Learning Organization - Creating a Learning Organization and Leading it

An executive in the strategy department of a global computer manufacturer was convinced by 1993 that company's future lies in harnessing the internet. He used his social skill in networking with likeminded people. He formed a virtual community that went beyond organizational levels, divisions, and nations. With the help of a team he built from this community he created corporate website for his company. This website was among the first to be launched by a major company. Though held no budget or real status, just based on his own initiative, with marginal help from his allies, and people across divisions, he recruited 50 people from a dozen different units, and represented his company at an internet convention. Management took notice of these developments, and with in one year of conference formed the company's first internet division.

The life of Gilbert Kaplan shows how strict reliance on conscious learning can enhance level of mastery so dramatically. Gilbert Kaplan was a successful publisher & editor of a popular investment periodical. In 1965 he happened to listen to Mahler's second symphony. He recollects "I found myself unable to sleep. I went back for performance and walked out of the hall a different person. It was the beginning of a long love affair." That is where most of the people will stop. They will correlate and analyze whether their career and new found passion will go together? They rationalize and conclude that now they can't do any thing. Then they look at events in life and assume that success has determined what they truly wanted (as they are successful that field is suitable for them). But Kaplan thought differently. Though he had no musical training what-so-ever he was drawn towards conducting symphony. He invested lot of time, energy, and money. He risked his success and career. But today his symphony performances are rated among the best in the world. They receive highest praise by critics all over the world.

The New York Times rated (in the year 1988) his recording of the symphony with London Symphony Orchestra as one of the 5 finest classical recordings of the year. This example shows what can be accomplished in the pursuit of something truly important.