Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock, November 22, 2000
By chance rather than by choice, I read this book before reading others previously or subsequently written by Quinn. Deep Change provides an appropriate introduction to any one of them. I value his books so highly because they make substantial contributions to our understanding of HOW to achieve and then sustain meaningful change, both in our personal lives and in our organizations. According to Quinn, "Incremental change is usually the result of a rational analysis and planning process. There is a desired goal with a specific set of steps for reaching it. Incremental change is usually limited in scope and often reversible. If the change does not work out, we can always return to the bold way. 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." Does all this sound familiar? Has Quinn described accurately how change occurs within your organization? Now consider a second brief excerpt: "This book explores a much more difficult change process, the process of deep change. Deep change differs from incremental change in that it requires new ways of thinking and behaving. It is change that is major in scope, discontinuous with the past and generally irreversible. The deep change effort distorts existing patterns of action and involves taking risks. Deep change means surrendering control." Decades ago, David Riesman made the helpful distinction between "inner-directed" and "other-directed" people. The same can also be said of organizations (communities of people) when determining the nature, extent, and location of control. Quinn believes that "one person can change the larger system or organization in which he or she exists." If I understand Quinn correctly, his central assertion is this: If and only if enough individuals achieve deep change individually can their shared organization then achieve deep change. This is a very dangerous concept. Unlike incremental change, deep change poses a very serious threat to the status quo of an organization and, especially, to those who (you can be certain) will steadfastly defend it. There will also be perils for those who seek to achieve deep change in their individual lives. Cherished assumptions, premises, values, and beliefs will all be called into question and many of them will be found inadequate, if not false. As Quinn describes it, those undergoing deep change will feel as if they are "walking naked into the land of uncertainty." He acknowledges "This is usually a terrifying choice, often involving a ` dark night of the soul.'" In Riesman's view, that person becomes inner-directed. For Quinn, that person is "internally driven...more capable of leading under conditions of continuous change...more organic." What is the alternative? Quinn's answer: "slow death." I am reminded of a relevant insight expressed by Ernest Becker in The Denial of Death. He acknowledges that no one can deny physical death but there is another death which anyone can deny: the death which occurs when we become wholly preoccupied with fulfilling others' expectations of us. A slow death indeed. If you wish to achieve deep change in your life, and are now involved in an organization which can only tolerate incremental change (if any change at all), I urge you to find another organization.
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47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Give me change or give me slow death!!, August 30, 2001
I have sifted through many works of many authors; notably Senge's Fifth Discipline and Dance of Change, Covey's 7 Habits, and John Kotter's Leading Change; each providing valuable gifts in my own journey toward leadership of change in the healthcare organization I work in. As a physician, I am naturally a bit skeptical of 'managerial speak' and recognize how the professional culture of medicine recoils at the invasion of our professional language by 'corporate-speak.'
The profound challenges and dilemmas faced by the healthcare industry at this moment kept my nose in these books, searching, searching, searching for ways to bring clarity to the chaos of a once stable and rewarding profession.
As I took on a new post as "Director of Patient Safety" I found myself wading through even murkier waters than I had found within the context of my profession.
And then I came upon this book.
Stories, parables, myths: a language that transcends all 'cultures'. Ahhhhhhhhh, such a refreshing, concise, simple and brilliant work!
Simple yet far from easy.
There is nothing easy about this work.
To change what is "out there" I must look inward and face my own myths, dragons, fears, and shortcomings.
The only way to change the world is to change myself.I can already feel the change within myself. Remarkable, remarkable. I recommend it unconditionally to any and all that feel trapped, frustrated, or impeded in any way in their life's journey. Thank you Mr. Quinn.
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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A passionate appeal for personal change, September 6, 1997
By A Customer
Ghandi would be proud. This book if for all the bosses that rant and rave about how everyone else needs to change. The author of this book says that organizational change begins with the "man in the mirror," and that time is of the essence.
The book is easy to read, lots of white space for you to spit or cry when the author leads you down one more set of reasons why we must all take up profound personal change at some time in our life. If not, he argues, we face a slow psychological death. The author also helps us recognize that we're really laughing at ourselves when we read Dilbert in the morning funnies.
The author is a well-respected academic, which makes his message even more impressive (and he gives several examples of leading change in higher education). For those of you still yearning for the joys of graduate school, fear not, he doesn't miss the chance for some self-promotion of his prior research on organizational values. It adds some rigor to his ideas.
Generation Xers are not likely to find this book very helpful, it reaches out much more effectively to those 40-somethings still searching for a singular formula for life and leadership. Each chapter ends with 1-2 pages of self-reflective questions. There are 2 or 3 gut grabbers, but by and large you'll still need to keep your therapy appointment to figure out how to use Quinn's ideas in your daily life.
A wonderful by-product of reading this book is the chance to steal his wonderful quotes and pick up some new phrases (e.g., "getting lost with confidence"). He also describes several exercises that can be used (there's a great case study about a couple where only one person is a non-smoker) and he outlines an interesting leadership development program from the University of Michigan.
Overall, this book requires little investment and really gets you thinking. If your life as a successful leader isn't helping you be all the you can be, then put this one in your shopping cart!
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