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Change Masters Are - Literally - The Right People In The Right Place At The Right Time. The Right People Are The Ones With The Ideas That Move Beyond The Organization's Established Practice, Ideas They Can Form Into Visions. The Right Places Are The Integrative Environments That Support Innovation, Encourage The Building Of Coalitions And Teams To Support And Implement Visions. The Right Times Are Those Moments In The Flow Of Organizational History When It Is Possible To Reconstruct Reality On The Basis On Accumulated Innovations To Shape A More Productive And Successful Future.

-Rosabeth Moss Kanter

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Change Masters Are -

Rosabeth Moss Kanter

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Change Masters Are - Literally - The Right People In The Right Place At The Right Time. The Right People Are The Ones With The Ideas That Move Beyond The Organization's Established Practice, Ideas They Can Form Into Visions. The Right Places Are The Integrative Environments That Support Innovation, Encourage The Building Of Coalitions And Teams To Support And Implement Visions. The Right Times Are Those Moments In The Flow Of Organizational History When It Is Possible To Reconstruct Reality On The Basis On Accumulated Innovations To Shape A More Productive And Successful Future.

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During The Boom Years, It Was So Easy To Lose Sight Of Basic Values. For Example, There Was Lots Of Nonsense Said And Written About The So-called "new Economy." Some People Said All Economic Laws Have Been Overturned! Then All The Problems Developed. Corporations Were Heavily Fined For Illegalities. Many Of Their Senior-level Executives Were Indicted, Convicted, And Sent To Prison.

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Sometimes You Lose - Perhaps Because You Play Against The Very Best, Or Because Surprises Happen - But If There Is Organizational Confidence, You Bounce Back From Losses And Convert Them To Successes.

"leadership" Is A Big Topic Today. We Know That The World - Nations And Communities In Addition To Companies - Needs More And Better Leaders. So I Wanted To Explore How Leaders Make A Difference, How They Can Shift A Negative Cycle, Turn Around A Losing Organization, Propel A Team To Victory When Conditions Aren't Perfect. I Saw That What Leaders Do Is Build Confidence In Advance Of Victory. Then The Confidence They Produce Makes The Hope Of Success Turn Into The Reality Of Success, Because People Behave Differently When They Are Surrounded By A Culture Of Confidence.

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No" Is Always An Easier Stand Than "yes.

Sports Is A Perfect Activity In Which To See Streaks And Cycles, Organizational And Otherwise, In Action - And To Watch Confidence Build Or Erode. There Are Repeated Episodes Of Performance With Similar Rules And Clear Winners Or Losers. I Added Team Sports To My Studies Of Business Because There Are Excellent Parallels To Work Groups In The Performance Of Sports Teams And Also Excellent Parallels To Larger, More Complex Businesses Or Organizations In The Strategy, Structure, And Culture Surrounding Any Particular Team.

Powerlessness Corrupts: Absolute Powerlessness Corrupts Absolutely.

Change Demands New Learning.

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Making A Difference

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Confidence Is The Bridge Connecting Expectations And Performance, Investment And Results.

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Power Is The Ability To Get Things Done

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Those Enjoying Winning Streaks Thus Win Twofold. They Win Not Only The Game But Also The Right To Greater Self-determination. They Become Masters Of Their Own Fate. That Feeling Of Efficacy, Of Being In Charge Of Circumstances, Is The Essence Of Confidence. Winning Once Or Twice Is Encouraging, But Winning Continuously Is Empowering.

One Of The Symptoms Of A Losing Streak Is A Turnover Of Top Executives. It's A Revolving Door.

A Self-reinforcing Upward Spiral: Performance Stimulating Pride Stimulating Performance.

Change Is A Threat When Done To Me, But An Opportunity When Done By Me.

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Confidence Makes You Willing To Try Harder And Attracts The Kind Of Support From Others That Makes "winning" Possible.

A Great Thinker Once Described Innovative Thinkers This Way: "some Men See Things As They Are And Say, 'why?' I Dream Of Things That Never Were And Say, 'why Not?'" Innovative Thinkers Are Constantly Asking Questions Such As These. How Can We Improve Recruiting, Hiring And Training. How Can Be Add Greater Value To Our Products And Services By Making Them Even Better? How Can We Do More To Nourish The Personal As Well As Professional Development Of Our People? What More Can We Do As A Good Citizen Where We Do Business?

Creativity Is A Lot Like Looking At The World Through A Kaleidoscope. You Look At A Set Of Elements, The Same Ones Everyone Else Sees, But Then Reassemble Those Floating Bits And Pieces Into An Enticing New Possibility.

Embrace Change As An Opportunity To Learn, To Improve, To Make A Difference In Others' Lives As Well As In Your Own. Have The Courage To Challenge The Status Quo. Remember That Preparation And Ambition In Combination With Opportunity Equals Success. And Have Fun!

Time Is A Function Of Impact. The Longer A Book Of Mine Has Been In Print, The Greater Its Impact Seems To Be As People Absorb And Digest My Ideas. I Am Especially Proud Of The Change Master: Innovation And Entrepreneurship In The American Corporation, First Published In 1983, Because It Raised Questions And Addressed Issues At A Time When So Many Great Changes Were Occurring In Our Society, Indeed Throughout The World.

Mindless Habitual Behavior Is The Enemy Of Innovation.

The Very Lack Of Opportunity The Group Faces Creates A Self-defeating Cycle And Puts Pressure On Members To Limit Their Aspirations.

The Martha Stewart Trial Makes Clear How Far Women Have Risen In The Business World. America Can Be Proud Of Our Equal-opportunity Prosecution And Conviction.

