Customer Reviews

Spiral Dynamics : Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change (Developmental Management)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A brief note regarding comments made by the previous reviewer:

When Blackwell Business Publishers published Spiral Dynamics, they did not include an index developed by Don Beck and Chris Cowan (mistakes like this do happen sometimes with academic publishers). Interested readers can contact the authors directly at ... for further details and updated research. Any initial "X-Files" feeling is dispelled once you become more familiar with the model, and the milieu that it evolved from.

Spiral Dynamics draws extensively upon over 40 years of research by Beck, Cowan, and their mentor Clare W. Graves. The original research data includes over 500,000 interviews conducted over five continents, and is comparable to other "biopsychosocial systems development" research conducted by Jane Loevinger, Stanley Milgram, Laurence Kohlberg, Erik Erikson etc.

What makes Graves unique however is that he created a dynamic model of human consciousness evolution which can assimilate other models and worldviews. He also recognised that insights from Cognitive Psychology, Genetics, and Neurophysiology would need to be examined. Fans of NeuroLinguistic Programming, General Systems Theory, Memetics and the Human Potential Movement will find a wealth of material, plus reading resources for further specialised research.

SD has been applied to resolve racial tension in South Africa, in education systems and government, by the World Future Society State of the World Forum, Arlington Institute, and Integral Institute, and by major companies such as Nedbank and SouthWest Airlines. Anyone questioning its credentials simply haven't done their research.

Its scope and depth surpasses what masquerades as "snake-oil" solutions: SD asks "why" such solutions are posed; what the prevailing "life conditions" are in an individual's life, company's growth, or country's situation (the interaction of historical times, geographic place, human existential problems, and social circumstances); and in examining change, questions "from what . . . to what?"

The flaws in this book should not obscure the fact that this may be one of the most important books on human behavior of the millennium-probably even more important than even the authors realize. For this is the first book to link two of the most important concepts in human behavior of our time-the theories of psychologist Clare Graves and the concept of memes.

(I have been working with Graves' theories for about 25 years, and had the pleasure to collaborate with him on a consulting project in 1976. Regarding memes, I have been teaching about them for about 5 years.)

Graves integrated "bio-psycho-and socio-" in a way that resulted in the identification of clearly distinct levels of existence, with each level having its own psychological and behavioral characteristics. This was a remarkable revolutionary achievement, especially in light of the subsequent work of others that corroborate the characteristics of each level. Beck and Cowan have conveniently provided excellent references for each level.

A second revolutionary idea comes from the 1973 work of Richard Dawkins, who while discussing the need that genes have to replicate themselves ("The Selfish Gene"), also posited the existence of another replicator, a unit of cultural transmission, which he dubbed a "meme" after the French word for imitation. After lying dormant for many years (except at Microsoft-see Richard Brodie's "Virus of the Mind") the concept of memes has arrived. And although I have been teaching about memes for five years, even I have underestimated their importance until recently, thanks to Susan Blackmore's book "The Meme Machine." Since Beck and Cowan are the first to write about the linkage of Graves' theories and memes, they are blazing the trail for what may become a major field of study in the future.

And now for some nit picking. The authors use colors (Red, Blue, Orange, etc.) to identify the Gravesian levels. I understand why they did so, because I, too, have grappled with the issue of whether to use Graves' original nomenclature or some other scheme. I personally prefer Graves' original nomenclature, and believe colors have more disadvantages than advantages.

Somewhat more troublesome is the authors' tendency not to clearly differentiate Dr. Graves' theories from their own extensions of his work. While I have no trouble separating the two, the average reader would have trouble doing so. Nor am I comfortable with calling the various levels "vMEMES," because it implies that each Gravesian level is primarily memes as opposed to a complex combination of a neuro-chemical predisposition and memes that are compatible with it.

One major advantage of Graves' theories is that it allows for prediction of second tier characteristics based on the characteristics of corresponding first tier levels. The authors missed the opportunity to project what the "Coral" (Graves' C'P') level would look like. The authors also omitted consideration of where Graves got some of his memes. They don't mention the early influence of Gerald Heard ("The Five Ages of Man") or the work of Harvey, Hunt and Schroder ("Conceptual Systems and Personality Organization").

Aside from these relatively minor criticisms, Beck and Cowan's book is extremely important because it ushers in a new focus on Gravesian levels and memes-a terrific combination for understanding and predicting human behavior. Hopefully their book will stimulate academic research as well as a wide range of practical applications.

