Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within by Robert S. Quinn
To large organizations, the basic premise in Deep Change could be radical and even threatening. In fact, Quinn himself uses the term “heretical” to describe his approach. As early as the first chapter, he makes it clear that deep change involves risk, potential for suffering, getting lost, re-inventing one’s self and breaking the rules. “Excellence never lies within the boxes drawn in the past”, the reader is advised. “To be excellent, the leaders have to step outside the safety net of the company’s regulations.” Towards the end of the book, Quinn states that true leaders “are willing to accept the necessary risk because it is the right thing to do. They care enough to risk dying for the organization, which would kill them for caring.” Death, here, is metaphorical. But it is certainly a bold metaphor for a business book. Quinn is an academic, and his book does not spoon-feed the reader. There is no overarching, cute ‘hook’: an animal fable, fictitious company, or cozy relationship between curious/challenged business owner and affable/wise mentor. He is not afraid to talk theory or present his information as a diagram or chart. His writing is not witty. His anecdotes are matter-of-fact. Something I found particularly valuable was his careful description of the differences between three organizational paradigms: the ‘technical’, or individual paradigm; the ‘transactional’, or managerial paradigm; and the ‘transformational’ or leadership paradigm. I also appreciated that Quinn spends a considerable amount of time describing the role of middle managers as transformational leaders, thus emphasizing that transformation is not the sole purview of the CEO but can be accomplished by anyone, regardless of their place in the pecking order. Following each chapter, Quinn poses at least one full page of questions to the reader, divided into two categories: ‘personal steps to change’ and ‘organizational steps to change’. I found it difficult to respond meaningfully to many of the questions and, as a result, my ability to learn from the book was compromised. Why didn’t this format work...
read more
