Finally - one would like to say - a really recommendable book about systemic leadership. Almost a small miracle that it has taken so long, considering that systemic ideas have long since been a standard in the fields of personnel and leadership development programmes. As an observer of the scene one rather gets the impression that “systemic“ is “out“ and “long gone“. 
Back to the book: it has almost 200 pages and was publisched by Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag in the “Systemic Management“ series. The author Orthey - unknown to me before that - works as a freelance trainer and consultant and habilitates at the University of Bielefeld in the field of vocational education. His career is representative for the ductus of the book: one the one hand very theoretically, but on the other hand with numerous practical ideas, especially in the second part.
After a well-founded introduction to systemic basics and their effects on the leadership context in the first two chapters, the author successively develops his so-called leadership pentagram. A concept that is quite consistent in itself. It comprises the following dimensions: task, organisation, culture, person, relationship and environment. The leadership dimensions are assigned to leadership competencies. Leadership styles in turn reflect the most inner area of the pentagram.
The model offers solution approaches in order to deal with one of the biggest challenges for leadership in our so-called VUCA time (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous): leading in a balanced way. This is to say: being able to reflect on the numerous facets (people, processes, rules, regulations, interests of stakeholder, customer, etc.), make decisions and derive actions from this, even under volatile, uncertain, complex and ambivalent conditions.
After Orthey unfolds the model in the first part of the book, practical suggestions and exercises follow in part two. Especially the reflection exercises can as well be used by executives (chapter 4). The interesting tools described in the next chapter are more suitable for consultants and trainers. For an executive the introduced methods presumably require too much time and effort.
Conclusion: A really successful book for experienced executives and consultants, that are not dealing with systemic concepts for the very first time and who have the desire and passion to reflect in depth on the sense of their daily leadership actions. It is definitely not suitable for bedtime reading. In the ephemeral world of today’s managers this fact alone makes it more likely that much rather consultants and trainers than managers will look for ideas and suggestions in this book, in order to put their applied leadership concepts to the test.
