Building the Bridge As You Walk On It: A Guide for Leading Change by Robert E. Quinn
Review
the concept of the power of authentic self, normal state and leadership state really resonate with me. this book is a helpful collection of observations that clarify these concepts and help you become more aware of the the current organizational state and the actions you can take to be an example of change within that group. Will have to read again to fully get all the finer details, I found the amount of helpful quotes very dense.
Notes
- steps to leadership
- get into leadership state
- use proper language
- help individuals to transform themselves
- Becoming more aware and authentic
- 3ps Sidney banks
- kamini ravishankar
- Touch point leadership lines
Building the Bridge As You Walk On It
CHAPTER SIX - Transforming Others by Transforming Self
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To lead transformation is to become a leader of a social movement.
THE RESISTANT ORGANIZATION
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the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”
A FOURTH STRATEGY
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Individuals who embrace the Transformational Perspective are the ones who are most capable of leading deep change.
TRANSCENDING THE USUAL CATEGORIES
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Visionaries are often not present for the final institutionalization of deep change.
FOUR WAYS TO SEE LEADERSHIP
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The fundamental state of leadership is … the movement toward ever-increased levels of personal and collective integrity.
PRACTICING REFLECTIVE ACTION
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we make time for contemplation when we are away from our usual tasks so as to increase our capacity for mindfulness during the tasks.
ENTERING THE FUNDAMENTAL STATE OF LEADERSHIP
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Maximize the time you spend doing what only you can do.
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Take time every day to ask who you are and who you are becoming.
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Have a sacred time devoted to reflection. Develop spiritual disciplines. Have a regular physical workout.
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Understand that monitoring and reducing hypocrisy is your greatest source of power.
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Be ready to suffer for your integrity.
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We contribute our greatest added value by doing the things that we do naturally when we are in caring relationships and in pursuit of a genuine purpose
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Reality without vision destroys possibility; vision without reality destroys credibility
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Recognize that excellence does not derive from problem solving.
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Accept that you are not in control.
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One of the highest forms of responsibility is the responsibility to be free. One of the highest forms of freedom is the freedom to be responsible.
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Know that self-discipline is choosing to reach a higher good or to find meaning in suffering.
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When you know and express your core, there is no worry about others’ reactions.
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Tough means strong, firm, having a high, unwavering standard.
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Challenge others to exceed their current capacities.
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Spend increased time with the people who are trying to change.
WHAT HAPPENED?
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Her mother was growing more effectively because she had confronted and altered her self-deceptions. She had closed the gap between her script and the emergent reality in her life.
AUTHENTIC ENGAGEMENT
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Here the emphasis is not on achieving a state of complete integrity; it is on gaining more integrity than we had before.
ASKING A TRANSFORMATIONAL QUESTION
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Although his question seemed foolish, it tapped into the latent strengths of the organization. Instead of dwelling on everything that was going wrong and asking how it could be fixed, it changed a problem into a quest.
A SEARCH FOR MY BEST SELF
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. Usually we use feedback about ourselves as a way of identifying problems so we can work on them. It is amazing how pervasive this problem-solving perspective is. We need to abandon that perspective to engage in appreciative inquiry
MONITORING OUR HYPOCRISY
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We refuse to see our hypocrisy. Yet seeing our hypocrisy is the potential motor of change
A CASE OF PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE
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He concluded that even in the most constrained circumstances, there is always the freedom to choose one’s attitude, to empower oneself.
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the central motivating force in human life is not mere survival; it is finding meaning.
RESPONSIBLE FREEDOM
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At the center of our existence is not the “abomination” we feared before, but an authentic and unique self, striving to link with others and evolve together toward greater complexity.
TOUGH LOVE
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The challenge is to be simultaneously compassionate and assertive, to practice tough love (s
A WOMAN WHO KNOWS
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We call such people “leaders” because of the formal position they hold, but holding a position is not the same as leading.
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As Leo Tolstoy once wrote, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
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organizations do not change significantly unless someone inside the organization changes significantly
THE PROCESSES THAT PRECEDE SELF-CHANGE
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people tend to go through six stages: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination.
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many people are going to be in the precontemplation stage. Trying to get them to embrace self-change is very difficult. We can keep exposing them to various kinds of information about why they might want to. We can also put them in social settings that are conducive to such a change. Yet many will not be ready.
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understand the contemplation stage. Here it is appropriate to reduce the emphasis on analysis and rational persuasion.
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In coming to make self-change or in helping others make self-change, there must be movement to commitment
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We are in the action stage when we start engaging in new patterns of behavior.
FURTHER INSIGHTS
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Few people think about the possible future or invite feedback on their best self, their strengths.
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The power of entropy and the attraction of slow death are always working on us
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To lead is to experience and transcend discouragement and despair.
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Few people think about the possible future or invite feedback on their best self, their strengths. In developing leaders, we need to move away from problem solving toward purpose finding
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - Inviting Others into the Fundamental State of Leadership
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Leadership is not authority, and it is not merely a set of learnable skills. It is, at the most basic level, a state—a way of being.
TRANSFORMATIONAL TEACHING
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Organizational transformation is all about increased collective virtue, about the ever-increasing integrity of both the individual and the organization.
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leadership. It’s not simply processes as reflected in so many books; it’s passion and commitment for a cause.
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Instead of living in the realm of safe analysis, they start to become comfortable in sharing authentic feelings.
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The work of being a transformational change agent constantly requires finding language and concepts that enable one to “describe the indescribable” and to “explain the unexplainable” to a transactional world that demands tangibility for every argument and discussion
ATTRACTING OTHERS INTO THE FUNDAMENTAL STATE OF LEADERSHIP
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The willingness to face deep change alters how we think about developing others.
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Recognize that others seldom see anyone in the fundamental state of leadership.
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Recognize that most administrators and designers of leadership training are in the normal state, and they assume the telling and forcing strategies
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Recognize that in sacred space, we witness the emergence of productive community and the true creation of value.
PART TWO - Eight Practices for Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership
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Eight concepts help us to capture the essence of the fundamental state of leadership: reflective action, authentic engagement, appreciative inquiry, grounded vision, adaptive confidence, detached interdependence, responsible freedom, and tough love.