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 The
Secret Life of Corporations: Understanding the True Nature of
Business
By Mark Sirkin, Ph.D.
 The
Secret Life of Corporations: Understanding the True Nature of Business
is a wide ranging, scholarly, and thought provoking piece of intellectual
capital that will be of value to many audiences.
The book is written in a dynamic, engaging style that makes complex
and important concepts easy to understand. In keeping with the new
requirements regarding corporate transparency, I would like to reveal that
I was one of the numerous people who have known Mark Sirkin and having
repeatedly benefited from his insightful and challenging conversations,
encouraged/demanded that he write this book.
I am happy to report that the book delivers just what we expected.
The
author highlights his overarching belief that “…individual behavior is
meaningless out of context.” He
carries this recognition well beyond individual behavior and takes the
time to establish the full context surrounding his Dynamic Systems Theory
(DST), which holds that there are a set of basic principles of complex
adaptive systems which are applicable to every level in the world of
living systems, including individuals, groups, and organizations.
Consequently, in Part I, the book includes a full development of
historical and theoretical context as prelude to sharing DST’s
applications to business and corporations.
Part II is devoted to a set of essays that are provocative and
intriguing glimpses into the future of business as seen through the
Dynamic Systems Theory lens and include pieces on leadership myths,
assessing organizational health, the evolution of organizations, and
several other topics of current interest.
The
dense and wide ranging nature of The
Secret Life of Organizations is
a little like going to the Sunday brunch at the Ritz … too many courses
to sample all in one sitting. Depending on your interests, you can
actually start at different points in the book and chart a unique course
through the material. So if you are willing to do a bit of
self-assessment, I might suggest the following:
For
readers who are beginning to encounter a growing use of biological models
and metaphors in organizations and wonder exactly how well grounded these
are, I suggest beginning with Chapters 1 through 4.
Sirkin carefully introduces the broad outlines of systems theory
and his seven axioms that are at the foundation of Dynamic Systems Theory.
The axioms address issues of emergence, integration,
differentiation, hierarchy, life cycle development, self-replication, and
creativity that are fundamental to all living systems no matter their
size. In chapter 4 he makes a bold argument for bridging the natural world
and the economic world and develops the model that allows us to view them
as one and the same.
Personality
psychologists in the audience who wonder just how much of the author’s
intellectual training and experience has guided his ideas – don’t miss
the foreword. The author
provides a bird’s eye view of his intellectual path, role models and
mentors. Psychologists in the
audience will recognize points of intersection with their own professional
journeys and appreciate the common thread that systems thinking has woven
in our discipline over the last 30 years.
Those
readers who are well versed in systems theory (familiar with the writings
of von Bertalanffy, Margulis, Bateson, Maturana & Varela, etc.) and
want to examine how well it explains current complexity (i.e.,
the unprecedented acceleration of economic capital, the rise of
“virtual” corporations, etc.) and what it predicts for the emerging
future, I suggest beginning with chapter 4 (Organizations as Living
Organisms) and chapter 5 (On Consulting to Selves, Groups, and Corporate
Communities). These chapters
are an ambitious effort to find the parallels between individuals and
organizations and demonstrate the ability of DST to guide our thinking at
very different levels of complexity.
This is part of the promise of systems theories and it takes
careful thinking to avoid overly simplistic reasoning by analogy.
Sirkin’s treatment is well thought through.
My only disappointment was the limitations of space. These chapters could be the seed for another book.
If
you are practical, a bit bored with techno-geek-speak, and, like applying
psychology to real corporations and yearn for a stimulating set of essays
(each one easily read during a layover between flights at O’Hare), your
best bet is to go directly to Part II (The Challenges to Come:
A Consultant’s Perspective).
Here Sirkin shares his unadulterated take on leadership, family
businesses, the health and evolution of organizations and their work.
Each essay is a self-contained foray into a topic from the Dynamic
System’s approach. The
author has clear opinions and shares them in the spirit of open
intellectual argument. My
personal favorite is chapter 9 (The Health of Organizations) where he
unapologetically declares that business is unknowable at its core but the
effort to know the unknowable is not wasted.
There is a challenge to the strategy consultants of the world that
is well worth reading and sharing.
Humanists
who have been frustrated by the absence of the human perspective in
business today, might prefer starting at the end of the book and working
forward. chapter 11 (People
Who Need People: Understanding
and Developing Human Capital, the Ultimate Resource), chapter 12
(Wonderful Business: Organizational
Evolution in the Fourth Kingdom), and chapter 13 (“Behold Homo Neticus”)
put the human face on the science of systems and organizations.
These chapters bring the concepts down to a human scale and
recognize the place of emotion, motivation, and personhood in
corporations.
And
finally, for those of you who are intellectually adventurous and like to
explore ideas for the simple joy of learning, I say dive in at random and
read on. The book contains a very good balance of original thought and references to
existing literature which will open additional vistas to the reader who
wants to continue to explore any of these ideas for their own purposes and
needs.
In The Secret Life of Corporations you
are sure to find something that will reassure, challenge, puzzle,
infuriate and/or delight you. The
margins of my copy are filled with questions, kudos and downright
disagreements that came to mind nearly as fast as I could read.
In fact, I think you will be so intrigued that I recommend reading
this book with a friend, colleague, or fellow Division 13 member.
You’ll want to have someone on call to share the reactions,
ideas, and “secrets” about corporations that you encounter between the
covers of this book.
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