ad to exit – because the way we were going, we couldn’t stay in the game much longer.” (Pascale, 1998, p.113) Today, companies, no matter how large or small, must be able to respond to the external environment. For RDS this meant shaking the company to its core. It needed to have the full commitment of every employee to transform itself into an organization that could respond to the environment in a very quick and effective way. Ultimately, everything needs to be subject to re-examination. The same old way will just not work. From the top of the organization to the bottom, each person has a responsibility to continually assess the effectiveness of each action, thought, or deed. There no longer is only one right way to do anything. Royal Dutch Shell transformed itself into an organization of systems thinkers, where each system thinker understands and believes that the current reality is only one of many realities that could be possible. (Brenneman, Keys, and Fulmer, 1998, p. 66) In the 1970’s, RDS began to utilize scenario planning, where several “scenarios” are mapped out and the company rehearses what it would do should any of the possible scenarios become reality. (Scwartz, 1991, p. 193) This exercise allowed Royal Dutch to anticipate and remain profitable during the time that oil dropped from $30 a barrel to $15 a barrel. U.S. Shell failed to do so and suffered badly. SOC was unwilling to re-examine itself during the good times of $30 a barrel and refused to acknowledge a drop in prices could occur. When it did happen, SOC was not prepared. Strategic planning and continually re-examining the internal and external cultures of the company and the world is a must for any company wanting to survive today (Scwartz, 1991, p. 44).What started out with futures planning at RDS has now become something much more. A major force behind the creation of a school of thought coined the learning org...
