Chapter 1: Walking Naked into the Land of Uncertainty

Incremental change is usually the result of a rational analysis and planning process. Incremental change is usually limited in scope and is often reversible. 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. Pg 3 Deep change differs from incremental change in that it requires new ways of thinking and behaving. It is change that is major in scope. The deep change effort distorts existing patterns of action and involves taking risks. Deep change means surrendering control pg 1 Making a deep change involves abandoning both and walking naked into the land of uncertainty. It is therefore natural for each of us to deny that there is any need for a deep change. Pg 3 Deep change can occur at both the organizational and the personal level. Insights into one level helps us understand the other better page 4 Deep change the organizational perspective: To transform the ineffective organization into an effective one, required forms were not turned in, regulators were ignored and directives were violated. Does this mean that to be a transformational leader and make deep change in organization, one has to break the law? No it does always require, however, that someone must take some significant risk. Organization and change are not complementary concepts to organize is to use systematize, to make behavior predictable (pg 5). All organizations are based on systems of external and internal expectations. External expectations may be informal, what the desire of the customer to buy a quality product at a reasonable price. Alternatively, the external expectations can actually be formalized into a law, requiring that an organization formed in certain ways. The internal expectations range from informal expectations to more formal routines, procedures, rules or regulations. All these expectations helped ensure predictable behavior. The process of formalization initially makes the organization more efficient or effective. When internal and external alignment is lost, the organization faces a choice: either adapt or take the road to slow death. Usually the organization can be renewed, energize, or made effective only if some leaders is willing to take some favorites by stepping outside the well defined boundaries. When this happens, the organization is Word, published, or pulled into unknown territory. The resulting journey through the unknown is a terrifying experience, with the possibility of failure or death a reality rather than a metaphor. Deep change the personal perspective: Making the change, however, is not easy. Organizations become structured and stagnant, and so do individuals. We have knowledge, values, assumptions, rules, and competencies that make us who we are. As the world around us changes, we lose our sense of alignment and he began to have problems. Often we can resolve these problems by making a small adjustment or an incremental change. Sometimes, however, we need to alter our fundamental assumptions, rules, or paradigms and develop new theories about ourselves and our surrounding environment. When this meeting merges, we try to deny and resist it. (pg 7) An example of the personal change: (pg 7 8) : I remember one executive with a large company that had never downsize. Suddenly, the company announced the need for such a reduction. This man was asked to inform a number of people, his close associates and friends, that they no longer have jobs. This painful test was barely completed when it was announced that another downsize was necessary, and the process was repeated. This was followed by a third reduction. The psychological impact was overwhelming, and the surviving staff members were nearly immobilized. This man described his own terror when he went home that night, lifted his children, and wondered what it would mean if he could not pay for their education or if he could not maintain his home. He wondered about his own market value. He has started out as an engineer, but now he was a manager a

specialist in the bureaucratic culture of his own particular company. In a world where many mid-level people were being eliminated, he feared he was useless. He felt betrayed and angry. He, like his colleagues, can now barely function at work. As a result, the company's performance fell, accelerating the entire vicious cycle. After months of the wrenching agony, this man could take no more. He began to ask himself who he really was and what he was really valued. He will talk to his wife about these issues. Did he have an identity separate from the organization? Could they live on half his income if he switched jobs? He was surprised and delighted to discover that the answer to both of the questions was just. Answering these questions had a green light. He felt personally empowered. He stopped worrying about the dangers of changing and how he was seen by the organization. He began to ask himself what was needed in the present. He saw his immobilized colleagues and realized that he needed to do something to empower them. He designed a new role for himself. He carefully selected people and invited them into meeting and ask them what they wanted the company to look like in 10 years. A nationally they were startled by his question, but gradually they join the process of designing the company's future. His sense of empowerment spread to others. Gradually, things began to improve. In reflecting on the entire experience, the man told me he had an entirely new outlook on the concept of leadership. He talked about the paradox. He claimed that although he now active in lunch more independently, he cared more about the organization and was therefore twice as valued. This man has essentially negotiated the process of deep change. Because he was more internally driven, he was able to take part in the creation of his external world. He was no longer an externally determined response to his environment. He became both empowered and in powering. He was more capable of leading under conditions of continuous change. He was a more organic employee. The relationship between the two levels: (p 8-11) Facing an intense global economy, organizations and their members are having to reinvent themselves frequently. This is a top down process. The accuracy of this top down model, however, blinds us to an equally accurate but seldom recognized model based on an opposing set of assumptions. It is a model of bottom up change. It starts with an individual. There is an important link between deep change at the personal level and deep change at the organizational level. To make deep personal change is to develop a new paradigm, a new self, one that is more effectively aligned with todays realities. This can only occur if we are willing to journey into unknown territory and confront the wicked problems we encounter. In doing so, we learn the paradoxical lesson that we can change the world only by changing ourselves. This is not just a cute abstraction; it is an elusive key to effective performance in all aspects of life. Getting Lost with Confidence: (p 12) Whereas most people flee from the thought of deep change, there are a few, like Scott Peck, who experience it often enough to reflect on it. Traveling naked into the land of uncertainty allows for another kind of learning, a learning that helps us forget what we know and discover what we need. It leads to the discovery that because of multiple past experiences in making the terrifying journey. After a while, terror turns to faith. These people know how to get lost with confidence.

