This is a very readable and thought-provoking book.
The Beauty of the Beast guides the reader through his/her own balanced exploration of organizations and his/her relationship to them - an honest, eye-opening, often times humbling exploration. A potential outcome of this exploration is a much larger frame of reference in regards to organizations and one's life within them. Geoff teaches us of the need to hold "creative tension" between opposite truths, between competing needs and agendas; something that many disciplines are telling us is essential to our long-term success in today's complex world. But it is clear that Geoff is teaching from experience and from his own capacity for this work. He demonstrates his Eldership and his personal and professional maturity by modeling his ability to hold a balanced perspective towards each situation, to see the truth in all sides . . . even those sides that differ from his own.
And while this exploration takes the reader into the dark "authority-worshiping, talent-diminishing, heart-stomping" beastly aspects of organizations, it also unfolds a message of great hope - hope for the prospect of a meaningful, creative, value-adding individual life right now and for sowing the seeds for organizations generations hence. And to help us in this process he lays out a practical guide of inquiry and reflection for engaging a future that is still only a possibility - but is inspiring and powerful enough to evoke our best efforts now.
I think this is an important book. If even just a small percentage of people in an organization could develop a working relationship to the perspective Geoff offers, efforts towards organizational renewal would have a much higher success rate.