Summary of Edwin H. Friedman's A Failure of Nerve

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 In 1493, Europe was depressed. In the next fifty years, it went through a technological and social revolution that would transform it forever.

#2 While more learning may not automatically change the way people think, it must be understood that learning must occur first, before any meaningful change can take place.

#3 More learning will not automatically change the way people think. It must occur first before any meaningful change can take place.

#4 More learning will not automatically change the way people think. It must occur first before any meaningful change can take place.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Sep 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9798350029840

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Edwin H. Friedman's A Failure of Nerve

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493 is a textbook example of how Europe was depressed in the late fifteenth century. It epitomizes the era, as it faithfully reproduced engraved portraits of the major cities of Europe and the Holy Land, but it also described a civilization with little vision or hope.

#2

The Renaissance, which was the rebirth of European civilization, was the result of a change in the two worldviews by which European civilization had oriented itself for almost fifteen hundred years. The land mass on our planet was turned upside down, and the Earth was positioned at the center of the universe.

#3

The Age of Discovery was just a symptom of the cultural and economic advances occurring at that time, but the catalyst for those other imaginative breakthroughs was the nerve of the great navigators who led the way.

#4

The qualities of adventurous leadership that enabled Europe to escape its doldrums are the same qualities of leadership necessary for breaking the imaginative gridlock of our civilization today.

#5

The three characteristics of any relationship system that has become imaginatively gridlocked are an unending treadmill of trying harder, looking for answers rather than reframing questions, and either/or thinking that creates false dichotomies.

#6

The depth of Europe’s fixation with the East is illustrated by maps from the period, which showed the Hudson River emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The Northwest Passage was seen as connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, while California was seen as an island.

#7

The second attribute of imaginatively gridlocked relationship systems is a continual search for new answers to old questions rather than an effort to reframe the questions themselves.

#8

The European obsession with finding a way past the Moors prevented them from reframing the problem in a way that would enable them to think about it differently. It was a long time before Europe realized that by going in the opposite direction, it had found more than it was looking