How a learning organization can be posed to tread an extraordinary path akin to mythological endeavors… … thus becoming an Epic Learning Organization: From a redefinition of Personal Mastery, to building such an organization, to strategic planning and storytelling the journey, and to leading the journey --- This is a proposal for a sixth organizational learning discipline. .

1. Arturo J. Bencosme, PhD
www.epic-spirit.com

2. Peter Senge’s learning organization paradigm
in “The Fifth Discipline, The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization“
has signified a leap forward in the fields of organizational development and management.
“…organizations where people continually expand their capacity
to create the results they truly desire,
where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured,
where collective aspiration is set free,
and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.”
“…such organizations are better prepared than others
to survive in modern situations of rapid change…”
“…only those organizations that are capable of fast learning will survive and excel.”
Senge suggests cultivating five interdependent disciplines to become a learning organization:
developing personal mastery,
sharing a vision,
managing mental models,
team learning,
systems thinking.
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A. J. Bencosme, PhD

3. Individuals within a learning organization
might choose collectively to share a commitment to an epic intent:
this organization will then enhance the its learning capabilities
and will be poised to tread an extraordinary path
akin to mythological endeavors…
… thus becoming an
Epic Learning Organization.
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4. The journeys of learning organizations always start at the personal level.
Thus a first step in the direction of capturing
what an epic path entails for a learning organization,
consists of extending the discipline of Personal Mastery
into embodying the Hero’s Journey that is,
making the choice to become the hero in one’s own life.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline
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5. A hero is anyone who leaves the world as usual
to go on a journey to an extraordinary world …
… where trials, challenges and fears are overcome to secure a treasure
which is shared with others in the community at the return from the journey.
Adapted from Joseph Campbell,
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
The Hero’s Journey archetype
is a part of the collective unconscious
(universal pattern) suggested by Jungian psychology.
It is a cycle that goes through three parts:
• Departure/Preparation,
• Initiation/Passage/Transformation and,
• Return/Celebration.
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6. … A good life is one hero journey after another.
Over and over again,
you are called into the realm of adventure,
you are called to new horizons.
Each time, there is the same problem: Do I dare?
And then if you do dare, the dangers are there,
and the help also, and the fulfillment or the fiasco.
There is always the possibility of a fiasco.
But there's also the possibility of bliss.
Excerpt from Joseph Campbell,
Pathways to Bliss
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7. It can offer guidance allowing to re-frame one’s life path
into an epic perspective:
see where one is currently,
where one has come from, where one is headed,
what challenges and rewards are involved,
and the meaning of it all.
Such a construct can be used to understand further one’s personal becoming,
much as navigational devices help in comprehending the route being followed
when traveling across the oceans.
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8. Each of the three parts of the hero’s journey
pattern might encompass several stages:
Campbell suggested 17 possible stages in
“The Hero with a Thousand Faces”.
The stages might be different
for each individual, culture and time:
the overall pattern is what matters.
An illustrative 8 stage pattern
will be used here.
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9. CALL TO ADVENTURE
Awakening, Awareness,
Envisioning, and Readiness.
ABYSS – SUPREME CHALLENGE
Death & Rebirth. Acknowledging that
what most frightens us is our inner light.
CLAIMING THE TREASURE
Thriving in discovery & fulfillment.
CONVERGENCE WITH THE TRUE SELF:
At-Onement: Acceptance, cooperation,
understanding and enthusiasm.
THE
WORLD AS
USUAL
THE GATE KEEPER: Dealing with fears &
concerns. Re-commitment to the vision.
DEPARTURE: Commitment, guidance,
aides & opponents, challenges to overcome.
ENDURANCE TRIALS: Utilizing everything
to learn, grow & advance.
1st THRESHOLD
Entering the extraordinary world
of healing & transformation.
PREPARING TO RETURN: Owning the journey.
Being grateful. Recovering from inner wounds.
ARRIVAL & CELEBRATION: Master of two worlds.
Sharing the learning, contributing to society.
