8 Volume 3, Number 2, REFLECTIONS Humility and Ignorance: What It Takes to Be an Effective Process Consultant Edgar H. Schein, Adam Kahane, and C. Otto Scharmer This open-ended conversation took place on February 7, 2000, in Cambridge, Massachu- setts. Our goal was to explore some of the deeper aspects of consulting and change. The afternoon conversation highlights some of Schein’s and Kahane’s critical learning experi- ences as consultants to corporate and civic change projects. We talked about the more subtle aspects of profound change as they are perceived from the perspective of the consultant. C. Otto Scharmer (COS): What questions do we want to explore in this conversation? Edgar H. Schein (ES): For me, the first question is what are the deep, common elements of successful intervention and change? Are there really important differences between different claims and approaches to change? Or are most change theories built on very similar premises? I am struck by how everyone makes claims with their own technology as if they had a unique approach. Are there real differences or are these just differences for purposes of public relations, rather than being theoretically sound? Second, why is it so hard to get people to see the deeper levels, either in their per- sonal relations or culture or any of the things we end up dealing with? It’s very hard to get people to stop, reflect, and look at what’s really going on. Adam Kahane (AK): I am working with a different set of questions related to the pro- cess of strategizing—although I think that there are links to yours. The first has to do with the extent to which strategy is adaptive—trying to do as well as we can in a world out- side our control—versus strategy being generative—trying to change the world. I believe that the will to change the world, to make it a better place, is a vital part of effective, in- novative strategizing—or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. Second, almost everything that’s been written about strategy is about analytical, ra- tional processes. What role, if any, is there for intuitive and other nonrational processes in choosing which path to take? My third question has to do with how to be effective as a consultant. Almost all my work has involved organizing and facilitating collaborative conversations of one sort or another, but, recently, I’ve been wondering whether we put too much emphasis on col- lective, collaborative, consensus-based processes, instead of other ways of effecting change. I see the danger of getting lowest common denominator results from processes that take all the spark and edge off. ES: One critical issue is the will to betterment and what, if any, are its sources. I have tended to put a stake in the ground that the source of motivation to change is a kind of disequilib- rium between what I want and what is going on, which is fundamentally an adaptive process. I’ve always been puzzled, particularly in the new learning organization context, about the notion that people spontaneously want to get better, even if there’s nothing © 2001 by the Society for Organiza- tional Learning and the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology. Edgar H. Schein Sloan Fellows Professor Management Emeritus MIT Sloan School of Management scheine@mit.edu Adam Kahane Founding Partner Generon Consulting kahane@generonconsulting.com FEATURE