Leaping The Abyss: Putting Group Genius To Work (Paperback)

~ Chris Peterson (Author), Gayle Pergamit (Author), Pete Durand (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"The more they told us, the more curious and interested we became. They were pulling together insights from fields as diverse as architecture and brain chemistry and applying them to business. They were also incorporating insights from the best business theories around. They seemed to have brought it all together in a completely unique three-day format that sounded challenging, fun, and actually generated solid work product. Could this be real?" - from the author's preface

Leaping The Abyss: Putting Group Genius To Work is the single most in-depth description and analysis of the patented DesignShop® facilitation methodology invented by the MG Taylor Corporation. Written by two authors who attended a DesignShop event in 1995, Leaping The Abyss provides a detailed step-by-step account of the three-day event, including interviews and anecdotes from participants from a diversity of industries such as healthcare, management consulting, government, military, automotive, food and beverage, education, and high-technology, as well as, a behind the scenes look at how DesignShop experiences are created and the personel who facilitate them. An extensive bibliography, dozens of web links, illustrations, tips and suggested exercises with each chapter offer the reader a great source of new ideas for facilitating the creative process within their own work place.

From the Publisher

Leaping The Abyss: Putting Group Genius to Work is a fascinating, easy to read account of a design and facilitation methodology that enables organizations of any size or kind to solve complex problems and reach a level of sustained breakthrough thinking in a fraction of the time and with far greater results than are possible by other forms of strategic planning, problem solving, or group process. The DesignShop® process, part of a patented system and method "for addressing the paradoxes and problems associated with the Knowledge Economy, and the transition to it," has been employed by hundreds of organizations since its invention by MG Taylor in 1980. Leaping The Abyss includes extensive interviews with Matt and Gail Taylor, who together invented the DesignShop process, as well as clients, employees, contractors, and partners with whom they have worked. A sampling of comments from clients gives a sense of what this powerful colloborative design tool enables:

"In every instance we are getting done in three days what we would have historically accomplished in somewhere between six weeks and three months." - Lee Sage, former Senior Partner at Ernst & Young. LLP describing the effeciveness of the DesignShop process

"The result was a truly innovative and unique system which has still not been duplicated by anyone in the country....It is my belief that this could not have happened in any other way than...within the DesignShop process.” - J. L. Yurish, Jack Yurish & Associates, former executive with National Car Rental

"The list of benefits that have come out of DesignShop events goes on and on: radically reduced testing times; early approval of the 777 engine for intercontinental flight, based on setting a world record for running an engine in a wind tunnel continuously for 52 hours." - John Poparad, Strategist, Arnold Engineering & Development Center

"In every case, groups were more productive, creative, and energetic in doing their work than I have experienced in other locations I've used for group events. The design of the space, the audio-visual support, the music, the staff support, the overall excellent service all work together to produce what seems to me at times a magical experience." - Colleen M. Brown, Director-Organizational Learning, DTE Energy

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: knoOwhere press; 1 edition (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965899500
• ISBN-13: 978-0965899505
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #666,001 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for Facilitation of Future Alternative analysis, October 9, 1999

By	Noël Berge (Westcliffe, Co USA) - See all my reviews

Reading this excellent book on the approach involved, provided me, a Facilitation Change Management consultant, with many new and fascinating ideas for improving the work often required to move groups, companies and organizations into the future.

The book is written in an easy readable style and provides a great source for new ideas and how the process can and does provide the client new and successful strategies for action, based on the talents and resources inherent in the group.

There is something very powerful represented herein and I strongly recommend others in the field of strategic planning and work with groups exploring new directions for the future. There is power within groups, a hidden opportunity to build a team of dynamic commitment to a future effort within a company or organization.

4.0 out of 5 stars A Book for Facilitators Who Are Ready to "Upgrade", February 11, 2006

By	Brian F. Shea (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book, though not all that widely known, is a gem. It contains a good portion of the thinking and techniques behind the MG Taylor DesignShops, which meld environment, senses, and facilitation into an intense and rewarding experience.

If you are a facilitator, particularly one that routine works with groups struggling with major, complex decisions, and want some new tools for your practice, then this is the book for you. The ideas you will get from here may result in you forming new ones, which in an ironic way would be exactly what the innovators of this method might want!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, May 3, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This is one of the most impressive and exciting and practical books on group creativity I've read and used. Make sure you check out their web sites.