2nd THRESHOLD
Starting on the Way Back
to the World as Usual.
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10. Those who attain a high level of personal mastery, continuously expand:
their capacity to clarify their personal vision,
their ability to source and apply the means to materialize it,
and their understanding of the purpose of their path
as they embody the hero in their own life.
They rely both on intuitive and intellectual learning;
develop a heightened state of mindfulness and become contemplatives in action;
utilize self-enquiry, build on their inner alignment of mind, body & spirit;
and thrive in their awareness of their interconnection with everything and everyone.
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11. An organization -as a whole- can too follow the Hero’s Journey.
Doing so consciously will make a transcendental navigational
system available for the members of the entire organization,
inspiriting them to learn about their subjective experiences
involved in treading such an epic path
~ just as in the personal case .~
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12. THE
WORLD
AS
USUAL
This is the mental place where things that are known to the
organization dwell, including culture, image, reputation, core skills,
and so forth.
from events such as the awareness of a major challenge,
to a strategic planning process,
to a shift in the organizational culture,
or a disruption in the market
or …
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13. • Focusing on the organization’s compass -purpose & values-
while committing to the required transformations.
• Searching for guidance and Identifying probable aides & opponents.
• Resolving & strategizing to overcome the challenges involved:
transforming adversities into possibilities
and making the most of the advantages.
KEY: Know Who We Are.
• Clarifying & and re-confirming the organization’s shared vision
and sense of purpose.
• Dealing with fears & uncertainty, and facing concerns & doubts.
• Figuring how to manage the uncertain future affairs.
KEY: Only those who dream can create realities.
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14. 14
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15. • Trusting the power of teams
• Resolving to utilize everything for learning & advancing
collectively.
• Deepening the sense of purpose.
Key: “The event is not important,
the response to the event is everything.”
(From the I Ching)
Acknowledging that:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”
~ Marianne Williamson
Key: We have being preparing for this all along.
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16. • Re-living the journey’s underlying purpose.
• Rejoycing on having attained the goals set forth for the
journey
• Seeing the call to adventure in restropective.
KEY: Thrive in discovery & fulfillment.
• Deepening, strengthening, experiencing and owning
collectively the organization’s alignment with its core
beliefs:.
• Building a shared consciousness of fulfillment,
acknowledging the success.
KEY: Embody the organization´s success.
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17. 17
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18. • Striving to utilize the claimed treasure
for improving society and the challenges involved.
• Re-Assessing the journey’s original motives.
• Owning the journey, being grateful
and preparing for pursuing further progress.
KEY: Be intent on thriving in the cycle of giving & receiving.
• Sharing the learning.
• Being free from fear and driven into the future
by a passion for contributing to a better world.
KEY: It is time to celebrate & reciprocate.
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19. THE EXPANDED
WORLD AS
USUAL
• The experience of having gone through a
transformational journey results in an expanded
comfort zone that is, a larger “World as Usual” .
• Having mastered the ordinary and the extraordinary
worlds brings an escalated potential for contributing
to society.
• Such a potential prompts the organization
to pursue further journeys
and thus continue creating its epic myth.
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20. THE
WORLD AS
USUAL
CALL TO ADVENTURE
Committing
to the organization’s
shared epic intent. DEPARTURE:
Building-up commitment,
guidance, aides & opponents,
and awareness of challenges ahead.
THE GATE KEEPER:
Dealing with fears & concerns.
Re-commitment to the vision.
ENDURANCE TRIALS:
Utilizing everything
to learn & advance.
ABYSS –SUPREME CHALLENGE
Going beyond survival and into
transcendence.
CLAIMING THE TREASURE
Thriving in discovery & fulfillment.
CONVERGENCE WITH THE TRUE SELF:
Building a shared consciousness
of purposeful alignment.
PREPARING TO RETURN:
Owning the journey,
being grateful & abundant.
ARRIVAL & CELEBRATION:
Letting the passion
for contributing to a better world
drive the organization’s future.
