To do Conventional things based upon Conventional human identity, knowledge and actions is becoming dangerous – Why? Because they no longer work successfully as they did in the past.

In fact, the Conventional is failing everywhere in personal and public life. Evidence is the growing numbers of human, business and governmental failures worldwide in organization, leadership/management and finance. In addition, there is a widening crisis of leadership almost everywhere. The most creative and productive people are no longer aligning with the Conventional as they previously did. They have growing dissatisfaction with what generally exists around them.

The term Conventional of course covers a wide range knowledge and action. My focus now is to discus the Conventional in the limited sense of business.

In this arena, Conventional means the whole pattern of linear, functionally divided, Machine System organizations that are led and managed by the Command-and-Control Model - With its vertical downward flow of authority and orders and its vertical upward flow of obedience and subservient compliant actions. The present and the future of Conventional in business is pessimistic.

The newly emerging "Unconventional" Living System pattern of business is the antithesis of how I defined Conventional. It is already proving to be optimistic for the future of business.

You should not really care how many prestigious business schools still teach the Conventional. You should not really care how many corporate giants still practice the Conventional - While bombarding us with public relations programs purporting to show us that that they are not really what we experience them to be - inhumane machines.

The Linear System model of business is obsolete. It is incongruent with what we can now see as the new reality. We are finding thtat it is not aligned with best practice for either the present or the future of your life and business. What we want and need is to make a trascending leap to what is coming – Not continuing to align with what is failing and trying to fix-it-up.

The new "Unconventional" of Living System Life and Work can be outlined as follows:

It enables you to understand and to make the transformations you need to align with the new reality emerging. It enables and facilitates you to become a Right Person using the Right Means for the critical challenges you face in your life and business – Especially during the next decade. It begins your personal path to understanding the chaos of our times and turning it to your advantage – No matter what the size of your business or the stage of your new venture. It involves dramatically new mindset, concepts, methods and tools necessary to understand and to implement the new Nodal Network Business Practice. It shows that the greatest promise for your life as a leader/entrepreneur lies in transforming to the Living System pattern – And for your business the greatest promise lies in being organized and operated internally as a Living System nodal network of unique business segments led by small teams – That are voluntarily linked together internally and externally with other Living System leaders, teams and companies into still larger networks. That is the optimistic future of living system newtworks of successful business.

The Isis Institute is the authentic source of expertise for you to learn the theory and develop the practice of Living System Nodal Network Business because we discovered them and are leaders in developing them together with other emerging leader/entrepreneurs.

John Clayton Caris