Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within

If you have any question on the impact of change, this will bring clarity

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on July 30, 2013

This book will spur you to really look at your life, both personally and professionally. It is clear and concise, and brings home how each of us can direct the path of our own life and the effect that has on others. I read this book for the first time almost ten years ago, and now re-reading it, it reminds me of is still available for me to do to take life to the next level. I highly recommend this book!

Helpful

Ryan Eric Jones

It's not yoy

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

My girlfriend can't read this without getting upset.

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

Great

Helpful

Robert Morris

Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 22, 2000

By chance rather than by choice, I read this book before reading others previously or subsequently written by Quinn. Deep Change provides an appropriate introduction to any one of them. I value his books so highly because they make substantial contributions to our understanding of HOW to achieve and then sustain meaningful change, both in our personal lives and in our organizations.
According to Quinn, "Incremental change is usually the result of a rational analysis and planning process. There is a desired goal with a specific set of steps for reaching it. Incremental change is usually limited in scope and often reversible. If the change does not work out, we can always return to the bold way. Incremental change usually does not disrupt our past patterns -- it is an extension of the past. Most important, during incremental change, we feel we are in control." Does all this sound familiar? Has Quinn described accurately how change occurs within your organization?
Now consider a second brief excerpt: "This book explores a much more difficult change process, the process of deep change. Deep change differs from incremental change in that it requires new ways of thinking and behaving. It is change that is major in scope, discontinuous with the past and generally irreversible. The deep change effort distorts existing patterns of action and involves taking risks. Deep change means surrendering control." Decades ago, David Riesman made the helpful distinction between "inner-directed" and "other-directed" people. The same can also be said of organizations (communities of people) when determining the nature, extent, and location of control. Quinn believes that "one person can change the larger system or organization in which he or she exists." If I understand Quinn correctly, his central assertion is this: If and only if enough individuals achieve deep change individually can their shared organization then achieve deep change.
This is a very dangerous concept. Unlike incremental change, deep change poses a very serious threat to the status quo of an organization and, especially, to those who (you can be certain) will steadfastly defend it. There will also be perils for those who seek to achieve deep change in their individual lives. Cherished assumptions, premises, values, and beliefs will all be called into question and many of them will be found inadequate, if not false. As Quinn describes it, those undergoing deep change will feel as if they are "walking naked into the land of uncertainty." He acknowledges "This is usually a terrifying choice, often involving a ' dark night of the soul.'" In Riesman's view, that person becomes inner-directed. For Quinn, that person is "internally driven...more capable of leading under conditions of continuous change...more organic."
What is the alternative? Quinn's answer: "slow death." I am reminded of a relevant insight expressed by Ernest Becker in The Denial of Death. He acknowledges that no one can deny physical death but there is another death which anyone can deny: the death which occurs when we become wholly preoccupied with fulfilling others' expectations of us. A slow death indeed. If you wish to achieve deep change in your life, and are now involved in an organization which can only tolerate incremental change (if any change at all), I urge you to find another organization.

Helpful

Kyle Lassiter

Change, die or exist

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 24, 2004

Organizations and people adapt to their environments and change, or they die or they merely exist.(become the walking dead in Quinn's words) However, there are times when something more than evolution is needed and that revolution is called "deep change". Quinn outlines why so many people in so many organizations see the need for change, but the leaders just talk or say, "I told them to change" and the followers wonder why nothing ever happens. Quinn offers explanations for why the change frequently does not take place and then gives examples of how it can and has happened in other places.
He gives us hope that perhaps things can change. In any case he helps us to learn to be the transformational leader, if we look inside and if we are willing to face the pain of change.
Another reviewer pans Quinn for concentrating on the pain of change, but I have seen few people change without pain of some sort motivating them and even fewer organizations. I am a life coach and therapist and helping people change is my business, but there usually is a motivator for the change and with most people and organizations it is pain of some sort.
This book, while not a difficult read causes thought and is therefore a great read. Highly recommended. Thank you Dr. Quinn for being real with us.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Stephen B White

If you are interested in change, you must read this book.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 9, 2001

This book offers great insights into change and cognitive mapping, and it offers great teaching stories, for example:
"Karl Weick tells a story about a military unit that was operating under difficult circumstances in the Alps during Word War II. The commanding officer had sent a reconnaissance squad to scout out the surrounding area. A day passed, and the squad had not returned. It was feared that it was lost. Three days later, to everyone's relief, the squad returned. It had become lost and very discouraged when one of the men remembered that he had a map in his pack. This discovery brought a surge of hope and renewed energy. The squad leader took the map and led the squad safely back. The story was recounted to the relieved commanding officer, who summoned the squad leader to his tent and commended him for his fine work. It was not until later that the commanding officer noticed the map and realized that it was not a map of the Alps at all but one of the Pyrenees.
"Weick points out that a good outcome can result from a flawed map. In this case, the map was a symbol that raised hope and energy. It allowed the squad leader to organize his men and get them to believe in a common strategy of action. The fact that the squad was again moving allowed the men to begin to calculate and think about where they were going. Even though their basic assumptions were wrong, the process of acting and calculating allowed them to learn and resolve their problem.
"Deep change works in a similar way. Once we have our sense of direction, we need to get organized, pack our gear, get motivated, and move on out. This process introduces new information and allows us to make choices and progress and grow our way forward. The process also transmits signals to others, and they are attracted by courage and motivation."
If you are interested in change, you must read this book.

