Memeology First Look

You may be interested to hear that I just published the first release of my new book entitled “Memeology”, today, on LeanPub.

Foreword by John Seddon

I am indebted to John Seddon both for his support and for his kind contribution to the book in the form of its foreword.

Overview

Following on from my foundational Organisational Psychotherapy book “Hearts over Diamonds”, available as an ebook at both LeanPub and Apple Books, and in dead tree format via Lulu.com, I’m writing “Memeology” as a self-help book for organisations who may be chary of engaging with an organisational psychotherapist directly.

Organisational Psychotherapy promises a major uplift in organisational performance, and my idea with Memeology is that supporting a self-help approach makes Organisational Psychotherapy accessible to a wider range of organisations, and promises similar tangible and bottom-line benefits to the therapist-assisted approach.

Organisational “Culture” and Organisational Psychotherapy

Many people seem confused about the idea of “Organisational Culture”. Even to the extend of asserting that an organisation’s “culture” is not amenable to intervention and explicit, intentional change.

Organisational Psychotherapy’s perspective is that “culture” is a read-only shadow, or reflection, of an organisation’s collective assumptions and beliefs. Thusly, even though an organisation’s culture is not directly amenable to change, its collective assumptions and beliefs are amenable to change, and Organisational Psychotherapy offers the means to do so.

Origins and Content

I’ve been a practicing organisational psychotherapist for more than a decade now. Organisational Psychotherapy arose from my discontent with more established ways of intervening in organisations, for example consulting, and coaching. During my years as consultant and coach, I never felt the client was getting much value for money, nor were they likely to sustain the changes I introduced, beyond the close of my association with the organisation.

Memeology is my attempt to package my decade-plus experience as an organisational psychotherapist in a form that organisations can use on their own. Only time will tell whether a self-help approach will find favour and gain traction.

Incidentally, I guess Memeology might also serve aspiring organisational psychotherapists as a reference work.

Administrivia

Early Release

I’ve chosen to publish the first release at a heart-stopping 18% (rough guesstimate) complete, both to solicit feedback, allow readers to steer the evolution of the books, and encourage myself to continue working on it.

Free Sample

As with many LeanPub books, there’s a free sample containing much of the early chapters of Memeology. You might like to take a look before committing to buy. To access the free sample just go to the Memeology LeanPub page and click on the “Read Free Sample” button to the lower right of the book cover image.

Free Updates

In line with the ethos of LeanPub, I’m publishing with the book significantly incomplete. But it’s worth remembering that Leanpub offers free updates for the lifetime of the book. So every time I update the book you can download the updated version.

Please Tell Your Friends

I’m grateful to everyone who might be willing to put the word about about this book. And the icing on the cake would be a review on your blog or social media feed. Thanks in advance for that. 🙂

Pricing

I’ve priced the book at GBP £39.99, which at current exchange rates works out at USD $56.59. I’ve chosen this price to reflect the value the book delivers to its intended audience (executives, senior managers, middle managers and employees all). Organisational Psychotherapy promises a major uplift in organisational performance, and a self-help version – this book – promises similar tangible and bottom-line benefits. It’s less a book to read from cover to cover, and more a reference work, guide, or set of coursework/exercises, akin to e.g. the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook.

Some dear readers will not begrudge the price even for the first release, and even though there is, as yet, precious little “meat” on the bones (the Memes of Part III). For those more undecided, I’ll just remind you of the Leanpub 45-day 100% happiness guarantee.

I believe the book, even as-is (i.e. the first release), provides good value for money, with its seventy-plus memes (note: the free sample, available via a button on the Leanpub Memeology page, only lists some nine of the full set of memes).

Future Releases

I intend to continue working on the incomplete sections of the book, and making interim release as Memeology continues to evolve and grow. You can help me immensely both by providing feedback, and by requesting new content you’d like to see included in the book. You can also help, of course, by supporting my work through purchasing a copy of the book. 🙂

The most valuable kind of feedback will be from folks that get to use the book in the manner intended, either as part of their practice or with their peers in the workplace.

Formats

The LeanPub version of Memeology offers pdf and epub formats at present, and these formats will continue in future releases. When the book is significantly closer to completion, I’ll take a look at providing e.g. Apple Books (ebook) and Lulu (dead tree) versions. Maybe even a MOBI format, too (useful to you?). I’d be happy to publish sooner in these additional formats if there’s sufficient demand. Let me know!

I hope you find some inspiration and utility in the book, and in Organisational Psychotherapy more generally.

– Bob