Congregational Life Centre
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Building The Bridge AsYou Walk On It
A Guide for Leading Change -- Book Review
Mahatma
Ghandi said it first. "Be the change you want to see in the world."
It is Robert Quinn's experience that true leadership flows from a deep personal
change of perspective. There are a lot of good administrators and managers
around. They are aware their job is to keep the status quo in balance and
not rock any boats. To lead real change, however, you have to make waves.
That takes courage and a new perspective, something that has to start with
changing yourself. Then and only then can you enter what Robert Quinn calls
"the fundamental state of leadership."
His first book Deep Change made quite an impression on people. In this book Quinn illustrates every point with stories from people who have made a "deep change" in their own lives and gone on to exercise a new level of leadership.
No one ever wants to make a deep change in their lives. It means letting go of control. Making that change is often the result of some crisis that causes us to confront our own "insecurity, selfishness, and lack of courage."
Sometimes a crisis makes people realize it is not a new job or a new partner they need, but a new perspective on life. One of the many people Quinn quotes is Jeremy Fish, a physician charged with transforming a medical centre:
I decided to acknowledge my fears and close off my exits. Suddenly my workplace became a place filled with people doing their best to either avoid deeper dilemmas or face them and grow. The previous importance of titles and roles began to melt away before my eyes. Feared organizational figures became less menacing. ... My own change of perspective led me to see a new organization without having changed anyone but myself.
Being Open
When we commit to a vision to do something that has never been done before, there is no way to know how to get there. We simply have to build the bridge as we walk on it.
If you detect a Christian perspective in this book, I don't think you are mistaken although this is clearly a business book. He says, "Real leadership is about moving forward in faith." Deep change involves a shift from a self-centred life to one that is other-centred. He illustrates what this means by referring to Vaclav Havel's spiritual experience in a prison courtyard and Thomas Merton being "suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people" while standing in the middle of a shopping district in Louisville, Kentucky.
The key to leadership is to keep externally open while being internally driven. To be internally driven means to listen to the voice at the centre of our being. Quinn defines it as being committed to "closing the gaps between my values and behaviour." It's the Sermon on the Mount in modern garb.
To be externally open means always experimenting, seeking feedback from colleagues, adapting to what you hear, and reaching for a deeper and wider vision that is inspiring and energizing.
The book is full of stories that make it interesting reading. The author has obviously done a great deal of thinking about leadership as well as having gone through a process of "deep change" himself. It is a helpful book for anyone who wants to develop their own leadership ability or play a role in developing the leadership abilities of others.
Robert E. Quinn, Building The Bridge as You Walk on It. A Guide for Leading Change. 2004: Josey-Bass. $40.99 CDN.
"Leadership Ventures" Congregational Life Newsletter. September 2010. Volume 17 No. 1.