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Change the World: How Ordinary People Can Accomplish Extraordinary Things (Jossey-Bass Leadership Series Book 348) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
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- ISBN-13978-0787951931
- Edition1st
- PublisherJossey-Bass
- Publication dateMarch 11 2008
- LanguageEnglish
- File size3557 KB
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Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the hardcover edition.
Review
"With humility and a heart so clear that his inspiring message can be internalized, Robert Quinn has written the decade's finest book on change management. It calls you and me-as ordinary people-to embrace greatness. It asks us to be fully alive. It brings us, simultaneously, to our knees and then to our profound power to change the world." --David L. Cooperrider, professor, Case Western Reserve University, and author, Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Revolution in Change
"Bold and brilliant, this book is a masterpiece for anyone who truly wants to achieve extraordinary results in their life. It dispels the traditional myths of leadership and reveals the truth about making a difference in this world." --Richard J. DeVries, community president, Citizens Bank
"This is a remarkable book. Faithful to its audacious title, it explores both 'change' and 'the world' in ways that engage us on every level of our lives." --Parker J. Palmer, author Let Your Life Speak and The Courage to Teach --This text refers to the hardcover edition.
From the Inside Flap
The idea that inner change makes outer change possible has always been part of spiritual and psychological teachings. But until now, it's an idea that hasn't usually been addressed in leadership and management training. With Change the World, Quinn turns this idea into an action guide for organization leaders, managers, parents, and everyone else who wants to make a difference.
Change the World presents eight principles that each of us can follow to make individual and organizational change happen: envision the productive community; first look within; embrace the hypocritical self; transcend fear; embody a vision of the common good; disturb the system; surrender to the emergent process; and entice through moral power. These are principles inspired by the teachings of Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. three historical leaders who successfully used personal change to change the world.
Quinn introduces each principle with inspiring quotations from those three leaders. He then uses stories from everyday life to demonstrate how ordinary people can learn to apply themselves in extraordinary ways. Every thought-provoking chapter is imbued with ideas and information that can help us step out of our old roles, approach the world with a sense of enlightenment and adventure, and live a more empowered and empowering life.
Faced with the complexities of today's world, it's all too easy to view ourselves as passive observers or powerless victims. We want to change our realities, but lack the motivation to do so. Change the World shows us how to use personal transformation to positively impact our families, organizations, businesses, and the world at large.
--This text refers to the hardcover edition.From the Back Cover
The idea that inner change makes outer change possible has always been part of spiritual and psychological teachings. But until now, it's an idea that hasn't usually been addressed in leadership and management training. With Change the World, Quinn turns this idea into an action guide for organization leaders, managers, parents, and everyone else who wants to make a difference.
Change the World presents eight principles that each of us can follow to make individual and organizational change happen: envision the productive community; first look within; embrace the hypocritical self; transcend fear; embody a vision of the common good; disturb the system; surrender to the emergent process; and entice through moral power. These are principles inspired by the teachings of Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. three historical leaders who successfully used personal change to change the world.
Quinn introduces each principle with inspiring quotations from those three leaders. He then uses stories from everyday life to demonstrate how ordinary people can learn to apply themselves in extraordinary ways. Every thought-provoking chapter is imbued with ideas and information that can help us step out of our old roles, approach the world with a sense of enlightenment and adventure, and live a more empowered and empowering life.
Faced with the complexities of today's world, it's all too easy to view ourselves as passive observers or powerless victims. We want to change our realities, but lack the motivation to do so. Change the World shows us how to use personal transformation to positively impact our families, organizations, businesses, and the world at large.
--This text refers to the hardcover edition.About the Author
ROBERT E. QUINN is the M. E. Tracy Distinguished Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the University of Michigan Business School and the author of Deep Change (Jossey-Bass, 1996).
--This text refers to the hardcover edition.Product details
- ASIN : B001C4PLIE
- Publisher : Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (March 11 2008)
- Language : English
- File size : 3557 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Not Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : Not Enabled
- Print length : 304 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #747,120 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #218 in Professional & Technical Negotiating
- #222 in Negotiating Skills (Kindle Store)
- #791 in Negotiating
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Robert E. Quinn is chair of the Department of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the University of Michigan School of Business. He is coauthor of Becoming a Master Manager (1990).
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I heard Norman Schwartzkopf speak once about leadership. He said, "Be the leader you would like to have." That's the essence of this book.
Each principle is established by showing a quote from each of the three models, and then is followed by stories of ordinary people as well as those in major organizations.
