Product Description
Organizations around the world today are struggling to stay ahead of the pack. With its fanciful illustrations and deliciously wicked humor, Outlearning the Wolves is the story of an organization that might resemble yours--complete with bad habits, nagging vulnerabilities, and resignation to the status quo.

A flock of sheep, fearful of the wolves' mythical cleverness, is initially debilitated by fragmentation and false assumptions.

But as the sheep build a culture for learning, the contributions of each individual are utilized in strikingly new and productive ways. By working together, the flock develops the capability for dramatic learning that ensures it can thrive while facing fresh challenges.

Outlearning the Wolves presents a powerful metaphor for understanding the issues organizations face when they realize they must learn how to learn differently. Any organization seeking to build both a rewarding workplace and a thriving enterprise should introduce these ideas to every worker--from the front line to the boardroom.

Outlearning the Wolves is a unique resource for teachers and learners across a broad range of settings. Included is a concise guide to the story's essential points--a ready-made lesson outline, perfect for directing group learning.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 10 reviews)

Learn When Not To Order

A lot of blank space, cartoon drawings and scant, obvious text make this book a poor choice for any learning organization.
December 15, 2007

Perfect for a half-day management seminar

No matter what we do, there will always be a pack of figurative wolves stalking us. In business, there will always be other groups and organizations that will be trying to take away your customers and lower your market share. The first part of this book is about a flock of sheep that are in a pasture surrounded by a solid barbed-wire fence. And yet, even with this protection, an occasional sheep is lost to the wolves.
Since this only rarely occurs and few sheep are actually lost, most of the members of the flock now accept it as a fact of their existence. However, there are a few who begin to challenge this fundamental assumption. The "malcontents" follow the trend and learn that more sheep are lost after protracted dry weather than during rainy periods. This is puzzling, so they begin exploring the waterway that runs through their pasture. Armed with their new and critical eyes, they see where the stream runs under the fence and conclude that the wolves are able to crawl under it when the stream is running low.
Their solution is very simple, build a dam to create a pond that will keep the water level high. Once this is done, the wolves will no longer be able to enter the pasture and make off with one of their kin.
The story is then followed by a section of textual explanation of what the main points are. Namely, it is foolish to accept regular losses as a fact of your existence. Always ask the question, "Is this really inevitable?" In many cases it is not and determining that it is not inevitable is the major step towards finding a solution. In the modern business world, not taking advantage of any improvement can be devastating, for if you are not smart enough to do it, there is most certainly a competitor who is.
This is a short book that is perfect for the half-day management seminar. Illustrated and only 64 pages long, it can be read in about an hour and is packed with information designed to get you thinking about your approach to life, work and career.

May 01, 2007

Interesting book

Had to read the book for school and it was quite interesting and a cool way to explain the different aspects of systems thinking.
March 21, 2007

Outlearning the Wolves: Surviving and Thriving in a Learning Organization, Second Edition

A short, easy read that is a modern-day fable about how systems work. Charming and enlightening. Good discussion questions at the end--this book could be applied to so many work and life experiences. Funny, too!
November 13, 2006

Outlearning the wolves

Outlearning the wolves,
By David Hutchens.

This book is a short and at times funny book. It is fast and easy too read, but still has good content. It is about how one sheep in a flock spoke out in an effort to stop wolf related casualties (WRC). This sheep motivated the flock and they started too try and find a way too stop the wolf. They all put their thoughts together and pieced together the mystery of how the wolfs were getting to their pen and then found a way to stop it. But they would still have trouble...
April 09, 2002

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