Change is a monster that can't be slain, but it can be made less ferocious. In The Change Monster, Jeanie Daniel Duck tells stories from more than 20 years experience that have taught her what successful change looks like, what it feels like to live it, and the central lesson that change requires liberal daily doses of courage.
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Most managers don't want to deal with the emotional side of management. They are either convinced that the brilliance of their ideas and plans will eventually win people over or worried that trying to understand and deal with people's emotions might label them as "too sensitive." At best they resolve "to communicate more," but rarely do.
"It's possible to bring both empathy and discipline to the challenge," says Duck, and it is this combination that makes The Change Monster unique and intriguing. It can help leaders understand exactly where people are emotionally because, as Duck writes, "Emotions are data. In any transformation, there are common patterns that can be identified and accurately analyzed with real rigor and rationality. With understanding, there are a variety of ways to address potential problems successfully."
The Change Curve
Duck has organized her insights around the Change Curve, a map of the highs and lows of groups trying to work together differently. Seeing it, a General Electric vice president said, "I feel like someone who's been suffering for years with an unknown ailment and finally got a clear diagnosis." Duck writes as a confidant who knows how that vice president feels and a practitioner that can help readers understand the treatment.
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The Change Monster: The Human and Emotional Elements of Change
- Battling the Monster: The Need to Think and Behave Differently
- A Short Tour of the Change Curve: A Map for the Territory of Change
Stagnation: The Monster in Hibernation
- Demoralization and Denial: When What You Know Isn't So
- Recognizing and Diagnosing the Condition: Helping People See the Truth
Preparation: The Monster Awakes
- Gaining Alignment: Anxiety About the Future
- Is Everybody Ready? When Emotions Become a Roller Coaster
- Building an Appetite for Change: Moving to Productive Action
Implementation: The Monster Stomps Out of Its Hiding Place
- Plunging In: Time to Start Walking the Talk
- Broadening the involvement: Building Bench Strength and Leadership
- Keep Talking: Formal and informal Networks of Communication
Determination: When the Monster Rules the Hallways
- The Land In-Between: Asking the Hard Questions About the Organization and Its Future
- The Leaders Behavior: The Importance of Sustaining Energy
- The Followers Experience: Getting People Involved in the Issues
- The Importance of Commitment and Value: Developing New Ways of Thinking and Acting
Fruition: The Monster is Subdued at Least for Now
- Sweet and Dangerous Fruition: Reinforcing the Good
- When the Old Becomes New Again: Continuous Change
Jeanie Daniel Duck is a Senior Partner and Managing Director. During her 13 years at BCG, Jeanie Daniel Duck has been a leader in the organization practice group, focusing her expertise on the human side of change, advising CEOs of Fortune 100 companies on leadership,
culture, strategy, and change.
A recognized worldwide expert on change management, Jeanie has written several articles including "Managing Change: The Art of Balancing," which first appeared in Harvard Business Review and has become a best selling reprint that is now required reading in many top business school, university, and executive education courses. Along with articles by John Kotter and Paul Strebel, this article was included in Harvard Business Review on Change, a collection of landmark ideas that has guided many top executives through the myriad challenges of leadership and change. "Let Middle Managers Manage" and "The Seduction of Reductionist Thinking," also written by Jeanie, are among the most requested articles in BCG's Perspective series and were selected for BCG's 1998 anthology Perspectives on Strategy.
Prior to joining BCG as a partner in 1988, Jeanie founded and managed her own consulting company in Minneapolis. Here she discovered her talent for "straight talk" with executives—the ability to relate to the executive mindset with a rare combination of compassion, humor and understanding that has caused many a CEO to seek her out for advice and counsel. She brings to these conversations wisdom gained through her experience as a mother, artist, teacher, and psychologist.
Jeanie grew up in Alabama, completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Georgia, and taught at both the University of Alabama in Birmingham and the Pratt Institute in New York. She has a master's degree in sculpture and a post-graduate degree in transactional analysis, a form of social psychology.
Jeanie lives in Coral Gables, Florida.
Lonely CEO
I just finished your map for transforming a company. I have been inspired and I felt it to the core of me. Almost 8 years ago, I started a media agency and we've had great success. However, somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that if we wanted to play with the big boys, we would have to change how we did business. That change would come from the top and move to the receptionist. We needed to be able to build the business rapidly, and we could only succeed if everyone understands the goals and what their roles are.
Sections of the book reflected things that we've already done and there were other parts that gave me food for thought. Finally, you are so right when you say that the process of change is lonely, thankless at times, and without end. It is good to know that others—some much bigger than us—have experienced the Change Monster. I've given your book to all senior people in my company. I tell all my friends that own their own companies about the book. You are absolutely right. It is so clear now that I am not alone. I tell everyone that change is not easy. It will take longer than we think and more painful than we can possibly realize. In hindsight, the change that we are experiencing has been a long time in coming and I've admitted that it has been extremely painful, more than I can express to anyone. I thank you for the book!
Enlightened Executive Director
I'm the Executive Director of a country club which means I run a service organization as well as a physical plant—golf club, pools, restaurants, yacht club for well-heeled members who can sometimes be a real pain. I was thinking about this when I started reading your book. This is a great book. It's really a textbook. I read it on my last trip even though I was exhausted; I even had my highlighter going. One of the things I realized was that I and my staff have been treating one of our members like Ray Alvarez (featured in a story in the book) was treated by his staff. She has become our excuse for not doing the kind of work we should be doing. I realized that I was adding to this because she really is a pain in the neck. So now I'm changing what I say and starting to (gently) confront the board of directors and my staff. We need to change our attitudes and beef up our service, regardless of her actions. I am really learning a lot from this book. Thanks for writing it!
Confident CEO
Awhile back, a friend sent me a copy of your book, The Change Monster. While on holiday, I read it from cover to cover not just once, but twice! I wish to compliment you on its quality. I have already shared it with two of my colleagues and intend to circulate it to others outside of my bank. Based on my 32 years of business experience, with 15 years as a CEO, I think the philosophies and ideals espoused in your book are RIGHT ON! In fact, I am proud of the magazine article I wrote way back in 1988 about the human side of mergers. Successful mergers can be achieved—so simple, yet so complex!
Surprised Social Worker
I mentioned that my whole family was making their way through your book. Anyway, I forwarded a copy of the book along to a close friend of my mother, a doctor who is also president of an institute for clinical social work that is having some financial challenges at the moment. I thought you'd like to hear his response to the book: "I was immediately struck by the incredible relevance." It seems The Change Monster has broad appeal in all sorts of unexpected places.
Enlightened Intern
I wanted to inform you that The Change Monster helped me explain some interesting responses from a recent employee survey I administered. I am a student interning at an integrated health insurance plan in California, who was tasked with conducting a user survey of a recently launch e-commerce software package. We used the IT department as a pilot to work out the bugs and see how radical of a behavior change was required. They asked me to administer a user survey and explain the results. I designed an online survey asking them a series
of questions about whether they thought the interface was easy to use, was the new process more efficient, etc. Well, the responses came back and they fell nicely into approximately equal groups of thirds. Like any good student, I was searching for some theory to support the finding and picked up The Change Monster (I know theory is supposed to come first, but hey, my timing was off). Luckily I came across the Rule of Thirds as expressed in your book around the time I was analyzing the responses. It made me more confident in expressing my findings. Thanks.
