The Art of Possibility - Summary
Transforming Professional and Personal Life
Rosamund Stone Zander, Benjamin Zander
The Practices
1. It’s all invented (invent the world in which you want to live)
2. Step Into a Universe of Possibility (gain knowledge by invention)
3. Giving an A (vision of partnership, teamwork, and relationship)
4. Being a contribution (you are a gift to others so make a difference)
5. Leading from any chair (grab the opportunity to lead wherever you find it)
6. (Do not take yourself so seriously)
7. The Way Things Are (come to terms with what is in front of you, and move on)
8. Giving Way to Passion (stream your passion into new possibilities)
9. Lighting a Spark (generate sparks of possibility for others to share)
10. Being the Board (transform unwanted conditions by attending to the possibilities
you want)
11. Creating frameworks for possibility (call upon your passion to live in the land of
your dreams)
12. Telling the WE story ("What do WE want to have happen here?" "What's best for
US?" "What's OUR next step?")
Launching the Journey
-
Practices
o The practices are transformational
 Initiate a new approach to current conditions based on uncommon
assumptions about the world
o Not about incremental changes and not about self-improvement
o Geared instead toward causing total shift in posture, perceptions, beliefs,
and thought processes – transforming your entire world
-
Notes on Practicing
o The practices often seem counterintuitive and cannot be mastered in three
minutes
o “Out of the boat” signifies more than being off track – it means you do not
even know where the track is anymore.
 Cannot think your way back in, you have no point of reference
 You must call on something that has been established in advance, a
catch-phrase like “nose to toes.”
o Each of the practices has its own catch phrase
 The practices, once you are in the habit of using them, will reliably
land you back in the boat, reoriented in a universe of possibility
Review:
The Practices
1. It’s all invented – most fundamental practice of book, enlarge the box, create
another frame around the data, you make assumptions that give you what you see,
invent another view that would give other choices
2. Stepping Into a Universe of Possibility: orient to abundance, do not worry about
being controlled, take some risks
3. Giving an A: speak to people respect that gives them room to realize themselves
not from a place of measurement (how they stack up against your standards), your
eye is on the statue inside the stone
4. Being a contribution: “How will I be a contribution today?”, throw yourself into
life as someone who makes a difference, accepting that you may not initially
know how or why
5. Leading from any chair: conductor's has the power to make other people
powerful, how much greatness are we willing to grant?, hand them the baton,
speak to their passion
6. (Do not take yourself so seriously): peel away layers opinion, entitlement, pride,
and inflated self-description and others instantly feel the connection.
7. The Way Things Are: being present without resistance creates possibility come to
terms with what is in front of you, and move on, see how you are holding back
and just let go
8. Giving Way to Passion: participate wholly
9. Lighting a Spark (enrollment): art and practice of generating a spark of possibility
for others to share.
10. Being the Board: move the problematic aspect of any circumstance from the
outside world inside the boundaries of yourself (how are you creating this
problem?).
11. Creating frameworks for possibility: invent and sustain visions that bring forth
possibility, the buoyant force of possibility overcomes the pull of the downward
spiral.
12. Telling the WE story: we are our central selves seeking to contribute, naturally
engaged, forever in a dance with each other; consider relationships rather than
individuals, communications patterns, gestures, and movement rather than to
discrete objects and identities, it attests to the *in-between*.