This book brilliantly highlights what organisations are really about. The title intimates how much there is below the surface in any business and how the dots need to be connected to unlock the full potential of an organisation. The book is a practical, thoughtful addition to the library of open-minded business leaders confronted by the complexity of the fast-moving business landscape of our times.
-- Hendrik du Toit, founder and CEO of Ninety One
I could relate to many stories I read in the book and identify with the founders/CEOs on the issues they have been confronted with. The authors have authentic discussions with the management teams and hold up mirrors to their clients. This will be good reference material for me and other CEOs as we navigate through the journeys in our professional lives.
-- Sanjay Chamria, Managing Director, Magma Fincorp
It is so refreshing to read something that is deep, authentic and self-critical in the pursuit of learning. The stories have made me reflect on my own leadership style as well as how quickly, easily, and without realising we unintentionally collude and become part of a system. The questions the authors ask each other are not only relevant to the particular story but have made me think about parallel situations in a new light.
-- Vivian Leinster, Chief People Officer
In eight beautifully crafted stories, the authors share how problems of culture, authority, succession, transition, and leadership team alignment are based on underlying and often unconscious emotions of fear, anxiety, envy, uncertainty, abandonment. The resulting defences (denial, blame, splitting, pairing, collusion etc.) blur the view of the real problem, which needs to be solved by the client. Not-Knowing is at the core of psychodynamically informed organisational consulting. The authors demonstrate well how this difficult to achieve but necessary attitude provides them with better interventions and thus solutions for their clients. This book is a highly valuable, reflective, inviting, and entertaining resource for leaders searching for consultancy and for experienced and more recently trained consultants and coaches.
-- Professor Dr Claudia Nagel, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Managing Partner Nagel & Company, Germany, consulting and coaching for the top executive level
For those leaders who believe that people are the ultimate source of sustainable competitive differentiation, this book is a must-read. The humility and vulnerability displayed by the authors in their storytelling is unusual. It invites the readers to slow down, reflect on their own biases, to look at what lies beneath the surface of their organisation, and to avoid jumping too quickly to solutions. These checks and balances are the conditions for both identifying and dealing with the root causes of problems. In our changing context, this book is a timely reminder that strong relationships are the cornerstone of good business.
-- Xavier Isaac, CEO, Accuro Fiduciary Group
The book What Lies Beneath. How Organisations Really Work is an excellent storytelling reference in organizational development (DO): it's fascinating for both experts and beginners because it offers the opportunity to know eight different cases of organizational life that could happen in every organization around the world.
Written in a refined and straightforward language, the reader learns a lot about OD's Art of consulting in OD.
Another relevant strength is the link with the theoretical principles that is very natural and permits giving value to the reader who gets the impression to be the consultant and be in action.
Finally, it is an excellent reference for OD consultants to have new ideas to manage and help their clients find a suitable solution and for OD students to start to familiarize themselves with OD challenges and to a pragmatic, human and efficient methodology.
-- Dr Chiara Raffelini, Organizational Psychology Lecturer at the University of Quebec
This book is a fun read and intends to inspire those who work in and with organisations to take up some of these ideas and especially to try the peer supervision model to help gain insight. It is short and punchy, and left me curious to read more on the subject.
-- Mel Kinross, counsellor and supervisor, 'Therapy Today' March 2022
