Customer Reviews

Who Killed Change?: Solving the Mystery of Leading People Through Change

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book took a problem that is common in the workplace today, broke it down into understandable components and explained simple solutions. The mystery theme made this a fun read. A must have for companies dealing with change in today's economy

Very easy to read book that teaches key business principles. Similar style to "who moved my cheese". Very good book.

What an interesting way to look at change within a firm. It was amazing for me to see much of what I learned in my operations and organizational management classes put into a story about a murder. Without the multiple facets that make up the company supporting and nurturing Change, it will "die" and will keep the company from prospering. Blanchard and Britt do a wonderful job at explaining ways to facilitate change in a growing company. The experiences from their prior work expertise is evident in this book.

My favorite quote from the book was that of Performance, who said, "all good ideas must be reduced to hard work." This is what Performance is all about! As a student entrepreneur, I have found that a good idea is only a good idea until a strategy can be put in place to make the idea flourish and come to fruition.

Who Killed Change is a remarkable breakdown of organizational structure and methods to success in changing organizational environments.

For what it's worth": this book was nominated by Lucy Kellaway as the worst business book of 2009, and described as "laboured, tired, moronic and utterly tedious" ("Management tomes to make you groan", Financial Times, December 21, 2009, p.10).

Ouch!

Having just moved into a new leadership role in a new non-profit sector, I was delighted to find "Who Killed Change," by one of my favorite authors, Ken Blanchard.

The book is a concise "whodunit" type read...exposing the thirteen change killers in an organization. Easily read in two hours...clear implementation startegies.



The mystery in a business setting takes a look at such culprits as:
*Culture of the firm
*Leadership commitment
*Absence of sponsorship and guidance
*Problems with the change leadership team
*Ineffective communication and dialogue
*Lack of urgency
*Lack of communication of an inspiring vision
*A plan w/o necessary operational details
*A tight budget leader w/o sense of vision
*Poor training
*Lack of achievable incentive plan
*Poor performance management
*Questionable accountability

Thank Ken for a tool that provides useful checklists describing what change-assassinating behaviors to look for along with clear solutions I can implement today. A suggestion for you - take the mini-assessment to determine how ready your organization is for change at [...].

Who Killed Change ("WKC") is filled with valuable insights, and it is fun to read.
WKC a great job of making a complex subject (leading people through change) easy to understand for the typical manager or leader. This is the way it should be as change management/leadership should not be the practice of a select few within organizations.
I really like the chapter at the end of the book (Helping Change Thrive in Your Organization) that shows you how to apply the story's lessons to the real world. The questions provided help you evaluate the health of your own change initiatives.

This whimsical who dun it is great way to get across serious points on how resistance to change can eventually kill it, as well as who are the typical murder suspects. I could see a company making this into a play. A great and easy read.

John Britt continues the Blanchard tradition of using modern fables to identify and solve important and complex real-world business problems. This story-based format used by Mssrs. Britt and Blanchard been derided by some reviewers as "Cheesy", but they are transparently too clever for their own good. "Who Killed Change?" is tastefully and opulently written with decidedly pleasant manner of addressing a difficult topic.

Britt distills the essence the causes of the shockingly high and consummately wasteful failure of businesses to successfully implement change initiatives. Not only does "Who Killed Change?" identify the change-killing culprits, but it also descibes in eloquent detail how to deal with them. The Columbo-style inquisition exposes the foibles, blind spots and inertial behaviors that impede each of the culprits' execution of change, but always in a poitive and supportive manner. More importantly, Britt masterfully demonstrates how to dissolve the barriers and preconceptions that obstruct change inititives by bringing the culprits in to the same room and helping each, in turn, understand how his actions help or hinder. The two key ideas can not be missed: be honest about what's going on and involve everyone in the solution.

Each chapter contains useful checklists of what change-assassinating behaviors to look for, helpful steps to handle each and how the solutions relate to other undesired behaviors.

"Who Killed Change?" is destined to become a classic and deserves bookshelf space alongside "Drucker on Management", "Execution", and "Who Moved My Cheese". Buy a copy for everyone and share it today with your team; they will thank you for it.

The similarity hit me before I realized Ken Blanchard had written the foreword to the cheesy book. Blanchard uses the same platitudinous parable style exemplified by "Cheese". This is a great pity as the message Blanchard is conveying is valid. Change does not come easy. You need the appropriate alignment of vision, communication, urgency, .... Blanchard's unsuccessful attempt at aping Dashiell Hammett is tedious.

The good news for me was that this proved a quick read, and fortunately nowhere near as worthless as "Cheese".

Given Ken Blanchard's reputation I had expected more. As a result of this tiresome yarn, I'll almost surely refrain from reading any other of his works.

The purpose of this book is to educate the reader on how to successfully implement change initiatives. The authors do so by examining a failed attempt. They chose to instruct via a fable, a very popular format for business books these days. Unfortunately, their story just doesn't fit the fable format. It's too forced. Once they realized that the characters had to be named things like "Culture and Commitment" or "Performance Management" they should have nixed the fable format and gone back to the drawing board.

That said, their objective is achieved. The book outlines thirteen essential characteristics that must be present for change to be successful. They are also summarized in the last chapter for quick reference. A truth that is hammered out over and over is that managers (aka leaders) are the ones that are most responsible for killing change, and thus they are the key to its success.

It's certainly not the best book to which Ken Blanchard has affixed his name and despite the difficulties with the format, it is a quick read that contains some value for managers.