Dancing at the Edge: Competence, Culture and Organization in the 21st Century

In his 1969 essay, The World of Tomorrow and the Person of Tomorrow, thepsychologist Carl Rogers looked ahead to the volatile, uncertain, complexand ambiguous (VUCA) world we inhabit today. He suggested that living insuch a world would require a whole new set of competencies - demonstratedalready by the 'persons of tomorrow' he saw around him even then.In Dancing at the Edge, Maureen O'Hara and Graham Leicester pick upthe thread fifty years on. Drawing on extensive research and their own wideexperience, they map the 'powerful times' in which we live, the 21st-centurycompetencies required to thrive in this complexity and how to discover anddevelop them in practice. They identify:* Three emergencies: real, conceptual and existential* Three potential responses: denial, collapse and transformation* Three literacies: psychological, cultural and epistemicThese literacies - or ways of reading the landscape - open the door toour 21st-century competencies, which are innate, relational, and will developthrough practice in a supportive organizational or social setting.The picture that emerges is complex but remarkably clear andsurprisingly hopeful - even exhilarating. Organizations of every sort frombusinesses to schools and healthcare, from government bodies to NGOs,can create the conditions, offer the support and provide the context withinwhich engaged, aware, passionate and compassionate people can rise abovedenial and take on the challenges of today's powerful times.This is a handbook for anyone aspiring to develop their 21st-centurycompetencies and for any organization hoping to cultivate the persons oftomorrow in its midst.