1st THRESHOLD
Entering the extraordinary world
of organizational transformation.
2nd THRESHOLD
Leaving the extraordinary world
of organizational transformation
--- Reconnecting to Society
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21. They do this through learning at a transcendental level:
they cultivate the ability to reframe the organization’s path
into a hero’s journey pattern.
The members of these organizations heed to the call to go on a collective adventure
into a challenging world where they overcome challenges to claim treasures
~ such as developing knowledge, improving efficiency, technology, new goods or services ~
and then purposely bring them in such a way as to benefit society as a whole.
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22. PERSONAL
CONSCIOUSNESS
PERSONAL UNCONSCIOUS
CONSCIOUS ORGANIZATION:
THE “WHAT”
ORGANIZATIONAL UNCONSCIOUS: THE “WHY”
Adapted from Corlett & Pearson (2003)
Mapping the Organizational Psyche
Public face / Branding
Center of Consciousness: Potential for Org. Learning
Archetypes & Instincts
Complexes:
Work Processes
Organizational
Shadow
Participation Mystique:
Mutual & Collective Projective Identification
Archetype of Organization:
Drive for Wholeness
Persona / Mask
Ego: Sensing & Discerning
Archetypes & Instincts
Complexes:
Ways of Doing
Personal
Shadow
Archetypical Self:
Drive for Wholeness
Participation Mystique:
Projective Identification with Objects
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23. Mankind’s natural tendency to create organizations is a universal pattern,
the Archetype of Organization which drives for wholeness through synergizing and
balancing its four archetypical life energies: Stability, Learning, People, and Results.
When the organization’s Center of Consciousness (analogous to the personal EGO)
connects with the Archetype of Organization in a quest for wholeness,
organizational learning takes place.
ORGANIZATIONAL
WHOLENESS
Adapted from Corlett & Pearson (2003)
Mapping the Organizational Psyche
Each life energy in the Center of Consciousness
comprises additional archetypes
that offer specific energies:
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24. • Explorer
• Destroyer
• Lover
• Creator
INITIATION / PASSAGE
/ TRANSFORMATION
• Innocent
• Orphan
• Warrior
• Altruist
DEPARTURE /
PREPARATION
A learning organization in pursuit of an epic intent is akin to the person going on a hero’s journey:
the Archetype of Organization (analogous to the individual’s Archetypical Self) strives for wholeness
and transcendence, and aims at materializing a meaningful purpose.
Its additional archetypes can be summoned to function appropriately along the path toward greatness.
The organization effectively becomes an Epic Learning Organization.
• Ruler
• Magician
• Sage
• Jester
RETURN /
CELEBRATION
Adapted from Pearson, C.S. (1991)
Awakening the Heroes Within
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25. • Innocent: To gain loyalty & discernment.
• Orphan: To feel & process pain.
• Warrior: To fight for what really matters.
• Altruist: To give without maiming.
DEPARTURE /
PREPARATION
• Ruler: To energize and be responsible.
• Magician: To align with the cosmos.
• Sage: To attain enlightment.
• Jester: To trust & enjoy becoming.
RETURN /
CELEBRATION
Adapted from Pearson, C.S. (1991)
Awakening the Heroes Within
The Archetype of Organization ‘s life forces become activated accordingly,
and transcendental organizational learning proceeds.
• Explorer: To remain true to the Self.
• Destroyer: To let go of that which does not work.
• Lover: To commit to that which is loved.
• Creator: To self-create & self-accept.
INITIATION / PASSAGE
/ TRANSFORMATION
ORGANIZATIONAL
WHOLENESS
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26. II - Building a shared vision of the organization’s epic path
I - Developing personal mastery to become an everyday hero
V - Systems thinking to understand & leverage the organization’s epic
IV - Team learning to tread an epic path together
III - Managing mental models within a perspective of journeying toward greatness
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27. Foundational elements:
• Developing a community of transcendence, and fostering mindfulness
• Emotional alignment with the organization’s epic path.
