ABSTRACT
During my years as a process consultant I worked with all sorts of dif ferent organisations, from family firms to multinationals, from traditional bureaucracies to creative partnerships, from charities, not-for-profit organ isations, and public bodies to organisations driven by the need to create money for their shareholders. Management theory, at the time, seemed very prescriptive and of little use to me in my daytoday practice. My experience was one of almost daily change-working with different people, at differ ent levels, with different espoused goals, and even wider difference in real goals. I was with people all the time yet I was isolated. As someone from the outside looking in and throwing light on what was going on, I expected to be on my own and that was part of my job. However, I also talked to the managers about their jobs and their day-to-day life, and I discovered that increasingly, and as management structures changed, many of them felt as isolated as I did.