Chapter Two: Confronting the Deep Change or Slow Death Dilemma

Maintaining faith, courage, and energy in today's fiercely competitive world is not easy. Having to face the many challenges that occur in our lives and in our organizations and continually to resolve issues often corrodes our initiative and curtails our internal drive. Consider the following statements by executives at two different organizations (p15) these statements reflect the positions of many senior people who are buffeted by more demands than they can possibly meet. They are tired. Yet there is something more significant than personal burnout reflection in the statements. While both of these executives recognize that a deep change is needed in their organizations, both have opted to do nothing. They have chosen short term personal survival over long-term collective responsibility. These worn down, disillusioned executives have made a conscious choice to lead and unaddressed organizational problem fester and grow. The problem will eventually become a crisis, and many people will suffer. The practical implications of this deep change or slow death dilemma are illustrated by the following statements (p16) Slow Death: The Organizational Phenomenon slow death begins when someone, confronting the dilemma of having to make deep organizational change or accepting the status quo, rejects the opinion for the deep change. This decision results in the gradual (and occasionally not so gradual) disintegration of an organization, business, or industry. The process of slow death has a number of common characteristics let us examine for the most prominent. 1. Pervasiveness: the choice of slow death is not an isolated phenomenon. In today's global economy, it is verging on an epidemic, regularly occurring across a wide range of organizations. It is especially common in conservative, don't rock the boat cultures. But it is not confined to such organizations. Even in organizations experiencing great success (which can be another stimulant of stress and burnout), it is not unusual to find pockets of experienced, competent, and well intentioned people who have opted for slow death. Changes in needed, but this need is denied. The choice can be made anywhere, at any time, and at any level. 2. Violation of trust: in choosing slow death, the decision-makers may fully recognize the pressure for change. Instead of initiating the change, however, they choose to do other things. In this sense, the phenomenon of choosing slow death is not the same phenomenon as the often told boiled frog story. The boiled frog story is based on a laboratory experiment. A live frog is placed in a container of water that is gradually heated. Eventually the water boils and the frog dies. In contrast, if the frog is taken from cold water and placed in a container of hot water, it immediately jumps out and thus managed to survive. Organizations are said to be like the frogs in the experiment. They are likely to be unconscious of slowly evolving changes. The boiled frog metaphor does not capture an important aspect of the deep change or slow death phenomenon. When an executive admits that a change is needed but awesome not to make it, this negative is making a conscious choice. The water is slowly heating up, and the executive knows that a leap to safety as possible, the strategy thought being, if I can hang on just a couple more years, this problem will belong to someone else. However, win the executive leads to safety; the rest of the workforce is like a problem. In this sense, the choice of slow death might be referred to as good dead tadpole story. The frog leads to safety, and the tadpoles are left to boil. In this scenario, self-interest triumphs over collective responsibility. The selection of slow death has some moral overtones. It involves a violation of trust and responsibility, often leading to go to. Because of the moral implications, the issue becomes on un-discussable in the organization. Organizational members fake ignorance of the situation while fully understanding that their organization is in serious trouble. The impact of this problem is enormous. (p18-19) 3. Thirst for Vision: Executives often behave as if the problems they are having are a secret. However, that is seldom the case. People know when a critical issue is being ignored: We needed real change. Everyone knew it, but no one was willing to engage it. People slowly lose hope and begin to feel trapped by their circumstances. They often cope by withdrawing or, conversely, by staying busy with insignificant issues. I think we keep very busy because it is a kind of opium. These people, like their superior, become increasingly self interested and begin to attend to their own futures. Experience suggests that they would love to consider constructive alternatives, and even at the darkest moment would do so, if given a reason. During troubled times, people thirst