Principles:
• The hero’s journey monomyth
• Direct,–unitarian- perception
• Synchronicity / Presencing
• Paths as labyrinths – not mazes.
Practices and methods:
• Contemplative practices done collectively.
• Behaving as fellow travelers and as a team of aides for the journey.
• Managing the organizational climate to harness emotional energy
and attune it to the stage in the journey.
• Organizational epic storytelling to help bring the minds and hearts
together, in one accord.
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28. DEVELOPING
PERSONAL MASTERY
BUILDING
A SHARED VISION
MANAGING
MENTAL MODELS
TEAM
LEARNING
SYSTEMS
THINKING
Develops
capabilities for joining
others in a collective
heroic journey
Provides a
common context
for the individuals’
epic journeys.
Dialog skills for
grasping meaning from
the organization’s epic path.
Builds momentum to
understanding collectively
the organization’s path.
Holographically see
the epic path of
the organization
Builds a transcendental
map for materializing
the shared vision.
Interconnects system
archetypes along the
organization’s path.
Builds understanding to leverage
the structures driving epic patterns.
Epic framing for the
organization’s
path.
Utilizes
the Hero’s Journey
as a source of meaning
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29. II
BUILDING
A SHARED VISION
OF THE
ORGANIZATION’S
EPIC PATH
I
DEVELOPING
PERSONAL MASTERY
TO BECOME
AN EVERYDAY HERO
V
SYSTEMS THINKING
TO UNDERSTAND & LEVERAGE
THE ORGANIZATION’S EPIC
IV
TEAM LEARNING
TO FOLLOW
AN EPIC PATH
III
MANAGING
MENTAL MODELS
WITHIN A PERSPECTIVE
OF ACHIEVING GREATNESS
VI
COMMITTING TO
A SHARED EPIC INTENT
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30. II
BUILDING
A SHARED VISION
OF THE
ORGANIZATION’S
EPIC PATH
I
DEVELOPING
PERSONAL MASTERY
TO BECOME
AN EVERYDAY HERO
V
SYSTEMS THINKING
TO UNDERSTAND & LEVERAGE
THE ORGANIZATION’S EPIC
IV
TEAM LEARNING
TO FOLLOW
AN EPIC PATH
III
MANAGING
MENTAL MODELS
WITHIN A PERSPECTIVE
OF ACHIEVING GREATNESS
VI
COMMITTING TO
A SHARED
EPIC INTENT
DRIVEN TO BE OF SERVICE
FOR THE HIGHEST GOOD OF ALL CONCERNED
WITHIN & WITHOUT THE ORGANIZATION
EVERY MEMBER OF
THE ORGANIZATION
EMBODIES
A MYTH ABOUT SELF
BOTH PERSONALLY
AND
AT THE WORK PLACE
HOLOGRAPHICALLY
CLARIFY & SHARE
THE ORGANIZATION’S EPIC PATH
VISUALIZING INTERCONNECTIONS
IN THE CONTEXT
OF THE EPIC PATH BEEN FOLLOWED
UNITARIAN
PERCEPTION OF REALITY, &
EMERGING FUTURE PRESENCING
COLLECTIVELY TAP
IINTUITION TO ENRICH THE
DIALOG / DISCUSSION BALANCE
WIDE-SPREAD SENSE OF SHARING A
PURPOSEFUL PATH THAT
ENERGIZES & DIRECTS THE
ORGANIZATION
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31. Activate key organizational development thrusts to enroll
the whole organization in an integrated epic learning processs.
Expand organizational learning disciplines
& epic generative leadership competencies.
Change, obstacles, opportunities and the relationship with society
and the environment are handled within the context of traveling together
on a path toward greatness.
Enrich the organization’s archetypical story
by adding new symbols and new perspectives.
