Most change efforts fail because most change methods are built to deal with single challenges in a nice, neat, linear way. But leaders know that today, pressures for change don't come at you one at a time; they come all at once. It's like riding a roller coaster: sudden drops, jarring turns, anxious climbs into the unknown. Drawing on his years of experience at the Center for Creative Leadership and Columbia University, Bill Pasmore offers a four-part model and four mindsets that allow leaders to deal with multiple changes simultaneously without drowning in the churn.
The first step, Pasmore says, is to Discover which external pressures for change are the most necessary to address. The key here is to think fewer-step away from the buffet of possibilities and pinpoint the highest-impact options. Then you need to Decide how many change efforts your organization can handle. Here the mindset is to think scarcer-you have only so many people and so many resources, so how do you best use them? Once you've figured that out, it's time to Do-and here you want to think faster. Streamline processes and engage in rapid prototyping so you can learn quickly and cost-effectively. The last step is to Discern what worked and what didn't, so think smarter-develop metrics, identify trends, and make sure learnings are disseminated throughout the organization.
For each stage of the process, Pasmore offers detailed advice, practical tools, and real-world examples. This book is a comprehensive guide to navigating change the way it happens now.
Industry Reviews
“Organizational change tends to fall apart under the weight of its own grandiose goals, chaotic initiatives, and crushing complexity. There is true wisdom—drawn from Bill Pasmore's forty years of research and personal experience—in the underlying simplicity of his message: ‘Think fewer. Think scarcer. Think faster. Think smarter.'”
—Mark Nadler, Principal and cofounder, Nadler Advisory Services
“Reasons abound for why so many organization change efforts fail, but one of the most important is that leaders soon discover that getting the change process right is very difficult. Bill Pasmore provides helpful measurements and case examples that can raise the percentage rate for success well beyond where we remain today, at a dismal 30 percent.”
—W. Warner Burke, Edward Lee Thorndike Professor of Psychology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
“In this outstanding and very readable book, Bill Pasmore shows why conventional approaches to leading change don't work and provides new insights and practical guidelines for leading systemic change.”
—Michael Beer, Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School; cofounder and Chairman, Center for Higher Ambition Leadership; and cofounder and Director, TruePoint
“The high failure rate for organizational change efforts tells me that the so-called experts really don't know how to manage change. But Bill Pasmore does, and here he provides what leaders in every sector at every level desperately need: a trove of practical advice, a tested playbook, and the inspiring assurance that complexity truly can bring out the best in us.”
—Vice Admiral Cutler Dawson, USN (Ret.), President and CEO, Navy Federal Credit Union
“Bill Pasmore has again leveraged his significant experience in working with real-world organizations facing complex challenges. He provides a clear and compelling framework to guide leaders who are responsible for successfully executing change in today's environment.”
—Vance Tang, Director, Comfort Systems USA and American Woodmark, and former President and CEO, KONE Inc.