for effective leadership. They crave a vision that has credibility. Providing such a vision, however, is a difficult task. Some executives find that it is much easier to generate numbers and spreadsheets than it is to provide visionary leadership. Disseminating one more rational analysis, however, may be like passing out canteens full of sand to people dying from thirst. (p19-20) 4. Burnout: Relative lack of energy is another use. There are people who know how to lead, who understand deep change and the enormous investment of energy and resources that are necessary, yet they cannot bring themselves to initiate the process. There is no energy left. They are victims of burnout. So they continue to go through the motions, finding it difficult to discover interest and relevance in their work. What they need is a deep change at the personal level, a reinvention of their professional role, a revolution in their priority list, a recognition that maintenance is production and that they are absolute blast really must be delegated to someone else. Few people are very good at reinventing themselves. They often choose the destructive alternative of staying very busy. It may not be affected behavior, but it has the effect of a good narcotic. It diverts attention from the real issues and temporarily saves them from having to tackle and resolve the actual problem. (p20) Three Strategies for Confronting Slow Death at the Personal Level Many of you will recognize the phenomenon being discussed. you may not work in an organization that causes feelings of desperation. You may find yourself withdrawing. There are three strategies for confronting the problem of slow death.(p20) Strategy 1: Peace and Pay: Walking down the hallway of a large government agency, I passed numerous offices and work areas. As people move about, their body language suggests that what they were doing was not very urgent. My companion observed, "Here we house the legions of the walking dead". I have never forgotten that analogy because the imagery seemed to express something very real and at the same time something very sad about the people who worked in such settings. When people join the legions of the walking dead, you begin to live the lives of quiet desperation. They tend to experience feelings of meaningless, hopelessness, and impotence in their work roles, often taking on the role of poor victim. A victim and who suffers a loss because of the action of others. A victim tends to believe that salvation comments only from the action of others. They have little choice but to whine and wait until something good happens. Living with someone who chooses to play the victim role is draining; working in an organization where many people have chosen the victim role is absolutely depressing. Like a disease, the condition tends to spread. In today's organizations, many people are dying, not physically, but psychologically. To turn the situation around, for the healing process to begin, people must engage in deep personal change - change the world only occur when people take active charge of their own lives. This is a very uncomfortable concept for most people. When someone makes the initial decision to avoid confronting a difficult situation, a negative process is triggered. The person becomes deeply frustrated and eventually quit trying. Often, without fully realizing it, the person has taken on the victim's role. Instead of initiating deep change, the person consciously choose is a destructive path that inexorably process toward slow death. As organizations try to cope with external change, the level of stress in the workplace increases. As a result, people become frustrated and despondent, and their productivity decreases. How does an individual cope in an organizational environment that is saturated with depression and discouragement? One strategy is very natural. Recently, the director of human resources at a large corporation articulated the strategy when she said, Seventy-five percent of our middle managers have opted for peace and pay". Peace and pay means don't rock the boat, maintain the status will, keep your head in the Shell, come in at eight and go home at five, don't take any risk. Best numbers of people choose exactly this behavioral strategy. When people do this, they are coping with slow death by choosing slow death. The piece simply strategy is a form of mental illness. Actively choosing peace and pay means deliberately joining the legions of the walking dead. Making deep change in ourselves is not something we do for the organization; we do it for ourselves. It is a choice to be alive. (p 18 20) Strategy 2: Active Exit. When most middle managers are asked how to cope and a proactive way within an organization that is experiencing slow death, they present statements that can be reduced and integrated into the following four step strategy: Follow a preventive medicine regimen and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Maintain a mental picture that accepts the probability of leaving Stay in touch with the market and think creatively about alternative career paths. When it becomes most feasible, change jobs.

