Abstract
In this article, the first essay in an excellent collection of essays by the renowned writer and essayist Rebecca Solnit (Open Door in: Solnit, R.; A Field Guide to Getting Lost, New York, Viking Penguin, 2005) is used to give another perspective on transformations in a business or organizational context and to describe the preconditions for transformations, the readiness to transform with means coming from outside business administration and organization theory. The article strongly draws on metaphors, similarities, and analogies from philosophy (Memo, Socrates), literature (Keats, Edgar Allen Poe, Walter Benjamin, Virginia Wolfe), science (J. Robert Oppenheimer), etc. which can be applied very well.
The key thesis is that all (radical) transformations have to explore a new world that was previously (mostly or totally) unknown and that for the openness needed to explore this new unknown world it is crucial to get lost, which means getting pulled out of traditional thinking and perception in order to prevent one from missing important insights or misinterpreting realities. In other words: neutral, uninfluenced views and perspectives are needed.
New knowledge can only be created if some traditional knowledge that is no longer needed is “canceled.” This might already be important to understand the necessity of a transformation for an organization and to define its general outline. But this is especially important if the transformation in which one finds oneself represents a real paradigm, a belief change.
Even though Rebecca Solnit’s perspective is a personal one, it is nevertheless easily transferable to whole organizations.
The article also—implicitly—underlines the importance that the book contains a larger number of articles from fields outside business administration and organization theory. The VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world can only be understood if all perspectives are used.
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see: Willke (2018).
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See also the description of the publisher at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/293600/a-field-guide-to-getting-lost-by-rebecca-solnit/: “Written as a series of autobiographical essays, A Field Guide to Getting Lost draws on emblematic moments and relationships in Rebecca Solnit’s life to explore issues of uncertainty, trust, loss, memory, desire, and place. Solnit is interested in the stories we use to navigate our way through the world, and the places we traverse, from wilderness to cities, in finding ourselves, or losing ourselves. While deeply personal, her own stories link up to larger stories, from captivity narratives of early Americans to the use of the color blue in Renaissance painting, not to mention encounters with tortoises, monks, punk rockers, mountains, deserts, and the movie Vertigo. The result is a distinctive, stimulating voyage of discovery.”
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VUCA = Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous.
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Alleged Pre-Socratic philosopher Meno, cited in Solnit (2005), p. 4.
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J. Robert Oppenheimer, cited in: Solnit (2005), p. 5.
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Edgar Allan Poe cited in: Solnit (2005), p. 5.
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John Keats cited in: Solnit (2005), p. 5.
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The historian Aaron Sachs cited in: Solnit (2005), p. 14.
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“… It suggests … that to reside in comfort can be to have fallen by the wayside”. Cited from Solnit (2005), p. 20.
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Like cited by Rebecca Solnit in: Solnit (2005), pp. 14 and 15.
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Cited from: Solnit (2005), p. 16.
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Cited from: Solnit (2005), p. 6.
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References
Solnit, R. (2005). A field guide to getting lost. Viking Penguin.
Willke, H. (2018). Einführung in das systemische Wissensmanagement (4th ed.). Carl-Auer Verlag GmbH.
Wollmann, P., et al. (2020). Three pillars for organization and leadership in disruptive times – Navigating your company successfully through the 21st century business world. Springer Nature.
Wollmann, P., et al. (2021). Organization and leadership in disruptive times – Design and implementation using the 3-P-model. Springer Nature.
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I recommend all Rebecca Solnit’s books as they give fascinating perspectives on almost all relevant societal topicsFootnote 14
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Wollmann, P. (2022). How to Create Neutral Views and Perspectives During Transformations. Learning from Rebecca Solnit’s Book “A Field Guide to Getting Lost”. In: Wollmann, P., Püringer, R. (eds) Transforming Public and Private Sector Organizations. Future of Business and Finance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06904-8_6
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