Answer:

Ask any author whether you should buy a second edition and the answer is pretty predictable—OF COURSE! In fact, buy two!

Let me be explicit about why I think that the second edition of The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning will provide significant added value, even for those who own a dog-eared copy of the original.

Authors Roy Pollock, Cal Wick, and Andrew Jefferson

Since the publication of the first edition, we have been delighted by the number of organizations that have adopted the 6Ds as a common language and process across their learning departments. They tell us that they have derived real value by doing so. But they have also challenged us to sharpen and extend our thinking.

The result is that we have continued to learn by working with great organizations committed to increasing the business impact of their training and development efforts. We have also benefited greatly from the sharing of best practices and discussions of ongoing challenges at our annual Learning Transfer Summit.

We felt it was time to incorporate all that we have learned into a second edition illustrated by success stories of organizations on the cutting edge of learning transfer. We have followed the same general outline of the first edition—a chapter on each of the 6Ds—but we took the whole book apart and tried to improve every aspect.

Among the changes: Recognizing that a picture is worth a thousand words, we doubled the number of figures to better illustrate principles and concepts (including some very funny and apropos cartoons). We added checklists to the end of each chapter to help learning organizations self-assess their applications. We have also included guides for implementation.

After much thought, we renamed D4 “Drive Learning Transfer” to focus greater attention on this critical aspect of the learning process. We expanded the discussion of the importance of the transfer climate and added a more in-depth discussion of performance support to D5. We completely revised D6 to provide clearer guidance for conducting and reporting program evaluations.

Along the way, we reviewed dozens of articles published since the first edition and added 80 new references. Twenty-three new cases-in-point illustrate the principles in action. While we tried to replace and upgrade more than add, the book did end up about a third longer than the first edition; we received so many terrific examples and stories that we could not bear to leave out.

Al Switzler (author of Influencer and Crucial Conversations) wrote a great new foreword for the book. Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner (authors of The Leadership Challenge) provided thought-provoking closing remarks on “learning as the master skill.”

If we sound excited about the second edition, we are. Nevertheless, it is always a little worrisome to bring out a second edition after the first has been a success. Will people like it as well? Will they see any added value?

Needless to say, we were delighted when Will Thalheimer, President of Work-Learning Research, Inc. wrote: “No other book in the last decade has been more important for the workplace learning field. The second edition is even better, incorporating new wisdom learned in the crucible of real-world practice.”

We hope you will agree. To learn more about 6Ds 2.0, join us for one of our upcoming 6Ds 2.0 Webinars on September 8 or September 23. Webinar attendees will get special discounts on the book and other Fort Hill services.

Join the conversation: The 6Ds LinkedIn Group and the FHC Blog