Helpful

Chloe

Give me change or give me slow death!!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 31, 2001

I have sifted through many works of many authors; notably Senge's Fifth Discipline and Dance of Change, Covey's 7 Habits, and John Kotter's Leading Change; each providing valuable gifts in my own journey toward leadership of change in the healthcare organization I work in. As a physician, I am naturally a bit skeptical of 'managerial speak' and recognize how the professional culture of medicine recoils at the invasion of our professional language by 'corporate-speak.'
The profound challenges and dilemmas faced by the healthcare industry at this moment kept my nose in these books, searching, searching, searching for ways to bring clarity to the chaos of a once stable and rewarding profession.
As I took on a new post as "Director of Patient Safety" I found myself wading through even murkier waters than I had found within the context of my profession.
And then I came upon this book.
Stories, parables, myths: a language that transcends all 'cultures'. Ahhhhhhhhh, such a refreshing, concise, simple and brilliant work!
Simple yet far from easy.
There is nothing easy about this work.
To change what is "out there" I must look inward and face my own myths, dragons, fears, and shortcomings.
The only way to change the world is to change myself.
I can already feel the change within myself. Remarkable, remarkable.
I recommend it unconditionally to any and all that feel trapped, frustrated, or impeded in any way in their life's journey.
Thank you Mr. Quinn.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Walter Mitty

Good Treatment of a Valuable Concept

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 1, 2003

While this book has been around for a while, it is a good treament of a valuable concept. How we interact with our colleagues depends in many respects on how we and they see the world. Deep Change gives a simple, yet effective framework for that understanding and builds from there. The Federal Emergency Management Agency uses this book in one of their leadership courses, and I imagine numerous private organizations also use it.

Helpful

Michael J. Cushman

Author is in Deep Powder

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 30, 2003

In many ways, I agree with the authors observations of organizational life. I once thought like the author: change is hard, change is painful, change is hell.
The author says that first you must experience great pain to call forth the courage to change. The only real change is deep change, and deep change is itself painful. You must take the Hero's Journey to become a transformational leader. When you undergo the deep change, you become aligned with your values and the world. You then make deep and transformational change in your organization, because it's the right thing to do, and your moral authority attracts others to join you. Sadly, most of the big names in Organizational Development think change is nearly impossible.
Fortunately, I've come to appreciate that interpersonal and organizational change happens as a result of skill. It's not mystical or spiritual. It's a skill like skiing (but quite a bit more difficult).
Most of Quinn's clients seem to ignore his advice (to do deep change).
As a potential buyer of this book, do you think you will learn to love skiing and have a blast doing it, if the instructor thinks you have to first suffer greatly, then break your legs, before you can transform yourself into the being of a master skier?
If you want to learn how to do change work, don't read business books. Read modern therapy and human potential books. When you understand the workings of the human mind and therapeutic change techniques, you understand how to change yourself and influence those around you. The more you practice the better you become.
If you want to make skiing mystical, philisophical, and some painful right of passage, go for it. My preference is make if fun and a great ride.
Good intentions, nice metaphors and stories, but off the mark for the reader who wants to do (without the pain).

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jim Danielson

Slow death or deep change...the only two choices?

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 8, 2000

My job as an associate pastor in a large church has me coordinating a number of support groups. These groups include Divorce Recovery, Grief Support for Death of a Loved One, Alcohol and Drug Addictions, Weight Control, and more. I believe this book may hold some of the key to success in helping people move through change.
I also believe that Robert Quinn is correct when he maintains that people and organization have but two main choices...
1. Slow death, or 2. Deep change
Quinn maintains that today it is impossible to remain the same because everything around us is changing, and therefore we must change.
Early in his book, on page 6, he says, "It is now widely recognized that to remain competitive in today's global enviroment organizations must frequently make deep change. What is not so widely recognized is that organizational members must also make deep change."
He continues by saying, "...an organic organization is one that is responsive, acts quickly and in coordinated way, and can adjust and learn and grow." "...only organic individuals can create an organic organization."

Helpful

5 star		70%
4 star		15%
3 star		8%
2 star		3%
1 star		5%

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	Amazon Business Everything for your business	Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands

Warehouse Deals Open-Box Discounts	Whole Foods Market We Believe in Real Food	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust	Blink Smart Security for Every Home

Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within

›

Customer reviews

Customer reviews

Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Canada

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within › Customer reviews

Customer reviews

Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Canada

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within

›

Customer reviews