New definitions of ‘dimensionality’ and ‘dimension’ are set forth that dominate older definitions. Dominance means not that older interpretations are violated, but that the sense of the new interpretation extends substantially the sense of older interpretations, thereby opening up the use of the term in a much broader class of situations. Among the benefits of the new interpretation of dimensionality are: Greater understanding of situations, greater effectiveness in describing situations, more lucid descriptions, better system designs, substantive cross‐discipline problem‐solving activities that cannot now be carried out in a common framework, and the potential for a more coherent community of scholars.

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To prepare for post‐industrial leadership in the twenty‐first century, we must transcend the circular journey of leadership studies of the twentieth century which is rooted in the industrial paradigm of organizations. The post‐industrial era of knowledge workers requires a group‐based, interactive framework of leadership. Based on the works of Burns (1978) and Rost (1991), the authors propose a definition of transforming leadership discovered through their systems design work. Three principles of transforming leadership are identified through the application of the CogniScope System. From 200 applications of the CogniScope System in various organizations, the phenomenon of transforming leadership has emerged as an important possibility. Observations from multiple applications of the CogniScope System have led to the codification of three principles that fit the context, content, and process of systems design work. The three principles are illustrated through excerpts of a case study. Using the case study, the authors identify specific events or group products to validate the claim that transforming leadership did occur. The authors identify a need for research by other emancipatory systems thinking methodologies to further our understanding of transforming leadership. The authors speculate on the emergence of transforming leaders/managers in new organizational structures that will support transforming leadership. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The paper identifies the critical role dialogue must play in constructing and sustaining the 21st‐century agoras in the context of the Global Village. Recognizing that the trends towards globalization are irreversible, it describes a boundary‐spanning dialogue approach (BDA) as the necessary, but not sufficient, foundation for enabling human beings to conceptualize and materialize the idealization of ‘conscious evolution of humanity’. The approach to BDA described in the paper is based on over 30 years of research, development and testing in the social systems design arena. Many stories from the design arena are available and documented. A major challenge for the agoras of the 21st century will be their capacity to engage multilingual, multicultural and geographically dispersed stakeholders in a boundary‐spanning dialogue among civilizations in the context of the Global Village. Two stories from past applications of BDA in the social systems design arena are presented in this paper. The first story discusses a project in Washington, DC involving Native American leaders and Federal Government executives, in the late 1980s. The second story focuses on a peace‐building workshop between Israelis and Palestinians that was facilitated by members of the bi‐communal Cypriot community. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.