This paper examines what organizations (and individuals) need to be able to learn.

An individual needs five capacities for learning: a language, a brain, thinking skills, memory, and motivation & aspiration.

It makes sense that organizations need the same things … without them an organization won't be able to learn.

Here is an overview of the organizational counterparts for the first three of these, of why each is important, and of the thinking skills needed to learn in dynamically complex situations.

See the two page paper on Languages, Brains, & Skills (106K)