Cambridge Strategy Publications

These themes of Triarchy's books invite us to think differently about the way people live together in families and in society, and to think again about a whole host of activities from movement and somatics to theatre and performance; forms of body and psychotherapy to ways of walking, and ways in which we understand ourselves and the problems we face. So we have published a great many ideas, booklets and books that explore all those fields. The single thread that holds all these ideas and books together is systems thinking – the notion that we can never realistically address any problem or opportunity, consider any individual or organisation, without looking at the widest possible picture, at the biological, social, cultural, organisational and ecological networks in which they participate. Well, Triarchy’s first book was called The Three Ways of Getting Things Done. Written by Gerard Fairtlough, who had been CEO of Shell Chemicals and of Celltech, this book set out his ‘Triarchy Theory’ which proposed that the three ways of getting anything done in an organization are Hierarchy, Heterarchy and Responsible Autonomy. Hierarchy we all know. Heterarchy is a flatter, more collegiate, collective and more co-operative structure. Responsible Autonomy relies on authority being devolved to individuals or very small departments.