An archive of the book & its origins

Being Spherical

Reshaping Our Lives and Our World for the 21st Century.

In this concise, illustrated work exploring the dynamics of living in the 21st century, Phil Lawson and Robert L. Lindstrom show us how we individually and collectively shape the future — a future no longer dominated by traditional hierarchies and concentrated power centers.

The authors explain why, in this dawning era of interconnection and interdependency, we require a dramatic transformation in the way we see, think, and act.

Phil Lawson & Robert L. Lindstrom

View Sample Chapters
Painted illustration by Geoffrey Moss of a figure reaching toward a golden interconnected sphere

Artwork by Geoffrey Moss

Being Spherical full cover spread, shown in its four original edition colors: green, pink, orange, and blue

The first edition was published in four vibrant cover colors. Only the green version is available now.

Geoffrey Moss illustration of two figures — one riding a cube, one riding a sphere — each moving in a different direction

"How we see the world determines how we think and act — as surely as gravity rounds the planets."

A Guided Tour of an Emerging Worldview

In their words

Reviews

“

The book reveals a new way of displaying data in a sphere. The old paradigm was the limiting concept of a box in which individuals and points of view are tragically trapped. The new paradigm is seeing a sphere that allows the exploration of all points of view. As an academic who teaches and conducts research in the social sciences, the spherical approach makes so much sense.

William C. Bailey, PhD
“

This book blew my mind. I realized we're surrounded by dots that reveal new knowledge when connected as a sphere. Now I see the world as models waiting to be created. Spherical thinking is simple, but its impact is profound.

Alan P. Alborn
“

I am an educator in the process of conducting a five-year research project on the minority "achievement gap." Being Spherical crystallized my research ideas about achievement and helped me hone in on the extensive ramifications of human connections. If understanding of present-day disturbances in the flow of life needs an explanation, this book is a "must read" for the twenty-first century.

Dr. Pam Joyce
From the book

Opening Pages

Geoffrey Moss illustration of a small figure approaching a large interconnected sphere of nodes
Introduction

Rolling Toward Sphericity

Being Spherical started with the realization that the world doesn't work the way we were told it does.

Geoffrey Moss illustration of a figure hunched into a wheel and gear-like form, evoking clockwork machinery
Signature Magazine, 2005 — Dr. John Maling, PhD

Editorial Review

History has persuaded us to embrace a mechanistic, clockwork-like, compartmentalized view of our world, life, and lives. The authors argue that we have failed to recognize its unity while trying to understand its parts.

Read the Full Review
Geoffrey Moss illustration of a figure surrounded by a cluster of small spheres
Chapter Ten

Jumping Together

Human history is the history of leaps and bounds that sketch the distinct outlines of our worldviews. Every great period of scientific advancement and learning is the manifestation of a consilience.

Geoffrey Moss illustration of a figure reaching outward amid orbiting spheres
Chapter Fifty-One

Quantum Leaps

Occasionally, out-of-the-ordinary arcs of interconnection result in extraordinary ideas and actions.

A decade in the making

The Authors

This book-writing odyssey spanned a decade, beginning in LA with a seed of an idea in 1993, and ending with a five-year deep dive of research, brainstorms, travel, and rewrites between 1999 and 2004 — a stretch that included Phil, and his wife, moving to a rustic log cabin in the Colorado Rockies to think and write.

Phil Lawson and Robert L. Lindstrom raising a toast together

Phil Lawson (left) and Robert L. Lindstrom (right), celebrating the finished book at The Fort in Morrison, CO.

Robert L. Lindstrom and Phil Lawson in conversation on a rock ledge above Summit Lake Two men walking through snow among pine trees Phil Lawson and Robert L. Lindstrom sitting on a boulder beside a mountain creek, with a dog between them A working session, sketching out early Sphericity concepts on a flip chart Handwritten flip-chart note: What are the benefits of being spherical? Phil Lawson leading a session by the stone fireplace in the log cabin, with participants gathered around

Scenes from the writing years — brainstorming visits and deep-dive sessions at Summit Lake, Clear Creek County, Indian Hills, and Kittredge, CO.

Meet the Co-Authors

Phil Lawson

Phil Lawson

Co-author

Phil's journey to spherical thinking was birthed from an unconventional life, and the accumulative distress of it, which prompted him to invent a humane technology that inspires people to update their personal operating systems from mechanistic to holistic — in this dawning era of interconnection and interdependency — to better navigate increasingly complex human situations in real time.

Robert L. Lindstrom

Robert Lindstrom

Co-author

Rob is former editor-in-chief of two magazines in the field of multimedia communications. His writing and editing awards include the Los Angeles Press Club Award for Business Reporting, the New York Art Director's Club Award for Feature Design, and the Corwin Award for Drama. In two consecutive years, the Los Angeles Business Journal named him one of "The Rising Stars in High Technology."