The speed of personal and societal change can seem bewildering, and there have been many attempts to try and make sense of what is going on in the world.

Spiral Dynamics is one very interesting model that was originally developed by the psychologist Clare W. Graves. He was a friend and colleague of Abraham Maslow, who had developed the well-known Hierarchy of Needs, ascending from basic biological needs to the more complex psychological motivations - belongingness, esteem, cognitive, esthetic and self-actualizing - once the basic needs have been satisfied. In Maslow's scheme, the needs at each level need to be at least partially satisfied before the needs of the next level start to determine action. But Graves' research lead him to believe that there were levels beyond self-actualization, and that different people achieved different kinds of development at different times in their lives. Over the last 30 years, Spiral Dynamics has been developing in a number of new directions. Ken Wilber has been working with Don Beck and has incorporated many of the ideas into his Integral Psychology, and I have recently shown how some of the ideas are immensely helpful in the field of health and wellness.

One of the important concepts of Spiral Dynamics is the meme. The word meme was first introduced by the Oxford University biologist Richard Dawkins, who used the word to mean things that are transmitted or broadcast through culture. Good examples would be songs, ideas or fashions in clothes, which are quickly disseminated through a culture, rather like a virus spreads around a population. These are now called "little memes." Spiral Dynamics takes a broader view. Each level of development is represented on a spiral and is called a "Value Meme" (vMeme), which expresses itself through the "little memes." You will normally see "vMeme" abbreviated to Meme, with a capital "M" to distinguish it from the "little memes." Each Meme is a code, or a system of information. We are each composites of memetic levels.

I was very interested to hear what Don Beck - one of the most important figures in the development of Spiral Dynamics, and heir apparent to Clare Graves - had to say about the current state of the model. There is one thing that marks out Spiral Dynamics from many other models: it has been successfully applied in some very difficult situations around the world, most famously in the post-Apartheid era in South Africa.

On the first CD, which Don has entitled The Dance of the Double Helix: How Humans Emerge, he begins with a broad overview, which includes a recoding of Clare Graves himself. For people not familiar with Spiral Dynamics, it might be necessary to go back and listen to the first CD again later: he uses a small number of terms without defining them.

On the second CD - The Codes by Which We Live -Don Beck provides a lucid description of the first six developmental levels. This is the clearest description that I've ever heard or read.

The third CD - The Leap into Second Tier - discusses a quantum jump in consciousness and the emergence of new moral codes and ways of thinking and behaving that promise t revolutionize the world around us.

On CD Four - The Dynamics of Leadership - Don gets very practical, in applying the model to leadership, natural organizations and the importance of understanding that people and organizations often have multiple bottom lines.

The Fifth CD - The Many Dimensions of Change - is the most dense of all of them in terms of concepts: Don discusses the phenomena of human emergence, the eight change variations, and the three components of change. His discussion of alpha fit, beta condition, gamma trap and delta surge is terrific for anyone who has ever tried to negotiate changes in relationships or in organizations.

Finally, CD Six - Stitching Together Our Wounded World - is a series of very practical lessons in how Spiral Dynamics can and has been used, and some pointers for the future.

These CDs are well produced and come with a small booklet and color chart. All the materials are of the same high quality that we have come to associate with Sounds True who produced and published the CDs.

If you are a complete beginner in the field of Spiral Dynamics, these CDs are sure to get you oriented very quickly, and you should be able to see how the theory applies in your life. The booklet contains some precise questions for helping you map your vMemes. It can be immensely helpful to do this exercise with people with whom you are in relationship. If you are already familiar with some of the concepts of Spiral Dynamics, you will likely still find some interesting material and a stimulating discussion. You may want to use the CDs to flesh out you understanding, before going on to the book Spiral Dynamics by Don Beck and Christopher Cowan.

Whichever group you are in - beginner or more advanced student, you may well need to listen to some parts of the CDs more than once.

Highly recommended.

This book is based on the work of Clare W. Graves, a professor of psychology at the Union College (Schenectady, NY) who developed an evolutionary model of values somewhere in the 60ties. I was introduced to this material through the work of Wyatt Woodsmall, who wrote a more accessible introduction to this material as part of the book "Time Line Therapy and the Basis of personality" (published in 1988). If you are interested in studying values and cultures, I recommend buying both books.

