"Tools of Change" puts the focus on the tools, change actually takes place because of people. No technological innovation happen in 1776 when the American Revolution happened. No transformative tool was used. "There is no change until someone stakes their reputation on doing something different You not make change without power"
We do not like change because (via evolution we have to be concerned about how we use calories)
- creates work
- requires thinking
- have to talk or listen to each other
- raises questions we prefer to avoid
- risk of embarrassment
Mazno: Hierarchy of needs. People are unhappy when they are stuck moving up the hierarchy.
Protections against change
- codify rules and mythologize origins
- binds society
...
idea killers (from the myhs of innovation)
"this is not how things are done" has no bearing on the merit of the idea
we seek change when we get motivated by problems and are unhappy. the people who are allies for change are the people who are unhappy.
"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" Thomas S. Kuhn -- about paradigm shifts. Book quotes Max Plank saying new scientific truth triumphs when the proponents die and a new generation familiar with new ideas comes up.
Revolution is only great in the US because we had a successful one. In the world your chances are pretty bad. Talk about the thing, not revolution or radical shift.
Power - autocracy is the most expedient way to make change (Constantine made people go from feeding Christians to lions to being friendly because of an edict). Look for who has power to make change happen.
Grass Roots - term came from progressive party. The idea of disseminating ideas is great, but all you do is push the idea around until someone who has power to make it happen. It's just a vehicle for disseminating ideas, not a vehicle for change itself.
Progress happens from power (what change can you mandate), persuasion (who will support you), intuition (what can you anticipate). Case study: Chester Carlson & Xerox. Look at innovations and you often find the person tried it and failed and then someone else came along who knew how to sell it and it took off.
Playbook for individuals (entrepreneurship is a similar process)
- pilot (incubation, beta, a test) - do it on a small scale first
- show success
- find allies
- ask for more resources, stake reputation
- repeat
- (coup!) (launch)
Management is largely structured around preservation (the profession is only about 150 years). Innovation is talked about, but managers are rewarded for keeping things stable. A manager who wants innovation needs to have their people innovate, not themselves.
- Pavlov lives - people do what we are rewarded for.
- Hire for change (age & psychology)
- Accept some ideas you don't like (good employees have knowledge you don't have)
- Encourage interesting failures
- Only you can provide cover fire (most important thing a manager can do)
Agenda
- people make change, not tools
- we fear change
- facts: revolution, power (whose power can you borrow), grass roots
- tactics: pilot & repeat, cover fire
Real change is about the people who put themselves at stake and made it happen.
"48 laws of power" <-- interesting Machiavellian read for those without a soul
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