Book Review: Learning at Work

A few months ago I ran across the IDEO Fellows website and saw a lot of really interesting authors listed and realized I’d heard of everyone on the page except for one: Daniel Wilson.  Included with Wilson are such notables as Chip Heath, Bob Sutton and Barry Katz so I found it intriguing that I hadn’t heard of Wilson before.

The IDEO website lists Wilson as Research Director at Harvard Project Zero and co-author of a book titled ‘Learning at Work‘.  Dr. Wilson’s background intrigued me so I took a deeper look at the book.   As far as I can tell, this book is only available from Harvard’s Project Zero bookstore…a quick review on Amazon shows a few books with the same title but they don’t appear to be the same book.

I ordered the book and waited patiently for its arrvial…then waited patiently to find time to read it.  I finally found that time and I’m glad I did.

The main purpose of the book is to describe the fundamental need to turn knowledge into something that is actionable and useful to an organization. The official description of this book is:

For four years researchers at Project Zero worked closely with the leaders and over fifty office managers of a university as they sought to cultivate a culture of learning and understanding throughout their organization. This book shares the story of this project along with the key lessons and practical strategies that helped to enhance understanding, deepen inquiry, strengthen leadership, and improve communication. Organizational leaders, group facilitators or those interested in applying Project Zero concepts in the workplace will find this book of interest.

The book is a wonderful treatise on learning within organizations and provides a great deal of information on how an organization can build a culture of learning.

Great book and one that I’d highly recommend.