The book deserves a wide audience.” —Milt Moskowitz, author, compiler of the “100 Best Places to Work” list in Fortune “The Age of Heretics shows the insidious impact of the cult of numbers that gripped American management thinking after World War II. I like very much Art Kleiner’s statement that the purpose of a corporation is, and always has been, to recreate the world.” —H. Thomas Johnson, author, Profi t Beyond Measure “Why would anyone bother with a book like this? Because it’s terrifi c. The Age of Heretics offers one of the few compelling, intelligent, thor- oughly researched histories of the fi eld of organizational development. Kleiner proves particularly adept at summarizing an approach or tech- nique succinctly, as if in passing, and all the while in the context of cor- porate change movements. The Age of Heretics is what the English like to call ‘a rollicking good read’: fast-paced, persuasive, and written for adults, not sixth-graders.” —Jonathan Leyrich, Linkage ffffiirrss..iinndddd ii 66//22//0088 99::3333::2299 AAMM “The Age of Heretics is almost unfairly engrossing (I read it in a single sitting). Its superb and nuanced documentation at times reads almost like an additional narrative. And Kleiner’s wonderfully accessible writing makes this intellectual history of organizational development speak to those otherwise put off by the cerebral work.” —R. Michael Bokeno, Murray State University, Kentucky “This book provides a brilliant and passionate intellectual trip through the history of corporate vitality today. Above all, it explores how busi- ness (that domain so many of us care deeply about) can regain its ‘ver- nacular’ roots—reaching back to recognize and re-form some of the meaningful ‘community’ ties it once had. I urge anyone who cares about business as a place where personal growth takes place, where work is more than a mere job, and where groups of people achieve great things, to read this book.” —Tom Ehrenfeld, author, The Startup Garden “Anyone who works in the area of organizational design or development should read this book. Art puts the history into context and lets us know the people who shaped the ideas. I loved learning about Kurt Lewin, Ron Lippitt, Tom Peters . . . and so many others. The stories Art tells help me understand the events that shaped their lives and their thinking. I was truly sorry when I arrived at the last chapter. I wanted to hear more.” —Roger Breisch, founder, Midwest Organizational Learning Network “Art has done a great job looking at leaders who have the attribute of going ‘against the grain’ of the times. It is a very interestingly different cut on leadership models at a time when we seem to be getting a new book on the topic each month that is not always that new.” —Charlie Seashore, Fielding Institute, American University/ NTL Institute “Isn’t the debate over layoffs, C.E.O. compensation, shareholder value, and corporate responsibility—if not about demons and chaos—really about the role corporations play in society? The Age of Heretics pushes that debate past good and evil into ambiguity, where it is really interesting.” —Barbara Presley Noble, strategy(cid:1)business ffffiirrss..iinndddd iiii 66//22//0088 99::3333::3300 AAMM “The Age of Heretics is a fascinating read, illuminating the roots of corporate culture changes that are still evolving today. Very informative and well grounded in history, and the storytelling style makes it a plea- sure to read. Not only does it all hang together as an entire piece, but you can sample sections and still get a ton of value.” —Dan Simpson, vice president, Offi ce of the Chairman, Clorox “This is a journalistic history of an important chapter of the 20th Cen- tury that could easily have gone unwritten: a generation of attempts, more or less countercultural, to reform and reinvent the corporation. It’s all here: unpredictable experiments in social engineering, weird tales of engineers dropping acid, computer programs predicting the future of the whole world, and the truly odd omnipresence of an Armenian mystic named G. I. Gurdjieff.” —Phil Agre, University of California at Los Angeles “The Age of Heretics is great; beautifully written. I am especially enjoy- ing learning about my unknown professional ancestors.” —Adam Kahane, author, Solving Tough Problems “The heroes of Kleiner’s book are concerned with reducing the psychic costs of work by better aligning the personal hopes and dreams of employees and the corporations they work for. For students of organiza- tional development the book is full of fascinating insights into people like Douglas McGregor, Kurt Lewin, Chris Argyris, Saul Alinsky, and Warren Bennis.” —James McRitchie, publisher, Corporate Governance website (www.corpgov.net) “I could not put it down, and when I had to, because I had fi nished it, I promptly ordered 35 more copies to give to my close circle of heretics in Hewlett-Packard. We are getting much needed energy, inspiration, and even direction in some right-brained way from this book.” —Barbara Waugh, author, The Soul in the Computer ffffiirrss..iinndddd iiiiii 66//22//0088 99::3333::3300 AAMM “Art Kleiner reminds us that great innovation often originates with some of the most unlikely people, the heretics who have championed once unconventional ideas and used them to transform organizations—for customers, employees, as well as the bottom line. The Age of Heretics offers a compelling grand tour of some of the most important ideas and thinkers that have infl uenced leadership at its best.” —Andrea Gabor, author, The Capitalist Philosophers ffffiirrss..iinndddd iivv 66//22//0088 99::3333::3300 AAMM A W A R R E N B E N N I S B O O K This collection of books is devoted exclusively to new and exemplary contributions to management thought and practice. The books in this series are addressed to thoughtful leaders, executives, and managers of all organizations who are struggling with and committed to responsible change. My hope and goal is to spark new intellectual capital by sharing ideas positioned at an angle to conventional thought—in short, to publish books that disturb the present in the service of a better future. ffffiirrss..iinndddd vv 66//22//0088 99::3333::3300 AAMM Books in the Warren Bennis Signature Series Branden Self-Esteem at Work Mitroff, Denton A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America Schein The Corporate Culture Survival Guide Sample The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership Lawrence, Nohria Driven Cloke, Goldsmith The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy Glen Leading Geeks Cloke, Goldsmith The Art of Waking People Up George Authentic Leadership Kohlrieser Hostage at the Table Rhode Moral Leadership George True North Townsend Up the Organization Kellerman, Rhode Women and Leadership Riggio The Art of Followership Gergen, Vanourek Life Entrepreneurs Frohman, Howard Leadership the Hard Way George, McLean, Craig Finding Your True North: A Personal Guide ffffiirrss..iinndddd vvii 66//22//0088 99::3333::3311 AAMM the age of heretics A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management Second Edition Art Kleiner ffffiirrss..iinndddd vviiii 66//22//0088 99::3333::3311 AAMM Copyright © 2008 by Art Kleiner. All rights reserved. Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authoriza- tion through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/ permissions. Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifi cally dis- claim any implied warranties of merchantability or fi tness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profi t or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey- Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002. Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kleiner, Art. The age of heretics : a history of the radical thinkers who reinvented corporate management / Art Kleiner ; foreword by Warren Bennis. — 2nd ed. p. cm. — (Warren Bennis) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-19070-8 (cloth) 1. Organizational change—United States—Case studies. 2. Management— United States—History. I. Title. HD58.8.K57 2008 658.4'063—dc22 2008018501 Printed in the United States of America second edition HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First edition published by Doubleday, 1996 ffffiirrss..iinndddd vviiiiii 66//22//0088 99::3333::3311 AAMM