The active exit strategy is curious in that it is the most proactive process a reactive person can follow. There is some value in each of the four statements. They suggest the active managers of stress, confronting reality, career management, and the courage to make a career change. When people actively pursue this strategy, they are exhibiting more self responsible conduct than the passive choice of peace and pay. Individuals who choose this strategy are in effect contributing to slow death at the organizational level. The original problems are likely to get progressively worse for peers and subordinates. There is an interesting note about this strategy. When I present stories about senior managers who are choosing slow death for their organizations, middle managers become morally indignant. When, however, they are asked for an alternate approach to peach and pay, they construct the active exit strategy. I find little difference between the people who pursue the active exit strategy and the senior person who says, In two more years, Im out of here, and it will be someone elses problem. They are in fact both employing the same strategy. It is most difficult to see our own hypocrisy. (p 22 23) Strategy 3: Deep Change. One day, I explained the concept of slow death to Ellen Toronto, a practicing psychologist. She made an interesting comment: at the personal level, I deal with this issue every day. Every time a client comes to me with a problem, what I find is that the person is experiencing slow death. What I try to help such persons see is that they have a choice. They can continue to experience will death, or they can make a deep change. Most do not have the courage to engage the process of deep change, and most are not cured the challenge is to provide them with enough encouragement, help, and support that they dare to try. Listening to this statement, I was struck by three points. The first had to do with the behavior she described. We go to see people like Ellen because we are desperate for help. We are experiencing slow death, and she helps us see that the pain we are experiencing is something we actively choose and that we can choose a more healthy alternative. The second point is that we do not tend to choose the healthy alternative. We actually seem to prefer slow death. The change requires discipline, courage, and motivation. We would rather experience the pain of slow death than the threat of changing ourselves. But their complaint has to do with perspective. Previously, I had viewed slow death as an organizational issue, not as a personal issue for people working in organizations. I thought of slow death as something objective and far removed from me. Suddenly I realize that it was something much more basic. Perhaps in confronting the choice of slow death or deep change, I have come to understand that life is a constant process of death and rebirth. I understand this, I am more free to grow and become more responsive to the individuals around.

Chapter 3: The Fear of Change

In an effort to improve their organization, they had decided to send all the senior people to a well known seminar on quality. These executives, upon returning from the enlightening seminar, decided to implement the ideas in their organization. Together they developed a reasonable plan and initiated the change effort. A short time later, while we were doing some strategic planning, the team made numerous references to the new quality philosophy. They were making assumptions that quality, morale, productivity, and profit would all improve because of the new philosophy. They listed the alterations in behavior and productivity they expect to see in each area of the company. They were planning the future of their company around the premise that these significant changes would happen. Upon hearing their comments, I shared with them a story that was told to me by a vice president at another company. Three years before, that company had sent all its senior executives to the same seminar. They also anticipated that their new plan would yield dramatic improvements in quality, morale, productivity, and profit. However, three years later, they found that their immense effort had little if any impact. (p31) Given the sizable investment they had already made, the executives were transfixed by my story. They waited anxiously for an explanation on the failure. Almost in unison they asked "why did it fail?" Instead of explaining, I asked them to tell me why it failed. One of the most influential members of the group said, the leaders of the company didn't change their behavior. Now I challenge them to identify one time when one of you said that you were going to change your behavior. The members of this group were suddenly seen something that few people ever clearly see the incongruity of asking for change and others while failing to exhibit the same level of commitment and themselves. Since they expressed his sincere desire to change their organization, they asked me for advice. I described some simple practices that had succeeded for others. These practices would give them the tools they needed to change their stagnant patterns and systems. They were quiet for a time a time of quiet terror and inner reflection. They decided to adjourn and think about the issues. It is tempting to belittle these people. How dear they exhibit such arrogances? That we may be attempted to condemn these managers, we should first reflect on what we would do in similar situations. We regularly exhibit the same behavior. In confronting the shortcomings contributed to the problem at hand. The problem is always caused by the boss, peer, subordinate, spouse, child, schoolteacher, or some other person. We cannot easily recognize that the problem is part of a system in which we play an active role. (p 32) Telling, Coercing, and the Checklist Mentality: Life is for situations in which we would very much like another person to change behavior. We want our neighbors to not impinge on our rights. We want our children to not leave the bike in the middle of the driveway. We want our mother to stop interfering. We want people who work for us to have more of a sense of urgency. It attempts to address such problems situations, we usually begin by simply telling these persons what the problem is and how they might change. When the change is small or clearly to their liking, this strategy tends to work. (p33) In organizations, I watch managers engage in the strategy of change by telling. The manager knows that the people in the organization should make some important change, so this team goes on their to do list. At the appropriate time, the manager gives a speech or writes a memo instructing people to change. The manager then places a check next to the item on the to do list. The change has been implemented. What more can be expected? It is striking to me that so many new programs that he initiate change in organizations fail. It is also striking that once a change effort fails, the effort tends to be ignored. These failures are seldom analyzed. Such analysis would be too painful. As a result, with the learning takes place. One key to successful leadership is continuous personal change. Personal change is a reflection of our inner growth and empowerment. Empowerment leaders are the only ones who can induce a real change. They can forcefully communicate at a level beyond telling. By having the courage to change themselves, they model the behavior they are asking of others. At the personal level, the key to successful living is continuous personal change. Personal change is the way to avoid a slow death. When we are continually growing, we have an internal sense of meaning and impact. We are for the energy and radiate a successful demeanor. To have such feelings in a continuously changing environment, we must continually realign ourselves with our environment. This requires that we do an unnatural thing that we exercise the discipline to take an unusual perspective. (p 34-35) Taking the Third Perspective First:

