Change the World : How Ordinary People Can Achieve Extraordinary Results - Hardcover

Quinn, Robert E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787951935 ISBN 13: 9780787951931

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2000

Synopsis

In this empowering book, Robert E. Quinn, author of the highly successful and influential Deep Change, gives readers the courage to use personal transformation to positively impact their home life, work life, and communities -- to be what he refers to as "inner-directed and outer-focused." We are all potential change agents, but most of us are trapped by belief that we as individuals cannot make a difference. Informed by the teachings of Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. -- three of the most successful change agents ever -- Quinn outlines eight steps each of us can take to move ourselves and others to the highest levels of excellence. Following his advice, each of us can access and apply the power that lies within us in ways that will change our world for the better.

About this title

Review:

Robert Quinn's Change the World offers profound yet practical guidance for those who truly want to improve their surroundings. Quinn, a University of Michigan professor and author of five books on change and organizational performance, bases Changeon eight "seed thoughts" drawn from the philosophies of Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. After relevant quotations from each, he cites contemporary real-life examples to show how these principles--Envision the Productive Community, First Look Within, Embrace the Hypocritical Self, Transcend Fear, Embody a Vision of the Common Good, Disturb the System, Surrender to the Emergent Process, and Entice Through Moral Power--can really be used. "All our lives we have been explicitly and implicitly taught to see human influence as an exercise in domination," Quinn writes. By learning instead to practice a new type of "transformational behavior," he suggests, even "ordinary people" can have "extraordinary impact." The section on asserting moral authority, for example, segues from his own fifth-grade coaching experiences to those of basketball superstar Larry Bird to details on building a bond between "change agents and change targets" that effects desirable modifications. Recommended for anyone open to new ideas on motivation and stimulating change. --Howard Rothman

From the Back Cover:

The idea that inner change makes outer change possible has always been part of spiritual and psychological teachings. But, until now, it's an idea that hasn't usually been addressed in leadership and management training. With Change the World! Quinn turns this idea into an action guide for organization leaders, managers, parents, and everyone else who wants to make a difference.
Change the World presents eight principles that each of us can follow to make individual and organizational change happen: envision the productive community; first look within; embrace the hypocritical self; transcend fear; embody a vision of the common good; disturb the system; surrender to the emergent process; and entice through moral power. These are principles inspired by the teachings of Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.-- three historical leaders who successfully used personal change to change the world.
Quinn introduces each principle with inspiring quotations from those three leaders. He then uses stories from everyday life to demonstrate how ordinary people can learn to apply themselves in extraordinary ways. Every thought-provoking chapter is imbued with ideas and information that can help us step out of our old roles, approach the world with a sense of enlightenment and adventure, and live a more empowered and empowering life.
Faced with the complexities of today's world, it's all too easy to view ourselves as passive observers or powerless victims. We want to change our realities, but lack the motivation to do so. Change the World shows us how to use personal transformation to positively impact our families, organizations, businesses, and the world at large.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0787951935
• ISBN 13: 9780787951931
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304