Passionate for Change
For the church course, these business books are up to par.
By Scott Wenig
July 1, 2004
Legendary golf instructor Harvey Penick wrote a best seller entitled Harvey Penick's Little Red Book a few years back. An instruction manual, the book also touched a deep emotional need. Readers responded to Penick's heartfelt love for both a sport and those who shared his love of it.
Readers of Deep Change and Leadership on the Line will find similar passion in these two books. Both express love for the topic and for those developing their skills.
In Deep Change, Robert Quinn says one person can transform the larger organization of which he is a part. To choose otherwise is to begin a process of either "active exit" or "slow death." The latter, which many ministry professionals will resonate with, is "a meaningless and frustrating experience enmeshed in fear, anger, and helplessness, while moving surely toward what is most feared."
But unlike many other books on leadership, Quinn stresses the necessity of deep change at the personal level before attempting organizational transformation. He provides a litany of useful strategies: overcoming fear of change, gaining new perspective on ourselves and our jobs, and giving ourselves time to change. His chapter "Confronting the Integrity Gap" forced me to admit discrepancies between what I say I believe about my work for Christ and his church and how I act.
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The authors of Leadership on the Line, Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, recognize that leading is a risky business. Nevertheless, leadership is worth it because it "provides meaning in life … [and] creates purpose." Yet leadership contains inherent dangers too, including getting marginalized, attacked, diverted, or seduced.
For genuine change to take place at the organizational level, leaders must "get off the dance ...
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