ESSAYS
There are essays that Dee Hock published himself online, and others that Dee either wrote for other people or are written versions of talks that he gave. The full archive can be found below. You can find a shortened version of the main issues he tried to address through his writings at the very bottom of this page.
Published by Others (links are clickable):
The Lesson of the One Horned Cow: This was a talk that Dee gave on July 17th 1994 to the Graduate School of Bankcard Management Norman, Oklahoma. You can download a version of that talk that was (for some reason) published in a publication called” Biodynamics”, a farming and gardening publication in the November/December 1997 issue (link).
Fast Company Supplement: Fast Company covered Dee Hock in a multiple page story that you can find here (link). Alongside that publication Dee himself wrote two supplemental pieces on concerning organisation (link) and one about management (link).
The Art of Chaordic Leadership: This was published in Leader to Leader, No. 15 Winter 2000 (link). It refers to the Lesson of the One Horned Cow.
Published by Dee during his life (titles are clickable):
THE GLOBAL EPIDEMIC OF INSTITUTIONAL FAILURE
MANAGING, LEADING AND FOLLOWING
DESIRE FOR CERTAINTY AND CONTROL
THE NATURE AND REALITY OF ORGANIZATIONS
CORPORATIONS; THE SOCIALIZATION OF COST, AND CAPITALIZATION OF PROFIT
COMMUNITY AND THE EXCHANGE OF VALUE
THE CAPACITY TO RECEIVE, UTILIZE, STORE, TRANSFORM, AND TRANSMIT INFORMATION
INVERSION OF VALUE OF PHYSICAL TO VALUE OF MENTAL CONTENT OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
ACCOUNTING IN A CHAORDIC WORLD
Dee’s Discussion of his Essays:
His essays used to appear with a preface, which I have edited and published below.
“Although each was written to stand alone, all are deeply interrelated and can best be understood in concert with the others. All arose from a lifelong search for the answer to three questions.
Why are organizations everywhere, whether political, commercial or social, increasingly unable to manage their affairs?
Why are people, everywhere, increasingly alienated from, and in conflict with, the organizations of which they are part?
Why are society and the biosphere increasingly in disarray?
Searching for the answers required trying to master four ways of looking at things: As they were, as they are, as they might become, and as they ought to be. Each essay will be from one or more of those perspectives. On the whole, they are primarily concerned with the future, with how things ought to be.”