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32. II
BUILDING
A SHARED VISION
OF THE
ORGANIZATION’S
EPIC PATH
I
DEVELOPING
PERSONAL MASTERY
TO BECOME
AN EVERYDAY HERO
V
SYSTEMS THINKING
TO UNDERSTAND & LEVERAGE
THE ORGANIZATION’S EPIC
IV
TEAM LEARNING
TO FOLLOW
AN EPIC PATH
III
MANAGING
MENTAL MODELS
WITHIN A PERSPECTIVE
OF ACHIEVING GREATNESS
VI
COMMITTING TO
A SHARED
EPIC INTENT
1.START THE PROCESS :
WE ARE GOING
ON AN EPIC JOURNEY
INSPIRE & STEWARD
ORGANIZATIONAL
TRANSCENDENCE
DEVELOP A MINDSET
OF INTERLOCKING RESPONSIBILITY
RELATIVE TO ADVANCE ON THE SHARED EPIC PATH
FOSTER
ORGANIZATIONAL
MINDFULNESS
ORCHESTRATE A SHARED
UNDERSTANDING
OF THE ORGANIZATION’S PATH
PROMOTE CHANGE READINESS
AND PRO-EPIC ATTITUDES
SECURE ORGANIZATION-WIDE
STRATEGIC READINESS
TO MOVE ALONG THE EPIC PATH
PROMOTE HIGHER LEVEL
LEARNING IN CONNECTION WITH
PURPOSE AND VALUES
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33. II
BUILDING
A SHARED VISION
OF THE
ORGANIZATION’S
EPIC PATH
I
DEVELOPING
PERSONAL MASTERY
TO BECOME
AN EVERYDAY HERO
V
SYSTEMS THINKING
TO UNDERSTAND & LEVERAGE
THE ORGANIZATION’S EPIC
IV
TEAM LEARNING
TO FOLLOW
AN EPIC PATH
III
MANAGING
MENTAL MODELS
WITHIN A PERSPECTIVE
OF ACHIEVING GREATNESS
VI
COMMITTING TO
A SHARED
EPIC INTENT
GROUP CONTEMPLATIVENESS
AND HIGHER LEVELS OF LEARNING
COLLECTIVE CAPACITY FOR
PURSUING THE AMBITIONED
FUTURE AND FOR DEVELOPING
AN EPIC CONSCIOUSNESS
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING SKILLS
FOR BECOMING AN EVERYDAY
HERO AT THE WORK PLACE.
ABILITY TO REFRAME
STRATEGIY & ALIGNMENT
INTO THE ORGANIZATION’S EPIC PATH
DEVELOP ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES THAT
SUPPORT LEARNING &
TRANSCENDENCE
SKILLS TO THINK, ANALYZE & DECIDE
CRITICALLY AND SYSTEMICALLY,
AND IN CONNECTION
TO THE HERO’S JOURNEY ARCHETYPE.
DISPOSITION & ABILITY
TO OWN THE EVENTS
AND TO REFRAME THEM
INTO A HERO’S JOURNEY PATTERN
2. DEVELOP THE SKILLS
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34. II
BUILDING
A SHARED VISION
OF THE
ORGANIZATION’S
EPIC PATH
I
DEVELOPING
PERSONAL MASTERY
TO BECOME
AN EVERYDAY HERO
V
SYSTEMS THINKING
TO UNDERSTAND & LEVERAGE
THE ORGANIZATION’S EPIC
IV
TEAM LEARNING
TO FOLLOW
AN EPIC PATH
III
MANAGING
MENTAL MODELS
WITHIN A PERSPECTIVE
OF ACHIEVING GREATNESS
VI
COMMITTING TO
A SHARED
EPIC INTENT3.TRAVEL THE EPIC PATH
CONTINUOUS ADVANCEMENT
IN CONTEMPLATIVENESS
& WISDOM.
