Wolfgang Lassl

I am a strategy and organizational consultant with over 20 years of extensive experience across many industries and various public sector organizations. I hold master's degrees in international relations (Fletcher School, Tufts Univ.) and theology (Univ. of Vienna, Austria). I have lived, studied, and worked in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, the USA, and South Africa. In 2022, I founded the Qwinnt Management Institute.

Regarding my books on the Viable System Model: I discovered the VSM 15 years ago, and since then, it has become a trustworthy and illuminating companion. No other model teaches as much about organizational diagnosis and design as does the VSM. It is deep, multifaceted, well-balanced, and it provides a unique and very helpful graphical language. Whoever has understood the VSM saves much time: It is all there. It is not a detached theory but contains much common sense.

My books intend to immerse you into the world of organizations and the VSM. They are not the typical trade books with catchy titles, which make promises that you will later discover to be only half true. I wanted to provide a book of substance that offers guidance beyond management fashions and waves. It invites readers to a journey of reflection about how organizations function, what the laws of organizational viability imply for their design and how we need to manage them.

You do not need to be an expert, the book comes at different levels. However, you need an interest in organizations and a bit of time to reflect and match the books’ content with your experiences and observations. If you are a novice to the VSM or organization theory, do not read the books in their entirety but, instead, follow first the fast-track reading plan in each volume to obtain an overview. Then read the remaining chapters and the in-depth sections according to your priorities and interests. You are not required to read the entire volumes.

One reader told me once that ever since he had read my books people in his company started complimenting him regarding his ability to continually ask the right questions and seeing beyond conventional truths and perspectives. If you want to acquire this art, then my books and the VSM will undoubtedly equip you with the right insights …