The book is a record of the "secret war" in WW II, and how Churchill, with
the astute assistance of a Canadian named Bill Stephenson, build an
international intelligence organization that played a critical role in the
Ally victory.
When I read the book, I didn't know what it was that fascinated me. I know
that it caused me to place Churchill among my list of heroes, but I wasn't
entirely sure why. I just read the book again, and it occurred to me: The
reason I liked it so much was that it showed how an organization was
conceived, and expanded to achieve a very specific purpose, and how
Churchill and Stephenson designed intelligence (to borrow a phrase from
Mike McMaster) into the organization, enabling it to emerge as a "learning
organization."
While it is an historical account, I'd recommend it to everyone on the
list who has an interest in finding historical accounts of a "learning
organization" even though such a description didn't exist at the time the
organization did.
--Benjamin B. Compton ("Ben") | email: bcompton@novell.com Novell, GroupWare Support Quality Manager | fax: (801) 222-6991
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>