Too many people live with a gnawing feeling that their team and indeed, their entire organization, could and should run more smoothly, more purposefully, and more effectively, but there is always another problem to solve, turf battle to win, or drama to ameliorate. It seems nearly impossible to implement change and move forward amidst the confusion of the organization's daily Swirl. In Navigate the Swirl, strategy expert Richard S. Hawkes helps leaders and their teams break this cycle of stagnation, sharing the insights he has gained from guiding hundreds of teams in companies on growth journeys. Hawkes' core concept is that organizations are not machines in which leaders can swap people like parts; they will resist. Instead, organizations are social systems in which people are animated by purpose and effective ways of working. The secret to navigating the Swirl, he writes, lies in implementing Seven Conversations, a series of ongoing, intentional conversations that have the power to align, reimagine, and upgrade the social system in which people work. These conversations are a template for creating and sustaining high-performing teams capable of: Aligning in a purposeful and deeply human way Designing customer focused business systems Leveraging conflicts as sources of insight and innovation Creating the conditions for competitive advantage Building high-performing companies Hawkes' insights will help organizations break free of the Swirl - whether they are facing good news, like a new market opportunity, or bad news, like increased competitive pressures. Navigate the Swirl provides a roadmap for wielding influence in the complex, adaptive social systems of today's organizations.