This is a living list of the works that inform Rising Above the Clouds. It is organised by theme rather than alphabetically — the aim is to point you toward the lineage of ideas the book draws on. Where a source is referenced inline in a particular chapter, that connection is named here.
The list grows as the book grows.
Theory of Constraints
The intellectual foundation of the Evaporating Cloud and the Perry Approach.
Goldratt, E. M. (1984). The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. North River Press.
The founding text of the Theory of Constraints, introducing the idea that every system is limited by a constraint, and that the work of improvement is to find and unlock it.
Goldratt, E. M. (1994). It's Not Luck. North River Press.
The sequel to The Goal, and the place where Goldratt demonstrated — in Chapter 17 — that the Evaporating Cloud could be applied to personal as well as business conflict. The structural source of the Perry Approach. Referenced in Chapter 2.
Goldratt, E. M. (2008). The Choice. North River Press.
A later, more reflective work on clear thinking and the assumptions that hold us back.
Goldratt, E. M. (2009). Isn't It Obvious? North River Press.
A business novel applying the Theory of Constraints to retail. The source of Chapter 1's point that the informal system — the relationships, the friendships, the unwritten rules — is what truly makes an organisation, more than the formal system ever does. Referenced in Chapter 1.
Goldratt-Ashlag, E. — writing on the psychology of resistance and change in Theory of Constraints practice (see her contribution to Cox, J. F., & Schleier, J. G. (Eds.), Theory of Constraints Handbook, McGraw-Hill, 2010).
Efrat Goldratt-Ashlag carried the cloud into the psychology of change, articulating the tension between our need for security (confidence in the reliability of our predictions) and our need for satisfaction (a sense of achievement) that underlies all human conflict. This is the second pillar of the Perry Approach's genesis. Referenced in Chapter 2.
Mabin, V. J., & Balderstone, S. J. (2003). The performance of the theory of constraints methodology: analysis and discussion of successful TOC applications. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 23(5/6), 568–595.
Victoria (Vicky) Mabin, Emeritus Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, conducted a meta-analysis of more than 80 documented TOC applications — the empirical backbone showing that the methodology delivers significant operational and financial improvement, with no reported failures found across an extensive search of the literature. Her research and teaching brought academic rigour to the Thinking Processes. Acknowledged in Chapter 2.
Mabin, V. J., Forgeson, S., & Green, L. (2001). Harnessing resistance: using the theory of constraints to assist change management. Journal of European Industrial Training, 25(2/3/4), 168–191.
A re-examination of the conventional, negative view of resistance to change. Mabin and colleagues argue — and demonstrate through a bank-merger case study — that resistance is a necessary and positive force, and that the Theory of Constraints provides tools to harness it rather than overcome it. This sits at the heart of the HPtE conviction that conflict is a source of performance, not friction to be reduced.
Cox, J. F. III, Mabin, V. J., & Davies, J. (2005). A case of personal productivity: illustrating methodological developments in TOC. Human Systems Management, 24(1), 27–39.
A worked illustration of the TOC Thinking Processes applied to an everyday personal problem — productivity — using the Evaporating Cloud together with the Current Reality Branch and Future Reality Branch. An important precedent for the Perry Approach's use of the cloud on personal as well as organisational conflict.
Philosophy of inquiry — abduction and the Evaporating Cloud
The deeper lineage underneath the question what other way is there?
Andersen, S. S. (2024). Unveiling the intellectual nexus between Peirce's synechism and Goldratt's Theory of Constraints. Journal of Management History.
Andersen traces the philosophical line from Charles Sanders Peirce — who coined the term abduction and placed it as the engine of all inquiry — through to Goldratt's Theory of Constraints. The abductive structure underneath the cloud method, and the Chapter 11 question what other way is there?, sit within this lineage. Referenced in Chapter 11.
Andersen, S. S., Gupta, M. C., & Gupta, A. (2013). A managerial decision-making web app: Goldratt's Evaporating Cloud.
An earlier paper engaging directly with the Evaporating Cloud as a managerial decision-making tool. Useful background for readers interested in the academic engagement with the EC.
Meaning, agency, and the space between stimulus and response
Why the moment before action matters, and what becomes possible when it is held.
Frankl, V. E. (1946). Man's Search for Meaning.
Frankl's account of meaning-making under conditions of extreme constraint includes the phrase that anchors Chapter 1's reframing of fight, flight, and freeze: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." The Perry Approach treats that space as the place where the cloud method does its work — the freeze held long enough for integration to become possible. Referenced in Chapter 1.
Adaptive change and adult development
Why some change requires more than new techniques.
Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2001). How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work: Seven Languages for Transformation. Jossey-Bass.
The book in which Karl first recognised the structure of the Evaporating Cloud inside the 'Immunity to Change' map — competing commitments as the cloud's B and C needs, and Big Assumptions as the beliefs holding the conflict in place. Referenced in Chapter 2.
Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2009). Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization. Harvard Business Press.
The fuller articulation of the Immunity to Change method, including the practice of surfacing and testing Big Assumptions. This developmental mechanism — why understanding alone doesn't move us — is the adaptive layer of the Perry Approach. Referenced in Chapters 2 and 12.
Cognitive frameworks
The patterns underneath how we think.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Kahneman's synthesis of decades of collaborative research with Amos Tversky on the two modes of human thinking. System 1 is fast, automatic, pattern-matching, and low-cost. System 2 is slow, deliberate, integrative, and expensive. The book is dedicated to Tversky, who died in 1996, before its publication. The Perry Approach treats the Evaporating Cloud as a System 2 method that, with practice, becomes a bridge into a trained System 1 — second nature, or unconscious competence. Referenced in Chapter 1.
Lafferty, J. C., & Cooke, R. A. — the Life Styles Inventory (LSI) and the Human Synergistics Circumplex.
Clayton Lafferty and Robert A. Cooke developed the Circumplex, a measurement framework that arranges twelve thinking styles around a circle in two broad families — constructive (achievement, self-actualising, humanistic, affiliative) and defensive (security- and approval-driven). It gives the Perry Approach an empirical map of the security-satisfaction tension and the direction transformation has to take: from defensive towards constructive. Drawn on in the Master Your Mindset course. Referenced in Chapter 2.
Cooke, R. A., & Szumal, J. L. (2000). Using the Organizational Culture Inventory to understand the operating cultures of organizations. In N. M. Ashkanasy, C. P. M. Wilderom, & M. F. Peterson (Eds.), Handbook of Organizational Culture and Climate. Sage.
The research underpinning the circumplex measurement of constructive and defensive styles at the level of organisational culture.
This list is partial and will grow as the book grows. If you spot a source that should be here, get in touch.