The principles expressed here entail going several psychological levels lower into the human psyche than I have seen in other leadership books.
"Envision the productive community" is important as a first step, because chances are no one else sees the way that the people could cooperate to create much more. Human beings have trouble imagining what they have not yet seen, so those who are good at this can provide very valuable guidance to the others.
"First look within" is a good second step because it concentrates oneself on why one wants to change. It is very easy to want the change for the wrong reasons (pride, self-esteem, or misdirected ego). You have to purge that and focus on selfless reasons for changing.
"Embrace the hypocritical self" was very impressive to me as a concept. Almost every leader I know is actually partly driven by hypocritical motives. Even the Stephen Covey books show examples where he seems to have been operating hypocritically. I sense this issue in many of my consulting projects, and find that it is difficult for people to address this.
"Transcend fear" is good advice, too, because trying to make such large changes will undoubtedly encourage unusual levels of fear. Working through the fear is good for the leader and those who will benefit from the change.
"Embody a vision of the common good" is essential inspiration to carry the vision forward both internally and by drawing support from others.
"Disrupt the system" is based on complexity science. By creating disruption, you create the largest potential for self-organizing solutions to be generated.
"Surrender to the emergent process" is a follow-on application of complexity science. You have to trust what is working, because it will lead to other self-organizing improvements. Trying to "manage" this process at this change will simply shortchange its potential.
"Entice through moral power" is something that needs to permeate each of the earlier stages. There is a compelling quality to moral power that draws attention and commands respect and action. Here, the leader must be clearly acting from beyond self-interest to attract the collective support of those who respect the same moral tenets.
I found this combination to be a unique synthesis of how change leadership can be accomplished. I can recognize the model from cases I have seen that worked and missing elements from the model in cases that did not work. I think the author has made an important step forward with this thinking. My only quibble is that the ordinary person reading this book may still have a conflict between the original reasons for seeking a change and the realities of how to pursue such a change. Almost everyone is attracted to making a difference initially because of a desire for self-aggrandizement. Early in the process, people may not be able to abandon that ego-based need for a selfless one. I suspect that more help is needed in this area than the book provides.
Overcome your disbelief and misconception stalls about making beneficial changes!
Quinn recalls the remark by Oliver Wendell Holmes that he placed little value in simplicity that lay on this side of complexity but a great deal of value on simplicity that lay on the other side. The framework within which Quinn presents his material comes from the "seed thoughts" of people who have mastered "the language of transformation." By "seed thoughts" Quinn means some of the "core notions that masters of transformation hold in common, the simplicity they send us from the other side of complexity." Specifically, Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Quinn focuses on eight (8) "seed thoughts" (eg Envision the Productive Community, First Look Within, Embrace the Hypocritical Self), providing brief quotations from each of the three "masters of transformation" which he correlates with each of the eight "seed thoughts." His objective is to explain how Advanced Change Theory (ACT) can enable individuals to achieve deep change in their own lives and then within their organizations. The title of this book (Change the World) may be somewhat misleading. I wholeheartedly agree with Quinn that "ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary results", both individually and as members of a group. I also agree that Jesus, Gandhi, and King were "masters of transformation" within their respective spheres of influence as were Carnegie, Edison, Ford, Morgan, and Rockefeller within their own. Quinn's basic idea is sound. He and I may differ only when defining terms such as "change" and "world."
I urge you to read this book, to consider very carefully what ACT offers to you (personally) and to your organization, and then to select whatever is most appropriate. Quinn provides an eloquent and convincing argument in support of his concept of deep change; better yet, he suggests all manner of strategies and tactics to achieve and sustain it; even better yet, almost anyone who reads this book already has the resources required. If you need help to organize and allocate those resources, and truly powerful encouragement to support your efforts in process, look no further.
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* Envisage the productive community
* Look within
* Embrace the hypocritical self
* Transcend fear
* Embody a vision of the common good
* Disturb the system
* Surrender to the emergent system
* Entice through moral power
The book is an excellent antidote for those who are still fixated on the expert model of change - those who imagine it can be achieved by "telling", "forcing" or by participation. Quinn exposes the last for what it normally is (despite the best intentions of those in power) - a form of manipulation - and effectively encourages us, through examples, to have more faith in people. My only reservation about the book is that it does not emphasise enough that such processes require careful structuring and catalysts (see Brown; Isaacs; and Wheatley)


This was assigned reading for a class I'm taking. It's a fairly easy read, with some interesting points -- but it's also full of fluff and pandering. If you can get over that (or if you like it), it might be for you.

