Beyond the Wall of Resistance: Unconventional Strategies That Build Support for Change

Rating:
Summary: best book on change I know
Review: As one who has recently written a book ("Difficult Converstions"), I'm aware that reader reviews sometimes come off as being written by a well-meaing friend or colleague. So I want to be clear that I've never even heard of Rick Maurer. I got his book off Amazon.com, along with about ten other books on corporate change. Mr. Maurer's book is the one I find the most compelling. More than any of the others, this book tries to adjust our relationship to resistance - to see it as natural, to engage with it, to treat resistors with respect, honesty, and to listen with genuine curiosity, thus turning resistors into legitimate partners in the process of change. It's the only book on change that I recommend to my own organizational clients. Congrats, Rick, on a terrific book, and thanks.

Rating:
Summary: one more of those
Review: one more of those books we read, enjoy and forget what the heck the message was upon reading the last page.

Save your money and buy something else.

Rating:
Summary: Incorrectly categorized
Review: This book could have more appropriately been categorized as a negotiation strategy or conflict management book. Most examples in this book focus on negotiating a settlement between two (and only two) opposing groups when a change is proposed. There is little or no mention made of change management per se. Further, it's theories and suggestions focus very little on questions such as, "how do I get people to accept and support the change that I am proposing," and rather much more on understanding when resistance to your idea is present. Frankly, I know when resistence is present, I'm more interested in what to do with it.

Finally, the book is poorly written, in my opinion. It often wanders from the subject at hand to make obsure references - e.g., Groucho Marx movies and the third century emperor Pyrrhus. These references are distracting, and inappropriate in a book designed for corporate managers who have little time to read as it is.

Rating:
Summary: Recipe is a Masterpiece--Best Book I've Read!
Review: This is the "best" book I've read! With "change" the norm, you must know how to lead the change and we don't lead dollars or materials--it is people--as Tom Peters puts it--"people are our only asset". The author does an outstanding job of walking you through how to make change a reality--dealing head on--with people. I remember the authors recipe with the letters "PEP". Changes force an individual into a "protection" mode (which is natural), but you and I must understand that the protection wall is nothing buy "energy" (but it is critical to understand the energy is not positive nor negative--just energy). Next is "paradox"--you and I must continously engage in dialogue to help people understand why the change is necessary--thus continuously engaging the protective energy. The paradox is the more you engage the protective energy the more it becomes "positive"--leading to the individuals support of change. I have used this recipe and it works--people do not wake up in the morning--planning on how to oppose the future--they just want to understand. I read two books a week, and I've shared the contents of this book with many. THE BEST BOOK I'VE READ!

Rating:
Summary: Incorrectly categorized
Review: This is the "best" book I've read! With "change" the norm, you must know how to lead the change and we don't lead dollars or materials--it is people--as Tom Peters puts it--"people are our only asset". The author does an outstanding job of walking you through how to make change a reality--dealing head on--with people. I remember the authors recipe with the letters "PEP". Changes force an individual into a "protection" mode (which is natural), but you and I must understand that the protection wall is nothing buy "energy" (but it is critical to understand the energy is not positive nor negative--just energy). Next is "paradox"--you and I must continously engage in dialogue to help people understand why the change is necessary--thus continuously engaging the protective energy. The paradox is the more you engage the protective energy the more it becomes "positive"--leading to the individuals support of change. I have used this recipe and it works--people do not wake up in the morning--planning on how to oppose the future--they just want to understand. I read two books a week, and I've shared the contents of this book with many. THE BEST BOOK I'VE READ!