Everywhere, the Power Paradox ensnares. We assume that others are powerful, and we are weak. The truth is that others are less powerful than we think they are, and we are more powerful than we have imagined. We take these assumptions of who does and doesn’t have power for granted and never test them. We […]
You’re More Powerful Than You Think Read More »
10%! That’s how effective Jay Forester, the founder of system dynamics, thought organizations were at using the best of their employees. He wrote that in 1961. More than 60 years later, if you’re struggling to meet your commitments with the people, time, and resources you have now, this quote should give you hope. You don’t
10%! Jay Forester on Employee Effectiveness Read More »
The rate of change is increasing; it’s hard to keep up. Grounded in the well-known tactics for change managers and change leaders, many organizations are working tirelessly to meet the demanding pace of change. Where are people turning for insights to help them keep up with, and accelerate ahead of, the rate of change? Change
Equipping the World’s Top Change Agents Read More »
Over the years, I’ve been asked by several people to give them tips on book writing. As I thought about their requests, I realized that I don’t have the right generalized knowledge to write on that topic, but I do have very specific knowledge about how I write books. So, for all those curious, here
How April Writes a Book Read More »
These days crowds gather near ocean shores to watch Space X launch rockets. On January 17, 1955, the crowds were on the banks of the Thames River in Connecticut watching Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson and the crew of USS Nautilus (SSN 571) depart for her first test voyage, powered by a technology unknown less than
Celebrating USS Nautilus (SSN 571) and 70 years of competitive advantage Read More »
Welcome to the new Engine-for-Change. After almost 12 years, it seemed time for an upgrade. This site started in December 2009 with a simple post “Welcome to Engine for Change.” I said: Welcome to Engine-For-Change.com, my new weblog and site for all things related to helping you drive the personal, community or workplace change you
Relaunch of Engine-for-Change Read More »
In a Harvard Business Review blog post, Jon Katzenbach and Zia Khan introduce us to the concept of a fast zebra: someone who, “can quickly absorb information, adapt to new challenges, and get people aligned in the right direction… They are the people who can skirt around or blast through the kind of gridlock found
Fast Zebras Drive Change Read More »
Mother Teresa told a story of a man in Melbourne she visited who had been, it seemed, forgotten by the world and himself. She asked to clean his room for him because she saw it was in a terrible state. He reluctantly agreed. When she cleaned she found an old, beautiful, unlit lamp covered in
Let Your Little Light Shine Read More »
As the 50th anniversary of the moon landing nears, my thoughts have been drifting past the moon, to Mars. In 1962, when President Kennedy challenged the United States to go to the moon he said, We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon…We choose to go to the Moon in
Take Your Shot at Mars Read More »
Best-in-class sounds like a position to aspire to. It isn’t. To more accurately describe best-in-class, we could call it either forever-chasing-the-leaders or struggling-to-do-the-same-thing-the-other-laggards-are-struggling-to-do. When you’re the one defining best-in-class, then you’ll have competitive advantage. There’s no competitive advantage in copying. Take a lesson from the leaders: if you want to be the best, be yourself. Let the
There’s No Competitive Advantage in Copying Read More »
