There must be a Jay Gatsby gene in all of us who are involved in the improbable task of transforming organizations. F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby, our avatar, embodied this with his "passion for the promises of life." I've been brooding and thinking about this for more than a half century, and at times I think it's a bootless chase; in more promising moods, a Sisyphean task; and at other times, one of Zeus's cruel hoaxes he pulls on us susceptible mortals from time to time to prod us further in search of a vivid utopia. Then every once in a while a book comes along with a jolt that uplifts and restores your simmering passion and brings it to a boil. This book of Zaffron and Logan does just that. And I'm still happily surprised that they managed to pull it off.

I first heard their ideas, several years ago, in a quietly elegant restaurant in Santa Monica. I listened to them with equal amounts of wonder and skepticism. What fascinated me that evening, most of all, was their gutsy aspiration: to integrate an interdisciplinary slew of disciplines as disparate as brain science, linguistics, organizational theory, and complex adaptive systems with a few fundamental laws of human and organizational behavior that could lead to palpable and profound change in both domains. That's a mouthful—and hearing about this for the first time, I tried unsuccessfully to suspend my disbelief. So I asked them to write it up. Words do have a way with me, and I needed a lot more assurance than words thrown about in a star-kiss'd evening over too many drinks. That was five years ago.

Since then, I worked with Steve and Dave, reviewing one draft after the other. There's something to be said for wallowing and marinating, and with each draft my enthusiasm mounted. I wasn't quite the midwife to this book; godfather better describes my role.

I believe this book may be one of the most important written in many years. The ideas are much larger than what we normally see in business books. They aren't tips, tools, or steps, but are in fact laws that govern individual, group, and organizational behavior. The stories aren't the normal ones we read about in business; rather, they are illustrations of organizations bringing out the best in people and in communities. These aren't just companies making a profit, but companies doing well in the world, by any measure. Leaders would be well served to think about these laws and find ways to apply their insights.

Working through this book, the reader will have an advantage that I didn't have when I first listened to Steve and Dave. The reader can pause, think, reflect. Even set the book down and talk about it with others. Then go back and continue on. I found the stories in the book to be like movies, ones that surprised me in their poignancy. I keep recalling the pictures and images of the different cultures and companies in the book and the people who struggled to make new realities happen. For me, the most surprising, improbable, and inspiring are the glimpses into the world of Lonmin, the platinum mining company in South Africa. As many times as I've read the story through various drafts over the years, it still inspires me about what organizations can become, and should become.

Chapter Five, on selfled organizations, is rich for a different reason. It paints a vision of what organizations can become, in which the organization itself becomes a leader in the world. That chapter is paradigm-busting, and I hope business leaders will go through it slowly and with reflection.

As we move into the heart of the twentyfirst century, it's time for business leaders to ask what impact they want their career and their entire organization to make. The future that's already written about organizations is not the most ideal. We can do better; we must do better. In helping us to strive for what's possible, not just for what's likely, this book can be a resource for generations to come.

Warren Bennis

December 2008