This edition of the Journal includes book reviews exploring topics such as leadership and organisations, managing change, creativity and innovation, coaching and social enterprise. A common theme in most of the reviews relates to the importance of both episteme and techne i.e. ‘knowing- why’ and ‘knowing –how’. The first review by John Edmonstone is Dawson and Andriopoulos's Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation. A book that sets out to interweave the processes of organisational change, creativity and innovation. However, in doing so Edmonstone asserts that it is a book that will enrich the individual's ‘know-why’ understanding more so than the ‘know- how’ understanding purported by action learning. Annie Yeadon–Lee explores further innovation and change in the context of leadership in her review of O'Reilly and Tushman's Lead and Distrupt: How to Solve the Innovators Dilemma. Embracing the construct of ambidexterity to survive and prosper is explored. The authors present a set of principles that guide the organisation's senior leadership as they learn the art of becoming ambidexterous. Mike Pedler continues with the topic of leadership in Bolden et al's Leadership Paradoxes: Rethinking Leadership for an Uncertain World. The book sets out to appeal to leaders as well as students of leadership, and invites its readers to consider how best to act in perplexing situations. Pedler highlights that ‘the paradoxes of leadership can serve as a compass that may lead to new and surprising possibilities’.
Deborah Humphreys reviews Chris Grey's A Very Short Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Studying Organizations. The book according to Humphreys will aid individuals in their reflections of how organisations themselves contribute to systems of entitlement and disadvantage. Wyn Owen reviews Jones et al's How to Coach your Team: Release Team Potential and hit Peak Performance. He recommends the book to a potential, new or inexperienced manager; packed as it is with loads of useful tools and activities which can be used with their team over time. However, Owen questions how they would decide which to use first and when they are best applied. The final review is by Christine Abbott of Duff and Bull's Understanding Social Enterprise. Abbott describes the book's potential for action learning practitioners as opening up opportunities to be explored in working with social enterprises and their readiness for action learning as an intervention. Overall most of the reviews in this edition relate to increasing our understanding and knowledge ‘episteme’ however in doing so the importance of ‘techne’ as in action learning will enrich our knowledge and understanding further.