I am very sorry to forward this message reporting the death of Bill
O'Brien. Bill was one of the early pioneers in creating a learning
organization in the Hanover Insurance Company. After retiring, he was
continuing inspiration in gatherings of the Society for
Organizational Learning.
I first encountered Bill in Senge's book, and he sounded pretty
interesting. Then I met him in person and saw something far more
profound. Not only could he talk about the principles of
organizational effectiveness and of a healthy vigorous life, but he
demonstrated them continuously in his being. From moment to moment,
he was a living example. As he talked about his work at Hanover...
about the principles he introduced there, the way he carried himself
had a huge impact on me and many others.
It was a great honor to have known him. We all will miss him very, very much.
-=- Rick
>Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2002 22:05:21 -0400
>From: Vicki Tweiten
>Subject: William (Bill) O'Brien
>Status: O
>X-Status:
>
>Dear Associates,
>
>Our friend, Bill O'Brien, passed away today, Saturday, August 24, at
>4:30PM, at his home, amongst his family.
>
>The funeral will be held at St. Matthew's Church in Southboro, MA,
>on Wednesday, August 28, at 10:00 am. Calling hours are 2 - 4 pm and
>7 - 9 pm on Tuesday, August 27, at the Morris Funeral Home at 40
>Main St. in Southboro, MA. In lieu of flowers, the family requests
>that donations be made to Worcester Diocese Adopt-A-Student Program,
>49 Elm St. Worcester, MA 01609 or Worcester VNACare Hospice Program,
>120 Thomas St., Worcester, MA 01608.
>
>Regards,
>
>Vicki
>--
>
>Vicki Tweiten
>Global SoL Network
>(SoL) Society for Organizational Learning
>955 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 201
>Cambridge, MA 02139
>
>SoL Main Tel: (617) 300-9500
>Direct Dial: (617) 300-9595
>Fax: (617) 354-2093
>Web: www.solonline.org
[Vicki enclosed this bio with here message. ..Rick]
William J. O'Brien (69)
William (Bill) O'Brien was the Chief Exectuive Officer of the
Hanover Insurance Companies headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts
from 1979 to 1991. During his tenure as President and CEO, Hanover
moved from the bottom of the insurance industry to the top quartile.
McKinsey & Company included Hanover in a 1994 study as one of the
"top ten underwriting companies" in the industry. Hanover's success
is recorded in research that is presented in three books, The Fifth
Discipline by Peter Senge of M.I.T., Charting Corporate Cultures by
Charles Hampden Turner of the London Business School, and Business
Ethics by James Leibig. Bill completed a manuscript for publication,
Character & The Corporation, in 2002.
Bill was known, within the Hanover and the business community
at large, for his groundbreaking efforts in refining corporate
vision, values and sense of common purpose. He developed a deep
interest in the framing of Hanover's governing ideas in the early
1970s, leading ultimately to a series of booklets that set forth the
company's philosophy to work by. Instead of being merely seen as
window-dressing, values such as Leanness, Openess, Merit and
Localness became intricately linked with the insurance company's
success.
Since retiring in 1991, Bill spent much of his time helping
other organizations consider ways in which leaders can marry
individual growth and economic performance in their companies. He
was an early adopter of the "reflection and inquiry" tools of action
science, and of the "systems thinking" approach to understanding
large-scale business problems.
Bill was a founding member of the board of governors of the
MIT Center for Organizational Learning. He was a founding partner of
Generon Consulting, which assists companies and countries with
cultural transformation. He was a consultant to The Convenant Group,
a start-up property and casualty insurance company recently acquired
by Arbella Insurance. He served on the board of directors of Shawmut
Bank/Worcester, NStar Corporation, Claims Outsource, Inc. and Blue
Cod Technology. He was past president of the Worcester Economic
Club. He was the founding Chairman of Adopt-A-Student, an
organization that raises scholarship funds for children of needy
families to attend Worcester Diocese Catholic schools.
Bill was born in Yonkers, New York in 1932. He was a
graduate of St. Cecelia's High School in Englewood, New Jersey in
1950 and Fordham University in Bronx, New York in 1954. He served in
the U.S. Army from 1954-1956. He entered the insurance industry with
SAFECO in 1956. He went to Security Insurance of Hartford in 1960
where he became Vice President of Agency Operations. In 1968, he
went to the Glens Falls Insurance Company as Zone Vice President. He
joined Hanover Insurance in 1971.
He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Catherine (Kay)
Kelaher O'Brien of Southboro, MA, his children, Kathleen O. Pagano
and her husband, Joseph of Worcester, MA, William V. O'Brien and his
wife, Laura, of Brookline, MA and Christopher J. O'Brien of Boston,
MA and five grandchildren. He was a member of St. Matthew's Church
in Southboro.
He died at home on Saturday, August 24,2002 after a long
battle with prostrate cancer. The funeral will be held at St.
Matthew's Church in Southboro on Wednesday, August 28 at 10:00 am.
Calling hours are 2 - 4 pm and 7 - 9 pm on Tuesday, August 27 at
Morris Funeral Home at 40 Main St. in Southboro. In lieu of flowers,
the family requests that donations be made to Worcester Diocese
Adopt-A-Student Program, 49 Elm St. Worcester, MA 01609 or Worcester
VNACare Hospice Program, 120 Thomas St., Worcester, MA 01608.
--Richard Karash ("Rick") | <http://world.std.com/~rkarash> Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | mailto:Richard@Karash.com "Towards learning organizations" | Host for Learning-Org Discussion (617)227-0106, fax (617)523-3839 | <http://www.learning-org.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.