More about the book

Using the Sphere

Using mythological imagery in the form of the sphere, and an innovative and adaptive vocabulary, the authors introduce concepts and processes for reshaping our lives, our organizations, and our world for the better — along with the Spherical Modeling Tool, a practical, hands-on awareness application.

Being Spherical guides us as we learn to

  • Prepare for a future we cannot even vaguely predict.
  • Raise our children well in a climate of moral uncertainty.
  • Create viable organizations in an era of extreme complexity.
  • Come to the aid of an abused and ailing planet.

As we learn to see the sphere, we

  • Understand why we do what we do, and what to do differently.
  • Discover creative solutions to longstanding problems.
  • Connect and reconnect within ourselves and with others.
  • Ready ourselves for quantum leaps in inspiration and awareness.

The greater our spherical integrity, the better we

  • Flex with internal and external pressures.
  • Adapt to disorienting and accelerating change.
  • Respond to unpredictable and uncontrollable conditions.
  • Roll through hard times and bounce forward from adversity.
Geoffrey Moss at his worktable, surrounded by paintings and brushes
Geoffrey Moss

The Illustrator

Geoffrey Moss created more than 86 drawings for Being Spherical. He is a painter, and creator of captionless political newspaper drawings, MOSSPRINTS, the first of that genre to be syndicated nationally. His graphic metaphors are recognized with two Pulitzer nominations — a third, for his 9/11 work with Creative Syndicate, came after Being Spherical was published.

Behind the pages

The Creative Design Team

Michael Tamburello playing a wooden flute at a studio microphone

Michael Tamburello

Cover & Layout Design

Michael Tamburello designed the cover and content layout template of Being Spherical. He has spent 30 years in visual communications, advertising, and publishing — working on projects from custom greeting cards of the late John Lennon's artwork to large contracts for government and defense agencies.

Michael taught at the Art Institute of Colorado and headed the commercial art program at Arapahoe Community College. He is a composer/record producer and founder of The Lullaby for Columbine project.

Pamela Lawson laughing at a microphone

Pamela Lawson

Creative Director

During the writing of Being Spherical, Pam was creative director on the project — finding and working with the illustrator and book designer, along with proofreading and cheerleading roles, which earned her the playful title of "Tensegrity Agent" from Phil and Rob.

Prior to Being Spherical, Pam was a photo-illustrator in Hollywood. She has also been a creative director at a multimedia firm and an image bank, and spent nine years as a reporter serving a string of mountain communities west of Denver, earning nineteen journalism awards, ten of them first place.

From readers

More Reader Comments

"What Phil and Rob have given us is not merely a new lexicon of terms to describe our business and personal environments, but a radically different way to comprehend and interact with them. Since being introduced to Being Spherical, I find myself building mental spheres for both my personal and professional environments. The process is strikingly effective."

Joe Clark, Assistant Professor, EET, Metropolitan State College of Denver

"This powerful book paints a sweeping panorama of the evolving journey of humanity on its way toward wholeness and authenticity. It invites us to embrace the rich complexity and messiness of life, rather than neatly putting things into categories that are partial and limiting. Refreshing language and humor enliven its profound message. Beware — your perspective will be transformed."

JoEllen Koerner, PhD, RN — author of Mother, Heal My Self

"Our company was one of the first to experience Being Spherical during a three-day retreat. We expected to learn about a new business model. Instead, we were introduced to an entirely new way of thinking about business processes and life in general. It has been surprising how the image of the sphere has permeated our work. It truly is a transformational concept."

Inger Cramer, Diagraph, Stockholm, Sweden

"Bravo to Phil and Rob. Finally, someone has taken the time to delve into the chaos of how the world works and devise an explanation of why things are out of sync. Their big-picture explanation can be understood and applied by everyone."

Ray Guyot, Outlook Presentations, Winnipeg, Canada

"Our organization has become significantly more flexible and adaptable as a result of our Being Spherical work. On an individual level, it has helped each member understand leadership as attraction versus position power, and reinforced the desirability of having each member contribute their talents and take responsibility for making things happen."

Bonita Patterson, Colorado Women's Leadership Coalition
Since the book

What Came Next

In the years since Being Spherical was published, Phil has spent over 25 years developing the ideas at its core into a working methodology — the Spherical Modeling Tool — field-tested with more than 45,000 people across healthcare, aging services, and organizations navigating complex change. He was joined by his wife Pamela in this endeavor, who served as the bridge between the methodology and the people using it — an award-winning journalist by background, she became the voice that explained contextual reasoning in human terms and made sure the work stayed grounded in human agency, not just technical capability.

What began as a way of seeing became, over more than two decades, a validated way of working — patented, tested and refined until the framework had quietly become second nature: a way of finding clarity, connection, and better decisions in situations too complex for any single lens to hold. That field work is complete — and what started as a dream of something as useful as online calendars and maps is now taking its next step at Spherit.

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Being Spherical front cover

Being Spherical

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