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This is a book about the application of psychoanalytic and systemic ideas to the understanding of group and organization dynamics, including our own contribution, whether as members or ‘consultants’, to the dynamics that unfold. The book is unexpected because it largely omits to mention the rich history of ideas that inform it. Instead,
Anton Obholzer conveys a belief that the ideas in the book are not foreign or esoteric, or humourless, but are accessible to us all through experience and observation.
It is a wonderfully personal book predicated as it is on Obholzer's long experience and interest in the life and work of organizations, brought to life in the many examples that pepper the text. The themes of leadership and the exercise of authority are central, but importantly Obholzer's approach is as sensitive as it is thoughtful. He empathizes that he is not offering a template for those in leadership or those who consult, rather he insists that his purpose is to ‘attempt to help create a symbolic tailored’ garment which suits each ‘personal and organisational need’ (p. 5). Not a tailor made but a garment flexible enough to suit responding to what is organizationally needed and fits the person who wears it. Obholzer conveys an inherently respectful stance in which organizational difficulties are not met with judgement or knowing what do, but a curiosity which leads to a shared discovery. This approach is illustrated in the following way when he writes that ‘putting oneself in someone else's shoes, requires us take our shoes off’ (p. 6), and this involves respecting the need that all good work requires, namely that the leader, coach or consultant needs to be in contact with their own creative and flawed selves. Curiosity is a precondition for the tolerance necessary to understand the strengths and flaws of those being led or those we seek to help and work with. Simply put, this book offers itself in the belief that the ideas within it are capable of being availabl