 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
25 Good Books on Change
Related
-
Related:
- Chaos
by
James Gleick
- Mindfulnes by
Ellen Langer
- How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
Chaos,
James Gleick - Penguin Books, 1987.
Change is about ambiguity and unpredictability -- and those two are about
what people routinely call "chaos." But what is chaos? Is it bad? Good?
Just there? Or better, what is "chaos theory?" If you want to know, then
this is still the best book around. We have a leaning toward chaos theory.
We think it's a very important factor in understanding and dealing with
change. In other words, we have a bias. (See our comments on Managing
the Unknowable above.) This book is not an easy read, but it's not
a dull scientific treatise either. Gleick is the science editor for the
New York Times and does an excellent job of making the theory accessible
to the layman. Take it a little bit at a time and you'll come out on the
other end being able to explain all those cryptic comments you heard in
the movie Jurassic Park.
Mindfulness,
Ellen Langer - Addison-Wesley, 1989.
This gem of a book addresses what I guess you could call "mindsets." It
is not a book on change; nor a book about business or organizations. But
it does address many of the issues of business and change -- particularly
in the section regarding managers and the power of uncertainty. Overall,
Langer explores how we get caught up in the various assumptions and mindsets
of our environment and become, in effect, mindless, resulting in "functional
stupidity." Her aim? To help make us more mindful. Many authors such as
Senge and Peters talk about the importance of examining mindsets -- particularly
in times of change -- but none of them come close to offering the kind
of insight and suggestions that Langer provides.
How to Talk
So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, Adele Faber and
Elaine Mazlish -- Avon Books, 1980.
What on earth, you ask, is this book doing on the list? Simple. The more
we work in the area of change, the more central and important is the skill
of empathy. From the status of nice-to-do, empathy has been elevated to
the level of a survival skill -- a "soft skill" with a steel core of process
and results running through it. But there really isn't a good book devoted
solely to empathy -- well, almost. Faber's and Mazlish's book is still
the best book on the market about empathy -- what it is,
why it works; chock full of examples and applications. But it's a parenting
book, you say. About kids! True. It is. But the principles are absolutely
sound and applicable to people of any age. Which means you have to do
a little "translating." It's a gold mine! We recommend it to many people
and get heartfelt thanks.