The two reasons why this book only gets 3 stars are 1) the way it is written and 2) because the authors have written it "as if" they are the *sole* owners of this theory, a kind of thinking that shows they haven't reached the highest level of evolution themselves. The second remark may explain why one cannot distinguish between the original thinking of GRAVES and the extensions of the authors. The first remark explains why this book is hard to "digest": the structure of the book doesn't make it easy to collect all information for each level, nor is it easy to derive from the book how one would apply these principles, say in a therapeutic or business context. Also an index is missing, but that is partly compensated by adding a good resource list at the end of the book.

Graves' model is a dynamic model of human consciousness evolution, which includes 7 levels of development, each with particular kinds of thinking and beliefs. At jobEQ we recommend this kind of thinking to find out whether someone you want to hire is "compatible" with your companies culture. Beck and Cowan have been using Graves work on an even larger level: looking at values that are valid across cultures and subcultures in society, for instance helping to resolve conflicts between subcultures in the UK and South-Africa.

Patrick E.C. Merlevede -- co-author of "7 Steps to Emotional Intelligence"

Ever listen to two people argue and realize that they don't really disagree, they just can't understand each other? Ever contemplate two mutually contradictory perspectives that seem to have equal validity? Spiral Dynamics is a powerful and beautiful psychological/philosophical theory that explains the above everyday phenomena better than any other theory I've encountered. It simply posits that humans develop through different, all-encompassing views of life as they mature. Unfortunately, in the book "Spiral Dynamics", Beck and Cowan have apparently tried to market this theory to a management market by dressing the terms up in CAPITAL LETTERS, bold type, and the ridiculous superscripted "v"-MEME. I assume this is to make them seem like scientific acronyms, like DNA or H2O. Why? Have faith in the theory guys, it's a good one. I just hope they don't screw up the Clare Graves book that they are currently editing. Of course, I'm sure that it will be exorbitant, like the volume under review. Again, why? I suppose, in SD terms, the authors are merely writing for an orange audience, but between that and their exorbitant prices, they come off as rather first tier.

The authors of this book have an excellent theoretical framework and though a bit technical, they explain it very well. The theory is extremely valuable and useful but we should also beware of the inherent danger in theories like this. Because of our egotistical nature as readers, we automatically assume we belong to the higher level memes and begin pigeonholing and stereotyping others assuming that others are at lower level memes never noticing that this type of thinking is one of the characteristics of memes at certain levels. A great book that reminds of the fact that we are all participants in this process and not mere observers looking down from above is "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato. It shows us that it is not only important to understand the process but to facilitate the process by respectfully participating in it.

Spiral Dynamics possesses a childish charm that is typically absent in any study of such intellectual depth. At the core, Spiral Dynamics is a heirarchical (holarchical) evolution of values, motivations and drives. These are WIDELY applicable in business, sociology, anthropology, politics, and foreign policy.

The initial theorems were concocted by the late Clare Graves, and his two predecessors Beck and Cowan have not only adapted these profound analyses to a broader (non-academic) audience, but have added a unique flavor of their own.

Now I have friends who have been mildly exposed to Spiral Dynamics, and they're immediately put off by the color scheme, with a puritanical disgust for anything with such an "unintellectual" resemblance. On top of that, the kiddie analogies even make the reader feel quite... well, admittedly juvenile at times. But the beautiful thing is, these are SERIOUS and PROFOUND discoveries with WIDE implications (as been shown by Beck and Cowan's social and cultural work around the planet); these simplistic representations of such dynamic and deep material helps the student understand the points and quickly push to deeper and more pertinent questions. For instance, instead of saying "The membership-driven meme, desiring conformity and sociocentric awareness," it's much easier to say "The Blue Meme."

On top of that, the book leaves an open-end with the mathematical structure of the spiral which has interesting implications as far as patterns of evolution are concerned (in whatever medium they occur).

Enough of the mumbo-jumbo, highly recommended.

Based on the 'Bio-Psycho-Social' Systems framework of Dr. Clare W. Graves, authors Dr. Don Edward Beck and Christopher C. Cowan have developed a powerful tool for revitalising individuals, business and sporting teams, and communities. This book is truly 'third-way' thinking for the new millennium.