DEEPLY SET
EPIC ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
PARADIGM
OVERALL ALIGNMENT
WITH THE CHOSEN EPIC PATH
SKILLS FOR TURNING OBSTACLES
INTO OPPORTUNITIES
TO MOVE FORWARD COLLECTIVELY
ALONG THE ORGANIZATION’S PATH
DEEP – ROOTED
SENSE OF BELONGING
TO THE ORGANIZATION- WIDE EPIC
EFFORT
UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS
THAT DRIVE PROGRESS
ALONG THE EPIC PATH
AND ABILITY TO UTILIZE SYSTEMS
LEVERAGE TO FURTHER IT
PROFOUND SENSE OF
SHARING
THE ORGANIZATION-WIDE
EPIC EFFORT
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35.  Acknowledge challenges, successes and failures.
 Emphasize the journey.
 Reconnect with the organization’s core purpose.
 Utilize new archetypical characters as needed to represent events.
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36.  Collective and personal enquiring are promoted to continuously clarify
the ultimate WHY for the organization thus building a deep sense of shared purpose,
and strengthening the connection to the Archetype of Organization.
 Tacit knowledge, symbols and archetypes are surfaced within the context
of the organization’s future path.
 Systems thinking is engaged to better understand the organization’s psyche
and the future epic path.
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37.  Clarifying the core beliefs and sharing an inspiring visionary narrative.
 Describing current reality (SWOT analysis) relative to the vision
and the challenges (SO-WHAT analysis) involved
under several future scenarios.
 Developing the strategy: a set of mutually supporting strategic thrusts
plus key enablers and initiatives to overcome such challenges.
 Aligning the organization (the meeting of the minds)
for implementing the strategy.
 Developing and using a measurement system
to channel feedback to the process.
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38.  Most traditional planning steps occur in the preparation stages
of the hero’s journey.
 The focus is on the WHY that is, the organization’s sense of purpose.
 Strategy aims at overcoming the journey’s challenges.
 The time frame is seen in terms of the hero’s journey stages.
 The vision expands to become a story about the epic journey ahead
stewarding a fellowship of travelers within the organization.
 Organizational alignment builds on individual and collective
transformation, and on connecting to the heroic archetypes.
 Strategy implementation is about moving intelligently along the path.
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39. 39
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40.  Engaging the organization’s main stakeholders.
 Undertaking marketing & branding efforts that connect deeply with clients.
 Developing work teams and strengthening the organization’s morale.
 Visualizing the future of the organization within a coherent time dimension.
 Aligning with end results in internal transformational processes
such as reengineering, redesigning, reorganizing and so forth.
 Capturing and spreading tacit knowledge within and without the organization.
 Exerting leadership based on the meeting of the minds and hearts of all involved.
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41. • Framing the organization’s past efforts in overcoming challenges
as a heroic journey brings a heightened understanding of the past,
as exemplified in the hero’s journey-style story of BP’s Refinery at Lima, Ohio
by Ledet, W. (2202), Making the Move Toward a Learning Organization:
A Classic Journey of Change.
• Wahlstrom, T.L. (1999) illustrates the applicability of the hero’s journey
to organizations –with the Coca-Cola company case study -
in Psychological Applications to Management: The Hero’s Journey .
(Dr. of Management dissertation submitted at the Colorado Tech. U.)
PAST
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42. • The conscious practice of the six disciplines of the Epic Learning
Organizations can be directed to articulating a script for a narrative
about the future journey(s) to be undertaken.
• Such a forward looking orientation will give an expanded context
to the organization’s change management, strategic planning, leadership,
and other organizational endeavors.
• The organization’s core ideas, especially the vision, will become
ever more engaging as they inform the epic story
of the aspired future of the organization.
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43.  The starting point is the organization’s “World as Usual”
described in terms of the S.W.O.T. analysis and challenge clarification.
 The organization’s purpose and the aspired visionary objectives
translate into the “Call to Adventure”.
 Preparing for the journey includes engaging helpers
and becoming aware of opponents.
 Overcoming the challenges, attaining the organization’s objectives
and owning the success occur in the Initiation / Passage / Transformation stages.
 The return / celebration stages highlight the fulfillment
of the organization’s purpose in a inspiring description
of the “Expanded World as Usual”: living the organization’s legend.