We can reflect on the story from at least three perspectives. First, we can take the uninvolved perspective of the passing stranger. We can shake our heads and judgment of the parents who fail to perform their roles without resorting to force. The perspective is that of a distant, analytical, Observer, or the uninvolved judge, of the Monday morning with a. In our own lives, we slip into this perspective easily and often. Second, we could take the perspective of the two lobbying the frustrated parents who were struggling to make an intervention in a real situation. The perspective of the responsible actor, trying to make change in the world, is a challenge for the ages. As the conceptual and emotional levels, we often aspire to do it from the perspective of observed actor, we often consciously or unconsciously here we often like appearance of the story, experience frustration and failure. Finally there is the perspective of the self-centered little boy holding tightly to his wing. Our first temptation is to argue that for mature adults such as ourselves, that is to be a stretch and hardly worth consideration. This is, of course, a rationalization to protect us from considering the most painful perspective of all one of the last things we want to consider is our own selfishness and immaturity. We resist reflecting on our fear of change. Yet the truth is that we are exactly like the immature and selfish boy who refuses to leave his wing. (p36) The problem is that to grow, to take the journey on which our growth is predicated, we must confront our own immaturity, selfishness, and lack of courage. In a sense, life is all about are forceful, often overpowering need to take journeys, yet our tendency is to clip his wings ever more tightly. The decision we make about our journey determine how our self is aligned with our surrounding environment.(p 37)

Chapter 4: The Heroic Journey

energy is neither created nor destroyed. At any given moment, it flows toward some points in the universe and away from others. The amount of energy we feel has much to do with the alignment between ourselves and our surrounding environment. We can be aligned with our environment in such ways that we feel either strong and empowered or weak and powerless. When we feel the strongest and at the top of our game, we radiate large amounts of energy. When this energy and drive our direct it toward some important task, good things tend to happen. As we experienced success, we learn and grow. We gain a new perspective. As we apply this new understanding, we tend to become even more energized. During these periods, the self and the surrounding environment are more aligned. A key insight about dynamic alignment can be derived from an observation made by Fred Kofman and Peter Senge (1993). They point out that the self is a form of energy, and its state is entirely dependent on its relationship with the surrounding environment. (p41) Newtonian physicists were startled to discover that at the core of an atom, at the center of matter and there is nothing, no thing, pure energy. When they reached into the most fundamental building block of nature, they found a pregnant void - stable patterns of probability striving to connect with other patterns of probability. This discovery revolutionized physical sciences, initiating a quantum era. By the same token, we are startled to discover that at the core of a person, at the center of selfhood there is nothing, pure energy. When we reach into the most fundamental basis of our being and we find a pregnant void, a web of relationships. Was somebody ask us to talk about ourselves, we talk about family, work, academic, background, sports affiliations, etc. In all this talk, where is our self question mark the answer is nowhere, because the self is not a thing, but as Jerome Bruner says "a point of view that unifies the flow of experience into a coherent narrative" a new striving to connect with other narratives and become richer. (p41-42) These statements imply that the self is not a thing but an unfolding process. We are energized when we are learning and progressing, and we begin psychologically to die when we allow ourselves to stagnate. That is where we encounter the process of slow death. Relationships often play a key role. We have our greatest sense of joy and meaning when we connect with others in mutually enhancing ways. (p 42) This view exacerbates our problem. The longer we stay on the swing, the less courage we have to change. We get caught in a vicious cycle and can see no way out. At such time, the notion of realignment seems utopian at est. we come to believe that we are powerless, reflecting that all human beings are determined by their environments that there is no such thing as individuality, freedom, choice, or impact. (p 43) A Framework for Personal Change: The Heros Journy In todays changing global economy, uncertainty and constand change are an ongoing concern and an every present