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This paper has been timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the publication of In Search of Excellence. Observing this anniversary, the paper aims to offer a critical review of the works of Tom Peters – a man vaunted as the guru of management. Reviewers have observed that Tom Peters' narratives of business build and depend upon organizational stories to achieve their effects. Recognising that tales of the organization play an important role in sensemaking and sensegiving endeavours, this paper reviews Peters' organizational storytelling in the light of critical academic reflection in this arena.

The paper analyses the eight key works on management produced by Tom Peters between 1982 and 2003 from a storytelling perspective. Building upon Yiannis Gabriel's account of the essence of the poetic tale, the paper compiles a catalogue of Tom Peters' storywork.

On the strength of the cataloguing exercise, the paper charts a decline in this guru's storytelling; the predominance of certain story types; Peters' transmutation from narrator for, to hero of, the business world.

While acknowledging the need for further research and analysis, the paper suggests that the quantitative and qualitative changes evident in Peters' storywork catalogue suggest that this guru's connection to the world of business has become increasingly remote and unproductive. Accordingly, this review questions Peters' status as an organizational storyteller/organizational “sensegiver”, and so, questions his future prospects as a guru.

Focuses on integrating the theory and practice of organizational transformation through the metaphors of chaos theory and self‐organization. Case study data were collected through in‐depth interviews of three practitioner/theorists ‐ Peter Senge, William Torbert and Ellen Wingard ‐ all of whom have formulated theories of organizational change which they use as practitioners for generating transformations in organizations. The interviews suggest that all three of them utilize the logic of their (very different) theories to rationally set up the conditions for organizational change, but that the transformations they describe were sparked not through rational efforts but, in their words, through “grace”, “magic”, and “a miracle”. The new sciences of chaos and self‐organization provide a number of useful metaphors that can help us understand these non‐linear events. Describes the case studies in some depth and then identifies commonalities across the interventions in terms of a three‐phase model of dynamic order, thresholds at the edge of logic, and the self‐organized emergence of new order. Uses metaphors from new science to explain this process, aiming to identify a “chaotic logic” that links rational theory and intuitive practice in transformations of groups and organizations.

The purpose of this study is to mirror the late guitarist Peter Green’s life experiences through insights from Andrew Voyce, who recovered from mental illness, and expertise from Peter Bryngelsson, a Swedish professional musician and author.

The authors used a mixed method of collaborative autoethnography, psychobiography and digital team ethnography.

Despite having not previously attracted academic interest, Peter Green’s experiences of mental health problems and his return to recording and performance provide a rich data source when mirrored and compared to the lives and experiences of Andrew Voyce and Peter Bryngelsson.

The main limitation of this piece of work is that Peter Green died in 2020. During the process of writing, the authors have had to follow different, mostly unacademic, sources that have described various parts of Peter Green’s life. The authors have given examples and drawn conclusions from their own lives as well as from academic sources, which they have found appropriate.

Both Andrew Voyce and Peter Bryngelsson’s stories would be helpful when it comes to a deeper understanding as to why Peter Green “took a left turn”, i.e., turned his back on an accepted lifestyle.

Acid casualty is a problem connected to both mental distress and to the music industry. Peter Bryngelsson’s story tells us that one can remain sane and drug free and still be an influential and creative musician.

The analysis has brought together two stories of mental distress in combination with insights.

Builds on the work of previous authors to present a cyclical model of the process of consultation. Also argues that when consultation is perceived in this way the process becomes consistent with models of experiential learning and learning styles developed by Kolb and Honey and Mumford. This unification serves as a guide for practice and gives further insight into potential difficulties.

The paper asks how leaders in organizations address complex situations or challenges where past experiences are no longer helpful or might pose an obstacle for success. The authors use the metaphor of the blank canvas to describe the work of entrepreneurs or innovators who connect to an emerging future possibility. Based on their research, the authors argue that social technologies allow actors in organizations to connect to an emerging future, and break through habitual patterns of the past.

Underlying this paper, are action research projects in change management and organizational learning. While social science methods tend to be based on observational data, the founder of action research, Kurt Lewin, and his successors, including Ed Schein, Chris Argyris, Peter Senge, and Bill Torbert, claim that we have to use more than just observation (third‐person views) to get meaningful data about social reality. According to Bill Torbert organizational researchers need to access third‐, second‐, and first‐person knowledge – that is, observational data (third person), conversational data (second person) and experiential data (first person) that stem from participative action inquiry.

The paper concludes that organizational innovation and change processes cannot be outsourced. Profound innovation and change are only sustainable and successful when connected to the knowledge of the individuals involved, and when created by the people who will use them and be responsible for the results they produce.

Any social action can originate from different inner places; every actor, an individual or a group, even an organization, can choose between different places from where their action originate. How we choose to attend to the world is the leverage we have to determine the outcome of our actions. The arts provide processes that allow actors in organizations to access this quality of knowledge and leverage it.

Second of a two‐part article. Looks in detail at evaluating the effects of training and understanding its objectives, and at specifying IT management training programmes – together with four criteria for their likely success.

Part I of a two‐part article. States that in the New Age of management, IT managers are underskilled in the people and business aspects. Suggests areas of training for IT management which need to take place in a “learning organization” environment. Introduces the areas which are covered in detail in Part II: can management development really be justified?; and preparing IT management development programmes.

Western societies have been shaken by the economic crisis brought on by ‘casino capitalism’ and the recklessness of the financial institutions. Once esteemed financial institutions, like Lehman Brothers, are now shown to have used dubious accounting methods to cover losses; and accountants, regulators and governments have come under scrutiny. In public life, the scandal of MPs' expenses at Westminster and the blockages in legislative assemblies in the US are compounded in England by reports of deficient and degrading care in acute hospitals, where organisational considerations appear to have taken over from the prime mission of patient care. At this time, a new, or perhaps rediscovered, form of leadership is required. One that taps into the spirit, the animating and motivating force within individuals and groups, and uses values to create a better public service for all.