Inspiration or Desperation
Author: Cherry McPherson, EdD , K. Joseph Witemann, PhD
Summerville Books
Augusta, GA United States
Date: 01/01/2004
ISBN: 0-9728190-0-2
Volume: 1
Edition: 1
Pages: 252
Annotation: CORPORATE CHANGE REPRESENTS A CHALLENGE confronting leaders of most organizations today. After working with leaders and corporations for over three decades, we’ve yet to see one individual, no matter how powerful, change an entire organization single-handedly. But we have seen charismatic executives lead others through inspiring visions or desperate times to a new future. Successful leaders take people through eight basic steps that give them compelling
reasons to care about the future of the company.
The context—inspiration or desperation—gets people’s attention. Then these leaders give people clear direction and immediately enlist their energies in creating that future. This book is a handbook for executives and other key leaders who have enough courage to meet ongoing challenges that arise during change and who have the wisdom to get people involved in the process. Their people are the ones who make changes work.
Inspiration or Desperation differs from other change management books in both its origin and its content. We began our journey with organizational change in graduate school back in the late seventies. We learned theories of planned change from the masters and applied those
theories to systems attempting to change. Upon graduation, we accepted positions in academia, started consulting practices, and found ourselves
in a variety of situations with one constant. People. Regardless of presenting issues, whether occurring in associations, institutions, or
corporations, profit or nonprofit, success ultimately boils down to meeting a challenge, solving a problem, or forging a better future. And it takes people to accomplish these feats. Even if you define change as implementing technical solutions, such as six sigma or SAP installations, technology doesn’t work unless people decide to make it work. Over the past decade, as we began full time careers as external
change management consultants, we’ve taken part in the realities of change first hand. This book is the result of that experience. We have
written this book to provide corporate leaders with an executive-inspired, executive-driven template for corporate change. It differs from
other books on change because the stories we tell represent our own experiences. Every person we’ve interviewed for this book is a former
client, colleague, and friend. We’ve been alongside them in the trenches, in the every day world where change happens, or it doesn’t. We worked directly with CEOs, presidents, vice presidents, directors, managers, supervisors, and frontline employees. We’ve done the work we describe, we’ve walked down the path we chronicle, and we’ve changed and learned along the way.
Our success in organizations is a direct result of our willingness to look at organizations with beginners’ eyes; our commitment to continuously
improving our own practices, products, and services; and our willingness to listen to clients and learn from their experiences,
see from their perspectives, and stand alongside them when times got tough. This book has been inspired by those executive leaders with
whom we’ve had the privilege of working. It is as much their book as it is ours.
We hope that what you read here sounds and feels familiar. If we give voice to some of your own experiences, then we have succeeded.
At times, you will hear strong recommendations around proprietary products and processes. We make no apologies, for we would do all
readers a disservice if we failed to disclose with great passion those interventions that can change your company. At the same time, we
provide guidelines and suggestions on how to create your own versions of these solutions. They work for our clients, and they will work
for you. As you take your own journey, we would like to hear from you. We invite you to email us with your questions and stories of your victories as you chart your own change path. You can contact us through our publisher at www.SummervilleBooks.com.
Cherry McPherson, Ed.D.
K. Joseph Wittemann, Ph.D.
Online Resources:
Summerville Books
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