The Way Innovating Companies Are Designed Leaves Ambiguities, Overlaps, Decision Conflicts Or Decision Vacuums In Some Parts Of The Organisation. People Rail At This, Curse It-and Invent Innovative Ways To Overcome It.

Thinkers, Makers And Traders Are The Dna Of The World Class Company

The Positive Outlook That Optimists Project Does Not Come From Ignoring Or Denying Problems. Optimists Simply Assume That Problems Are Temporary And Can Be Solved, So Optimists Naturally Want More Information About Problems Because Then They Can Get To Work And Do Something. Pessimists Are More Likely To Believe That There Is Nothing They Can Do Anyway, So What's The Point Of Even Thinking About It?

Money Should Never Be Separated From Values. Detached From Values It May Indeed Be The Root Of All Evil. Linked Effectively To Social Purpose It Can Be The Root Of Opportunity.

To Stay Ahead, You Must Have Your Next Idea Waiting In The Wings.

A Great Idea Is Not Enough.

It Is Easier To Talk About Money -- And Much Easier To Talk About Sex -- Than It Is To Talk About Power. People Who Have It Deny It; People Who Want It Do Not Want To Appear To Hunger For It; And People Who Engage In Its Machinations Do So Secretly.

Leaders Is The New Organisation Do Not Lack Motivational Tools, But The Tools Are Different From Those Of Traditional Corporate Bureaucrats. The New Rewards Are Based Not On Status But On Contribution, And They Consist Not Of Regular Promotion And Automatic Pay Rises, But Of Excitement About The Mission And A Share Of The Glory Of Success.

America Can Restore Its Strengths As The World-respected Land Of Opportunity By Returning To Open-society Principles. An Open Society Invests In People And New Ideas, Rewards Talent And Hard Work, Values Dialogue And Learns From Dissent, Operates To High Standards With Transparent Information, Looks For Common Ground, Sees Problems As Opportunities For Creative Change, And Encourages Those Who Are Fortunate To Help Others Get The Same Chance, Because Service Is The Highest Ideal. With Such Standards In Mind, America The Beautiful Can Return To Its Admired Role As America The Principled.

I Was Determined To Achieve The Total Freedom That Our History Lessons Taught Us We Were Entitled To, No Matter What The Sacrifice.

A Basic Truth Of Management - If Not Of Life - Is That Nearly Everything Looks Like A Failure In The Middle.

The Architecture Of Change Involves The Design And Construction Of New Patterns, Or The Reconceptualization Of Old Ones, To Make New, And Hopefully More Productive, Actions Possible.

The Best Way For Business To Move Out Of The Hall Of Shame Is To Demonstrate A Commitment To Social Causes. This Also Makes Business Sense. A Focus On Solving Social Problems Has Motivational Benefits In Lean Economic Times.

John Akers Once Said That Changing Ibm's Culture Was More Difficult Than Getting Elephants To Dance. Of Course It's Really Difficult, As Lou Gerstner Also Found Out Years Later. The Title Of His Own Book Is Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? He And His Top Executives Were Change Masters At Ibm. All Organizations, Especially The Larger Ones, Will Always Need Change Masters. Dissatisfaction With The Status Quo And Efforts To Improve It Should Be Encouraged Rather Than Discouraged. Regrettably, That Is Often Not The Case.

... People Are Capable Of More Than Their Organizational Positions Ever Give Them The Tools Or The Time Or The Opportunity To Demonstrate.

Not Everyone In An Organization Is In A Position To Accumulate Power Through Competent Performance Because Most People Are Just Carrying Out The Ordinary And The Expected - Even If They Do It Very Well. The Extent To Which A Job Is Routinized Fails To Give An Advantage To Anyone Doing It Because 'success' Is Seen As Inherent In The Very Establishment Of The Position And The Organization Surrounding It. Neither Persons Nor Organizations Get 'credit' For Doing The Mandatory Or The Expected.

Friendly People Are Caring People, Eager To Provide Encouragement And Support When Needed Most.

You Can Always Buy Something In English, You Can't Always Sell Something In English.

Innovative Organizations Provide The Freedom To Act Which Arouses The Desire To Act.

Change Masters Are - Literally - The Right People In The Right Place At The Right Time. The Right People Are The Ones With The Ideas That Move Beyond The Organization's Established Practice, Ideas They Can Form Into Visions. The Right Places Are The Integrative Environments That Support Innovation, Encourage The Building Of Coalitions And Teams To Support And Implement Visions. The Right Times Are Those Moments In The Flow Of Organizational History When It Is Possible To Reconstruct Reality On The Basis On Accumulated Innovations To Shape A More Productive And Successful Future.

The Goal Of Winning Is Not Losing Two Times In A Row.

If Networks Of Women Are Formed, They Should Be Job Related And Task Related Rather Than Female-concerns Related. Personal Networks For Sociability In The Context Of A Work Organization Would Tend To Promote The Image Of Women Contained In The Temperamental Model - That Companies Must Compensate For Women's Deficiencies And Bring Them Together For Support Because They Could Not Make It On Their Own. But Job-related Task Forces Serve The Social-psychological Functions While Reinforcing A More Positive Image Of Women.

Everything Looks Like A Failure In The Middle.

Peter Drucker Being One Of The Most Important Influences Because He Has Helped To Think Differently About Organizational Leadership And Management. Frankly, I Learn Something Of Value From Everyone I Meet. My Harvard Colleagues. My Students. The Executives I Work With. For An Eager Student, Which Is What I Am, There Is So Much To Be Learned From Everyday Experiences. I'm A Sponge. Always Will Be.

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