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44.  Scenario construction during the strategic planning process
lays the ground for the story: uncertainty and possible futures.
 The results from S.W.O.T. analysis and the corresponding
challenges specify the organizational setting in its current
and foreseeable reality.
 The readiness required from the organization to succeed
in each scenario constitutes a focal element in the story setting.
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45. Such an epic script will help guide the development & maintenance of the organizational energy
appropriate for each stage: emotions in the story bring it to life and generates widespread engagement.
The organization’s story should honor the conscious and unconscious of the organization
striving for meaning, the core drive of the Archetype of Organization.
• Awe
• Appreciation
• Love
• Surprise
INITIATION / PASSAGE
/ TRANSFORMATION
• Trust
• Serenity
• Resolve
• Compassion
DEPARTURE /
PREPARATION
• Enthusiasm
• Celebration
• Gratitude
• Joy
RETURN /
CELEBRATION
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46. Hero Main protagonist - The organization itself.
Allies & Villains Helpers & opponents.
Mentors Sources of sense of purpose, values, and other drivers to learn along the journey.
Threshold Guardians Ensurers of organizational readiness to move forward at every stage of the journey.
Heralds Organization intelligence, sources of information & feedback.
Shapeshifters Sources of dazzle, confusion, mistakes and delays
Shadow Dark, repressed side of the organization, weaknesses & limitations.
Tricksters Sources of lightness & enjoyment, and drivers for subduing egotistic behaviors.
(-- Others as Needed --) -----------------
Vogler, C. (2007)
The Writer’s Journey – Mythic Structure for Writers.
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47. Enhancing organizational wholeness is a key role for these leaders:
 Encouraging the search for meaning in every aspect of the organization’s reality.
 Inspiriting all four organizational subsystems
-production, human community, materials and learning-
and connecting them to the corresponding life forces in the archetype of organization
-results, people, stability, learning-.
 Managing the creative tension between sub-system opposites
and dwelling in the significance of their role in the organization’s archetypical story.
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48.  They instill a conscious connection to the Hero’s Journey archetype to set the
organization in movement along an epic path through the practice of the six disciplines
of the epic learning organizations.
 They model learning to become a hero in their own lives, relate authentically
to the organization’s epic and propitiate bringing out the heroes within their followers.
 They commit to the heroic journey of their organizations,
and engage the minds and the hearts of their followers around it
by empowering them join the organization’s heroic participation mystique.
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49.  Continuously deepen the connection between the
organization’s legend and its values and purpose.
 Develop and steward the organization’s legend,
to support s purposeful organizational culture;
and through the hero’s journey archetypical pattern,
make sense of the organization’s past, present and future.
 Transmit the legend through storytelling
and through distributed leadership in all levels of the
organization, impel the self-replication of the legend.
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50.  Manifest a high level of heroic personal mastery,
with contemplative self-enquire at its core.
 Take on the role of “chief learning officer” to bring about
structures appropriate for epic organizational learning.
 Impel collaborative learning throughout the organization with
a deep sense of belonging to a traveler fellowship.
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51.  Promote personal mastery in the members of the organization
including the embodiment of the personal hero’s journey.
 Adopt a transformational & servant leadership style
with an emphasis on building community.
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52.  Will reinforce their personal epic through evoking the drive
to be a part of something greater than self
that exists in every person.
 Will feel the thrill to in fulfilling the organization’s purpose
driven by and actively engaged
in the organization’s participation mystique.
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53.  Epic organizational learning is to organizations
what being the hero in their own lives is to individuals that strive to live a life that matters.
 Through focusing on fulfilling a long-term, transcendental purpose,
epic learning organizations can provide a workplace that is also long term oriented.
This contrasts with short term, opportunistic views on employment tenure
that at their best resemble a tour of duty.
 Leaders can summon the self awareness, ingenuity, appreciation and heroism necessary
to overcome the complex challenges of today’s world,
such as attaining whole system sustainability,
by making the latter the destination of the organization’s epic journey.
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54. ELO
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