Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change - Softcover

"Adam Kahane gradually builds his own proficiency at balancing empathy (love) and resolve (power), and thus raises the game for all of us."
Art Kleiner, Editor in Chief, strategy+business, and author of The Age of Heretics

"In this rare and valuable book Kahane unfolds a simple and penetrating insight: that power and love are two axes that delineate our individual and collective journeys. Either we master the balance of power and love, or we will fail in our efforts to realize deep and lasting change."
--Peter Senge, Founding Chair, Society for Organizational Learning; Senior Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and author of The Fifth Discipline

"This exceptionally brave book pierces to the heart of how we must act in the world we so want to change. Kahane's willingness to look honestly at his experiences--working on the world's most difficult issues and in its most difficult places--is a model of courageous inquiry."
--Margaret J. Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science

War is no way to resolve our most problematic group, community, and societal issues, but neither is a peace that simply sweeps our problems under the rug. To create lasting change we have to learn to work fluidly with two distinct, fundamental drives that are in tension: power the single-minded desire to achieve one’s solitary purpose; and love the drive towards unity. They are seemingly contradictory but in fact complimentary. As Martin Luther King put it, “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.”

Using revealing stories from complex situations he has been involved in all over the world the Middle East, South Africa, Europe, India, Guatemala, the Philippines, Australia, Canada and the United States Kahane reveals how to dynamically balance these two forces. Just as when we are toddlers we learn to shift from one foot to the other to move ourselves forward, so we can learn to shift back and forth between power and love in order to move society forward.