Praise for Leading Strategic Change

"PROVOCATIVE, PRACTICAL, POWERFUL!"

Stephen R. Covey

Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

"For any executive this is an excellent roadmap for leading strategic change!"

J. W. Marriott, Jr.

Chairman and CEO, Marriott International, Inc.

"Few things add greater value than effectively leading strategic change. Few books show you how to do it better than this one."

David Ulrich

Author of The HR Scorecard and named BusinessWeek's #1 Business

Guru

"Leading Strategic Change is a must-read guidebook for leaders in any business organization. Black and Gregersen not only identify common barriers to success, they also provide a framework for breaking old habits, mapping new paths, and setting a course for effective change."

Kevin Rollins

Vice Chairman of the Board and COO, Dell Computer Corporation

"Before cracking the cover on Leading Strategic Change, I couldn't imagine how another book on change could deliver anything new to a CEO. Surprise! I was astonished by how rapidly Black and Gregersen broke through my brain barrier. They deliver a fascinating perspective and practical toolkit to deliver faster strategic change in our growing, global company."

Thomas Grimm

CEO and President, Sam's Club, and Executive Vice President, Wal-Mart

"Black and Gregersen debunk the myth that organizations change by changing the organization. They understand the real dynamics a leader must manage to convert the hearts and minds of people in a complex organization to a new direction. If you are trying to shake things up and make lasting change, this is the book you must read."

Gary L. Crittenden

CFO, American Express

"Finally a book on change that gets it right. Organizations don't change. People change. Black and Gregersen give the reader extremely practical tools to make real change happen."

Jack Zenger

Vice Chairman of Provant and co-author of The Extraordinary Leader

"I have been provoked to look at my business in a different light by the concepts developed by Black and Gregersen. The 'brain barriers' that they describe are a very real threat to any business that hopes to compete in this fast changing environment."

James H. Nuckols

CEO, The Sporting News

"This book broke my own brain barrier, asking me to think differently about ideas and processes that I'd become too comfortable with. It's a significant contribution to the field of organizational change and will undoubtedly help us be more successful with change. And I love the maps—they provoke my intellect and imagination."

Margaret J. Wheatley

Author of Leadership and the New Science and Turning to One Another

"A significant barrier to any major change or innovation management process is in transparently defining the past and desired future state, then connecting the move from former to latter in an inspirational way. Leading Strategic Change offers novel framing and straightforward step-back, targeted thinking that can streamline and turbocharge the challenging change progress."

David N. DiGiulio

Vice President, Research & Development, Procter & Gamble

"Leading successful strategic change is one of the biggest and most important challenges executives face today. Black and Gregersen offer a practical set of concepts and tools to meet that challenge."

Sue Lee

Senior Vice President Human Resources & Communications, SuncorEnergy Inc.

"I found this book special in several ways. It is not the usual description of the stages of change. Instead, it describes the process of change in human terms—the way people really experience it. They go beneath and look at the assumptions (mind maps) that hold people back from being able to change."

Jean Broom

Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Itochu International, Inc.

"Talk about change has far outstripped leaders' ability to successfully lead it. Black and Gregersen push the change leaders to explore how they think about or 'map' the world in which we live. These maps become either a critical barrier or an asset to their ability to lead change. The authors also provide a challenging self-examination for the serious leader to assess his or her ability to create long-lasting and effective change. Thoughtful leaders will give this a very thoughtful read."

Ralph Christensen

Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Hallmark Cards, Inc.

"Strategic change happens one person at a time. Black and Gregersen bring this statement to life by supplying critical insight combined with essential tools for helping individuals negotiate their way through organizational change."

Tyler Bolli

Manager, Human Resources, Kohler Company

"This book presents a refreshing new way to think about leading change in organizations. Black and Gregersen redraw our maps of the change process in a compelling and practical way that gets right to the heart of making real change possible."

Marion Shumway

Organization Development Manager, Intel Corporation

"Insightful handbook packed full of valuable wisdom for unlocking the power of mental maps in any organization's change efforts."

Dave Kinard

Director of Organizational Effectiveness, Eli Lilly and Company

"What a pleasure to find a book on change focused on 'leading' rather than 'managing' change. Leaders create change; they don't react to it. This book addresses the crux of that leadership issue by focusing on people, where the real change must occur."

Richard D. Hanks

CEO, BlueStep, Inc.

"Too often in the trenches of organizational life, we deceive ourselves by believing that if we get the boxes in an organization chart or the big systems behind the boxes just right, then organizations change. Black and Gregersen artfully uncover this deception by revealing a new, eye-opening approach to change that can help any leader of change become much stronger and better at it."

Mark Hamberlin

Senior Finance Manager, Cisco Systems Inc.