Every day organizations around the world launch change initiatives-often big, expensive ones-designed to improve the status quo. Yet fifty to seventy percent of these change efforts fail. A few perish suddenly, but many die painful, protracted deaths that drain the organization's resources, energy and morale.
Who or what is killing change? That's what you'll find out in this witty whodunit. The story features a Columbo-style detective, Agent Mike McNally, who's investigating the murder of yet another change. One by one, Agent McNally interviews thirteen prime suspects, including a myopic leader named Victoria Vision; a chronically tardy manager named Ernest Urgency; an executive named Clair Communication, whose laryngitis makes communication all but impossible; and several other dubious characters.
The suspects are sure to sound familiar and you're bound to relate them to your own workplace. In the end, Agent McNally solves the case in a way that will inspire you to become an effective Change Agent in your own organization. A step-by-step guide at the back of the book shows you how to apply the story's lessons to the real world. Key questions help you evaluate the health of your organization's change initiatives, and you'll learn best practices for enabling and sustaining the desired change.
Nobody knows pressure like a major league baseball pitcher-an entire game can rest on a single pitch. For years, Rick Peterson has helped some of baseball's finest excel in this kind of intense situation. In Crunch Time, he and leadership expert Judd Hoekstra share Rick's secret. It's called reframing-it enables you to see a pressure situation with a new perspective so that it shifts from a threat that can make you panic to an opportunity for you to shine. Rick and Judd offer six powerful reframing strategies, with fascinating behind-the-scenes examples from Rick's work with some of the top names in sports. Learn how elite athletes perform their best under pressure and how you too can perform and be your best when it matters most.