Beck and Cowan fuse many different elements together into a powerful and *practical* synthesis, including the latest scientific research from neuro-biology, multiple intelligences, memetics, paleo-psychology, values systems design, and various schools of business management. Like grasping Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), this initially takes some personal commitment and intensive self-study, but the longterm benefits of Beck and Cowan's lucid comments are well worth the initial effort. The models are part of a wider 'Third Culture' paradigm that many academics and cultural theorists firmly believe will become a major force within empirical mainstream science over the next fifteen years.

The book also has an invaluable extensive reading list covering the major conceptual theorists and models across many disciplines. It covers over thirty years of pioneering academic research and subsequent real-world application.

Spiral Dynamics principles have been successfully applied to a wide variety of situations, including blue-chip corporations, sports teams, and high-level government institutions, and the authors have consulted with many international institutions, including the Clinton (U.S.) and Blair (U.K.) administrations, the World Future Society, the London School of Economics, and the EC Committee for the Future. Beck is highly regarded for his 'behind-the-scenes' geo-political work since the early 1980s in South Africa dismantling apartheid.

Like the 'Six Thinking Hats' of Edward de Bono, the controversial 'crazy wisdom' of Tom Peters, or the leadership principles of Stephen Covey, a knowledge of Spiral Dynamics will add a powerful real-time diagnostic tool to your perceptual engineering toolkit. In an increasingly hyper-real postmodern world, Spiral Dynamics principles will enable you to outwit your competitors, gain an understanding of the 'psychological DNA' of your customers and market niche, and promote effective and efficient high-performance teams and encourage leadership within your organisation.

A very interesting developmental theory taken WAY to far. The ideas expressed here could have been presented as a helpful extension of the work of psychologist Abraham Maslow and others. Instead, they are framed as comprehensive theory of morality itself, marketed to managers (!) and consultants (!!), as 'leadership lit' no less. It's as if Nietzsche wrote "how-to" books for his developmentally superior ubermensch.

However, the authors have an ace up their sleeve. Spiral Dynamics defines two tiers of human development and pretty much anyone who agrees with the theory is automatically classified as a 'tier two spiral wizard.' Pretty cool- but those who read The Emperor's New Clothes as children might feel a bit uneasy about all of this. It turns out, however, that they feel this because they are still "first tier." Similarly, fans of the work of Karl Popper could see this internal dismissal of external criticisms as the surest sign of non-falsifiable oogy-boogy flim-flam, but again we are assured that that is not the case here. We are not actually bad for thinking this way- just developmentally limited. We are destined to live in the clutches of the 'mean green meme' in the hope of someday bowing to the superior functionality of the philosopher kings and their consulting affiliates.

And kings they are! It turns out there is a heck of a political agenda here. "Wizards," it seems, are instantly able to see solutions to systemic problems- and they need not take seriously the niggling and limited opinions of the lesser-tiered, except to figure out how to win them over. They are "big-picture" sorts, again like Nietzsche's supermen, busy moving the universe forward. They have a duty to run things in this chaotic world. Call it the "Turquoise Man's Burden." You see, these "Wizards" inherently tend to know best and to question their judgment is to betray an almost endearing naiveté. To point out that this is essentially what Plato had in mind when he wrote The Republic 2300 years ago, would, I suspect, be a faux pas. While the idea has yet to really work -and has led to more than a few revolutions- apparently its time has yet again come. From this standpoint, it is interesting that about half of this "developmental theory" is devoted to techniques for shilling ideas to the lesser-tiered.

As someone who grew up in Boulder, Colorado all I can think is that this functional superiority must surely account for the absolutely stunning moral, institutional and financial successes of the city's Integral Institute, which set out to be a sort of "Mensa" for all the lonely "spiral wizards". That it all snowballed into lawsuits and acrimony is only a sign of the sheer incomprehensibility of their greatness.

The bottom line: Much of the developmental theory is actually really good but absolutely ruined by the decision to conflate it with self-help pabulum for the self-righteous and cultish. Two-star stuff.

This book has been well described by other reviewers and is a must read. It is also the book Ken Wilber presently uses in his integral philosophy. The memes presented in this book are clear and very useful. Since Wilber believes there is a third tier, and concentrates very much on second tier, it would be useful to get a second edition providing Cowen and Beck's views.
Wilber also uses this book as the spring board to his Boomeritis book and the green meme. A must book.